Liam Neeson’s ‘Non Stop’ heroism
Liam Neeson back for another turn at saving the day
Seemingly every winter, the Northern Ireland native is saving the world — and he says that’s a great thing at 61.
LOS ANGELES — Every winter, it happens. Snow. The Super Bowl. And Liam
Neeson saving the world — one bad guy at a time. At age 61, frankly, he can’t believe it either. “Let me tell you that at any age it’s great to run around and save the day,” he says. “I highly recommend it to anyone.”
But let’s add this disclaimer: “I love to do a fight scene where I put up my fists. That’s a great challenge. But when my kids ask me to go on a roller-coaster, I’m the first one to say, ‘Never happening. Not in a million years.’ That
really scares me.” Neeson’s latest film’s scares are set high up. In “Non-Stop” (opening Friday), he’s a U.S. marshal who must save a planeful of passengers from impending doom. A hijacker is on board and promises to off a passenger every 20 minutes until $150 million is transferred into a secret account. Julianne Moore co-stars as the woman sitting next to Neeson, and Lupita Nyong’o (“12 Years a Slave”) is the flight attendant.
Being contained on a set that was the hull of a plane wasn’t easy for cast and crew. “It was two months on that plane, which was a set built in New York,” Neeson adds. “Each day, I was with the same extras who play scared passengers.
“It was a real challenge for the director to shoot a movie on just that one set. You have to make it interesting for the audience to stay with you there for the duration.”