NEESON’S NEW FILM SHOCKER
TERROR CONTROVERSY AFTER RACISM STORM
RACE row star Liam Neeson is set to shock audiences by producing a film glamorising the life of an IRA sniper.
Neeson was blasted after admitting he went out with a cosh wanting to kill a “black b ***** d” when a loved one was raped.
The actor said growing up in Northern Ireland during the Troubles sparked his rage.
But he is set to create a new storm by producing a movie about a paramilitary terrorist who was jailed for more than two decades.
The film – A Mad And Wonderful Thing – is billed as a “romantic thriller” narrated by a sniper and would-be bomber.
Mark Mulholland, who wrote the book the film will be based upon, is said to have been inspired by his brother, Darren, who was 20 when he was jailed for 22 years for conspiring to plant bombs in London.
Darren Mulholland was one of three Real IRA members arrested in 1998 after their attempts to sabotage the Good Friday agreement were uncovered.
Neeson called the book “deeply satisfying and moving”.
He added: “I think sufficient time has passed since the Good Friday agreement to, at last, have a novel that goes inside the head of one of the Troubles’ protagonists.
“To hear the pros and cons of the conflict told in an original and exciting way.”
Neeson, 66, became one of the world’s most bankable stars after 2008’s Taken.
But his career is in the balance as executives decide whether to axe him from six new movies over his “black b ***** d” comments.
Three have already been completed but modern technology would enable scenes to be re-shot with a new star, as happened with Kevin Spacey, who faces allegations of sexual assault.
The biggest of Neeson’s films is the sequel Men in Black: International, due for release in June.