Liam Neeson Reveals Why He Turned Down The Role Of James Bond Before It Went To Pierce Brosnan
deadline.comWhile the search goes on for the next 007, Liam Neeson has revealed that the role of James Bond was once his for the taking – except his partner had other ideas.
Following the success of Schindler’s List in which he played the title role, Neeson’s star was high in the early 1990s, and the James Bond people came calling.
Neeson told The Times of London that he had expressed his strong interest in the role, until his then girlfriend, actress Natasha Richardson, intervened, wary of what Neeson called the “gorgeous girls in various countries getting in and out of [Bond’s] bed.” The actor revealed Richardson had told him she wouldn’t marry him if he took the role, and so he turned it down – leaving the licence to kill free for Pierce Brosnan to collect.
Instead, Neeson and Richardson did get married in 1994 and had two sons before the actress’s death following a skiing accident in 2009.
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