Liam Neeson has revealed he passed up the chance to play James Bond, before Pierce Brosnan was cast as 007 in Goldeneye.
Bond producers were eyeing up Liam in the 90s, but the Irish actor said he wasn’t interested because of something his late wife Natasha Richardson said.
The Ballymena native made the confession on NBC’s The Rich Eisen Show, during the ‘Celebrity True or False’ segment.
Liam said the film’s producers “were interested in me following Schindler’s List, but I know they were also interested in three or four other actors.”
“No, I was not offered it – they sent out feelers. They wanted to see if I was interested in it,” he explained.Â
“I remember my dear, departed wife said to me — we were shooting a film in North Carolina called Nell — and she looked at me straight in the face and she said, ‘Liam, if you’re offered this and if you do it, you know we can’t get married.’ And that was it.”
The actor’s late wife Natasha, who was a popular actress, tragically died in a skiing accident back in 2009.
The couple tied the knot in 1994, and welcomed two sons together – Micheal and Daniel.
