Actors have to learn to live a malleable lifestyle. There is much uncertainty in the audition and preproduction processes. An actor can be in the running for a role but ultimately decide not to do it for one reason or another. Actor Liam Neeson understands this firsthand.
Liam recently revealed in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine that he turned down the iconic role of James Bond in the '90s. His reasoning was sound. His late wife, Natasha Richardson, was not on board with the idea.
At the time, Liam was getting many accolades for his impressive performance as Oskar Schindler in the 1993 Spielberg film Schindler's List. This caused many people to notice him, including James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli.
“They looked at a bunch of actors," Liam began.
"'Schindler's List' had come out and Barbara [Broccoli] had called me a couple of times to ask if I was interested, and I said, 'Yes, I would be interested,'” Liam continued. With martinis, beautiful women, and cool action sequences, who wouldn’t want to say yes? There was a catch, though.
“And then my lovely wife, God rest her soul, said to me while we were shooting Nell down in the Carolinas, 'Liam, I want to tell you something: If you play James Bond, we’re not getting married,'” Liam revealed.
True love won over playing an international man of mystery this time. Liam did not think twice about turning down the role. He did, however, bring it up as a running joke.
He said he would go “behind [Natasha’s] back, making my fingers as though I'm holding a gun, and [humming the James Bond theme]. I loved doing that,” Liam joked.
Liam understood where his wife was coming from. As a character, James Bond certainly would not be called a feminist icon.
"She gave me a James Bond ultimatum, and she meant it! Come on, there's all those gorgeous girls in various countries getting into bed and getting out of bed. I'm sure a lot of her decision-making was based on that,” Liam mused.
It was a shame for audiences to not get to see Liam in that action role. Thankfully, this injustice was remedied with the action film Taken in 2008. The film was so popular it created its own franchise, with two sequels that were released in 2012 and 2014.
Actor Pierce Brosnan would ultimately take on the role of James Bond beginning in 1995.
Liam and Natasha were married in 1994. They welcomed their first son, Micheál, in 1995, and the following year their son Daniel made his debut. In 2009, Natasha suffered a head injury while skiing. She died two days later from an epidural hematoma.
