Liam Neeson

Made films the shows talk about.

Wikidata Q58444: matched by corpus:resolve, told apart by the only person by that name on Wikidata.

Counted as actor. The films the hosts said they acted in, which the two lists below run through too: The Bounty (1984); Darkman (1990); Schindler's List (1993); Love Actually (2003); Taken (2008); The Grey (2011); Non-Stop (2014); The Lego Movie (2014); An Honest Thief (2020); Blacklight; K-19: The Widowmaker; Kinsey; Michael Collins; Nell; Retribution; The Commuter; The Haunting.

Draws on

What the speakers say they, or a film of theirs, drew on. Each is a speaker's account: “the maker said so” when they report the maker's own words, “the host's read” when the read is theirs.

Empire of the Sun (1987): 2 lines

  1. contrast (method contrast) · through Schindler's List (1993), which they acted in: Empire of the Sun ⇒ Schindler's List (the host's read). On Schindler Spielberg refused to storyboard, almost as a reaction to criticism of the puppet-show control in Empire.
    “Schindler, the infamous thing, is that he was like, I won't storyboard this.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Empire of the Sun with Bilge Ebiri · 0:31:40 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  2. unmapped (dry run) · through Schindler's List (1993), which they acted in: Empire of the Sun ⇒ Schindler's List (the host's read). Schindler's List is the more successful grown-up film that erased Empire of the Sun from memory; it was seen as the dry run.
    “Look back as this was the dry run before he totally cracked it on Shell.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Empire of the Sun with Bilge Ebiri · 0:30:35 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

Commando (1985): 1 line

  1. theme (genre revival) · through Taken (2008), which they acted in: Commando ⇒ Taken (the host's read). Taken returned to the basic Schwarzenegger/Stallone template, but with a real actor selling the lines.
    “We're still going to have him do all of the same stuff that a Schwarzenegger or Stallone would do in commando or cobra, but now we've got a guy who, when he says things into the camera, when he gives the phone speech, you feel it.”
    The Rewatchables · 'Taken' With Bill Simmons and Shea Serrano · 0:10:08 · Shea Serrano (0.70 sure it was them)

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through The Lego Movie (2014), which they acted in: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World ⇒ The Lego Movie (the host's read). Same claim: the Lego movie's self-aware tone follows Scott Pilgrim.
    “Deadpool, for example, can't happen or like the Lego movie can't happen or into the Spider-Verse.”
    The Big Picture · Celebrating ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. the World’ 10 Years Later With Edgar Wright · 0:17:53 · Sean Fennessey (0.85 sure it was them)

Drawn on by

What the speakers say drew on them or a film of theirs, marked the same way.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008): 1 line

  1. career (career) · through Schindler's List (1993), which they acted in: Schindler's List ⇒ Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (the maker said so: Spielberg's statement while making Crystal Skull). After Schindler's List Spielberg refused to do cartoon Nazis in Crystal Skull.
    “I'm not going back to doing cartoon Nazis post Schindler's list.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:58:54 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.60 sure it was them)

John Wick (2014): 1 line

  1. lineage (genre descendant) · through Taken (2008), which they acted in: Taken ⇒ John Wick (the host's read). John Wick may belong to the subgenre Taken started, though Wick is a more elaborate 5 o'clocker.
    “Probably even John Wick, maybe.”
    The Rewatchables · 'Taken' With Bill Simmons and Shea Serrano · 0:07:45 · Shea Serrano (0.60 sure it was them)

Kidnap (2016): 1 line

  1. lineage (genre descendant) · through Taken (2008), which they acted in: Taken ⇒ Kidnap (the host's read). Kidnap is another of the movies stemming from Taken.
    “Kidnap is another one of the stemmed off of taken movies, so it's funny that you mentioned it.”
    The Rewatchables · 'Taken' With Bill Simmons and Shea Serrano · 0:18:47 · Shea Serrano (0.60 sure it was them)

Spider-Man (2002): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Darkman (1990), which they acted in: Darkman ⇒ Spider-Man (the host's read). Raimi's Spider-Man strengths start in Darkman.
    “all the stuff that is cool about the Remy Spider-Man movies starts here”
    The Big Picture · The 1990 Movie Draft · 1:31:21 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

The Equalizer (2014): 1 line

  1. lineage (genre descendant) · through Taken (2008), which they acted in: Taken ⇒ The Equalizer (the host's read). Taken's box office started a subgenre of an older star beating up younger bad guys, and The Equalizer is the first example.
    “There's a whole subgenre of movies after taking exploded at the box office where everybody's like, oh, shoot, we just have to get an old person and let them fight young people”
    The Rewatchables · 'Taken' With Bill Simmons and Shea Serrano · 0:07:29 · Shea Serrano (0.60 sure it was them)

The Lego Batman Movie (2017): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through The Lego Movie (2014), which they acted in: The Lego Movie ⇒ The Lego Batman Movie (the host's read). The Lego Movie is where the earnest-Batman bit started, and the hosts doubted it could sustain a whole movie.
    “It's the thing that the Lego movie lashes onto, but you felt unsustainable for a whole movie.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Lego Batman Movie · 0:03:41 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)

The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019): 1 line

  1. verdict (verdict) · through The Lego Movie (2014), which they acted in: The Lego Movie ⇒ The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (the host's read). The sequel is a fun but big step down from the original.
    “It's a big step down.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Lego Batman Movie · 0:22:12 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)

What the speakers said they did

Acting (20) everyone in acting

What was said about them, by kind

career (4)

  1. career (late-career genre run): Meryl Streep → Liam Neeson. Streep's 60s run of $100M comedies is likened to Liam Neeson's action run.
    “It's like she did the comedy version of the Liam Neeson action run.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 0:29:06 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
  2. career (career): Taken → Liam Neeson. Taken is offered as another late-career 'I still got it' peak, with John Wick for Keanu Reeves.
    “Liam Neeson and Taken would be a good one for you.”
    The Rewatchables · A CR Month Mailbag! · 0:41:55 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
  3. career (career retrofit): Liam Neeson → Love Actually. Neeson's pre-Taken IMDb all got retrofit, even his Love Actually character reads as Brian Mills.
    “He's Brian Mills in love actually.”
    The Rewatchables · 'Taken' With Bill Simmons and Shea Serrano · 0:36:53 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)
  4. career (career retrofit): Liam Neeson → Schindler's List. After Taken, Neeson's earlier dramatic roles read as if he were about to take people out.
    “Yeah, Schindler's list. You feel like he's going to take out some people.”
    The Rewatchables · 'Taken' With Bill Simmons and Shea Serrano · 0:36:55 · Shea Serrano (0.50 sure it was them)

craft (1)

  1. craft (craft): Iron Man 3 → Liam Neeson. The trailer cut made Stark's TV threat read as a Liam Neeson moment, but in context it is a breakdown.
    “This is Liam Neeson moment of like, I will find you, I will kill you.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 3 · 0:46:23 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

unmapped (2)

  1. unmapped (only other option): Liam Neeson → Denzel Washington. Only Denzel could have pulled off the actor-in-action-hero role before Neeson.
    “Denzel could have done it. And maybe that's it afterward.”
    The Rewatchables · 'Taken' With Bill Simmons and Shea Serrano · 0:10:28 · Shea Serrano (0.60 sure it was them)
  2. unmapped (method commitment): Liam Neeson → Tom Cruise. Neeson trained in karate during four months in Paris, which went a little Tom Cruise.
    “Went a little Tom Cruise on us, really wanted to live the role.”
    The Rewatchables · 'Taken' With Bill Simmons and Shea Serrano · 0:47:44 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)

what-if (1)

  1. what-if (casting what-if): Jeff Bridges → Liam Neeson. Jeff Bridges was the first choice for Brian but dropped out because it was too physical, paving the way for Neeson.
    “paving the way for Liam Neeson to be Brian?”
    The Rewatchables · 'Taken' With Bill Simmons and Shea Serrano · 0:43:46 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)

Fun items about them

  1. fun, about Liam Neeson: Pre-Taken Neeson was Schindler, Kinsey, Michael Collins, Woody Allen and Scorsese movies, so no one expected karate in Paris. His 6'4" frame matters more than you notice because films usually make everyone look the same size.
    “This was not somebody we expected to see like doing karate in Paris.”
    The Rewatchables · 'Taken' With Bill Simmons and Shea Serrano · 0:14:05 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)
  2. fun, about Liam Neeson: Neeson expected Taken to go straight to video and spent four months in Paris learning karate. Neeson also says American parents thanked him and he tells them the danger was exaggerated and to travel more.
    “Liam Neeson expected this movie to go straight to video.”
    The Rewatchables · 'Taken' With Bill Simmons and Shea Serrano · 0:47:28 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)