Why Liam Neeson is not a fan of superhero films

Liam Neeson has not only starred in a number of action movies, he has also appeared in megablockbusters like Star Wars and Batman Begins. But he now says he doesn’t like the genre. The idea of spending hours in the gym to pump up his muscles to squeeze into a superhero suit doesn’t appeal to him.

“I’m really not a huge fan of the genre,” Neeson said.

The actor famously portrayed Batman’s arch enemy Ra’s al Ghul, also known as Henri Ducard, in 2005’s Batman Begins and The Dark Knight Rises in 2012, but modern superhero movies aren’t top of his watch list.

“I think it’s Hollywood with all the bells and whistles and the technical achievements and stuff – which I admire – but I have no desire to go into the gym for three hours every day to pump myself up to squeeze into a Velcro suit with a cape. I admire the actors and I know some of the actors who do it – and do it fantastically. It’s just not my genre, it really isn’t,” he added.

Neeson says he enjoyed the use of computer-generated imagery (CGI) when he portrayed Qui-gon Jinn in Star Wars: Episode One– The Phantom Menace, and although it pushed him as an actor, he found the special effects work tiring. “The first Star Wars, I was in that, that was 22 years ago, and I enjoyed that, because it (CGI) was novel and that was new. I was acting to tennis balls, which were ultimately going to be little fuzzy furry creatures and stuff. That was interesting, acting-wise, to try and make that seem real, but that was the last. It’s quite exhausting,” he said.