He was dubious about appearing in Taken 2 (not surprising given reactions to it), and basically told the world he would not be appearing in Taken 3, but now Liam Neeson appears to be backtracking, and is currently making a deal to appear in the next Taken movie.
Taken propelled the actor into unexpected action hero status, and given the franchises amazing ability to draw huge Box Office results from fairly modest budgets, it’s no surprise that studio bosses were keen to get Liam back to reprise his role as the unlucky ex-CIA agent Bryan Mills for a third time, and have reportedly offered Neeson a hefty $20m to do so (a substantial increase over his previous $15m payday).
With Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen once again working on the script, there’s little known about the ins-and-outs of Taken 3 so far, and there’s no director currently attached (though signs point towards a potential return for Taken 2 director Olivier Megaton), but both EuropaCorp and Fox are hoping to lockdown deals with Maggie Grace and Famke Janssen (Mills’ daughter and ex-wife respectively) soon; in order to start shooting next February.
Matt Wheeldon.
Source: Deadline.
