Liam Neeson may soon return to the silver screen in the sequel to Taken 1 and Taken 2, according to sources. The Irish actor is closing in on a deal to reprise retired CIA agent out to protect his family from successive waves of Eastern European kidnappers in “Taken 3,” Deadline.com first reported.
Eurocorp’s Luc Besson, the producer and co-screenwriter behind “Taken 3,” can afford the $5 million raise for Neeson given the $603 million box office haul the first two films in the franchise have raked in worldwide. Industry insiders credit the success of those movies to the toplining presence of Neeson, who, at 61, has become a bankable action star in the last four years.
“Liam is a true movie star, there are not a lot of them left,” Tom Ortenberg, CEO of Open Road Films, told the News last year after the release of his studio’s “The Grey.”
“Older women want to marry him, younger women want him to be their dad and men want to be just like him.”
Deals have not yet been struck with Neeson’s on-screen ex-wife and daughter, Famke Janssen and Maggie Grace, according to Deadline.