Liam Neeson Eyes Playing A War Criminal In Brad Silberling’s ‘An Ordinary Man’

Also Has Western ‘Last Stand’ & ‘Clash Of The Titans 2’ On Deck


Liam Neeson is a very busy man. This year alone he’s cropped up in a handful of films, big and small, including “Clash Of The Titans,” “After.Life,” “The A-Team,” “The Next Three Days” and before December is out, he’ll be seen in “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.” In the new year, you can expect to see him in the thriller “Unknown” as well as “The Hangover 2” and while he may not be so omnipresent through 2011, it doesn’t mean he’ll be any less busy.

Variety recently spoke with the actor and ran down his to-do list, and he won’t have much time to take a breather over the next little while.

Some of the projects mentioned have been announced over the past few months, including Joe Carnahan‘s man versus nature story “The Grey,” which starts lensing in January and Peter Berg‘s mega-expensive “Battleship,” a project which Variety describes Neeson’s role as a “cameo.” However, there appears to be a project that has yet to be mentioned as far as we can tell.

Brad Silberling (“Moonlight Mile,” “Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events“) is putting together a new film that will find Neeson in some brave new territory. Titled “An Ordinary Man,” the film would find Neeson playing “a fugitive war criminal modelled on former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic who’s being hidden by his supporters.” The film is described as a “low-budget indie” and one that Neeson is “hoping” to do which means the pieces may all not quite be in place just yet.

Also on Neeson’s slate is “Last Stand,” a contemporary western the will mark the English language debut by “The Good The Bad & The Weird” director Ji-Woon Kim. The film is described as a cross between “Gone in 60 Seconds” and “High Noon” and features “a Gumpert Apollo, a 200 mph race car used by drug smugglers, and it centers on a cartel leader that uses it to break out of a courthouse. As he speeds to the Mexican border, the only thing standing in his way is a border-town sheriff and his inexperienced staff.” No word yet on Neeson’s role but we would imagine he’ll be the border-town sheriff.

“And somewhere I’ve got to squeeze in ‘Clash of the Titans 2‘” Neeson says adding yet another project his busy 2011 dance card. So lot’s of Neeson coming up and it’s definitely heartening to see him mix it up with a variety to styles from small indies to mega tentpoles. We can’t say we like everything he’s been doing of late but we can’t argue that it’s not interesting.

Leave a comment