When the action thriller "Taken" became a sleeper hit in 2009, a lot of people began Oscar-nominated actor Liam Neeson as an action hero for the first time. He’s done a wide variety of roles in his career, but in the action thriller "Unknown," he returns to the "lone man against mysterious killers" theme that was a plot device in "Taken."
In "Unknown," Neeson plays Dr. Martin Harris, an American professor who goes to Berlin for a biotech conference with his wife, Elizabeth Harris (played by January Jones). Shortly after checking into their hotel, Martin takes a taxi, which crashes through a bridge and into the water. The taxi driver, an illegal immigrant from Bosnia named Gina (played by Diane Kruger), manages to pull a trapped Martin from the car, thereby saving his life.
Martin wakes up in a hospital and experiences partial memory loss. When he goes back to the hotel to find his wife, he discovers to his horror that all of his identification is missing, his wife claims to not know who he is, and another man (played by Aidan Quinn) has taken Martin’s identity. If all of that weren’t enough, Martin quickly finds out that several hit men are trying to kill him. Martin manages to track down Gina, and with her help, they are in a race against time to learn the truth about Martin’s dire situation while still trying to stay alive. Here is what Neeson, Jones and Kruger said when they sat down together at the Los Angeles press conference for "Unknown."
How would you describe "Unknown"?
Neeson: In a nutshell, I think it’s an edge-of-your-seat thriller with kind of a homage thrown towards Alfred Hitchcock and movies of that ilk, in the '40s, '50s and '60s.
January, can you talk about the appeal of your role in "Unknown"? And with "Unknown" and "X-Men: First Class," are you looking more toward movies for your career? Do you think you will leave TV?
Jones: What I liked about this role was that it was something I hadn’t done before, and it was interesting and to kind indefinable in the way that you don’t know who she is until — well, if ever. I think the audience gets to decide whether she’s a good guy or a bad guy. Like Liam said, it had a little touch of noir. It was an homage to the old Hitchcock films. It was fun for me.
The question about leaving TV, "Mad Men" is my first stint in TV, and it doesn’t really feel like TV to me. So I don’t know. It depends on the project. Whatever keeps me interested and challenged, I guess.
Can you talk about the physical challenges of "Unknown"? How much of the stunt work did you get to do? What were the benefits of filming on location in Berlin?
Neeson: For a start, it was the coldest January and February in 20 years — and treacherously cold, too, like frost on the ground and ice, stuff like that. As you saw in the film, there’s a lot of physical activity outside. There was a challenge in that, just to execute the film in those sorts of conditions. But somehow it actually made us all closer. Diane, it’s your country.
Kruger: I think being in Berlin, and shooting Berlin for Berlin was really nice as well. So often, you get to shoot in a city for a different city, and you try to pretend you’re somewhere else, and you’re not dressed for the weather. I remember making a movie in Montreal, and it was supposed to be Chicago, and freezing to death, basically. So it was nice to be there [in Berlin]. We got to shoot in some really amazing locations in Berlin. And it was a very fast-paced movie. It was two, three locations sometimes a day. That was interesting, and I think added to the energy of the movie.
For me, [the physical challenge of doing "Unknown"] was pretty tough. Running around in the cold on ice is not that easy sometimes, but I enjoyed it. I wanted to play a character for once that was very physical. I liked that she had her own story going on, and that she’s actually saving Liam’s life. And those stunts in the huge tank in Babelsberg were very challenging but interesting. Diving out of the huge car wreck that led into the tank is really fun to do.
Neeson: I don’t do my own stunts. I do my own fighting, which I don’t regard as a stunt, but my dear friend and stunt double, Mark Vanselow, does all my heavy-duty stuff, and has been doing so for about 12 years now.
Liam, can you talk about the process of picking a script, especially with "Unknown." Was there a point when you knew you wanted to do this character in "Unknown"?
Neeson: I’m driven by script all the time. Our drama is based on the spoken word. It’s writing, writing, writing, all the time. That’s my criteria. I guess you’ll have to ask ["Unknown" producer] Joel [Silver] and Jaume [Collet-Serra, the director of "Unknown"]. I seem to have gotten a new lease on life since this "Taken" movie was successful. At the age of 58. I’m sorry. Did I say 58? At the age of 37, it’s great to get that kind of an action hero.
Liam, can you talk about working with Aidan Quinn? You’ve worked together before, right?
Neeson: We did. We did two films together. The first one was "The Mission." And then "Michael Collins."
Do you have a shorthand way of working with Aidan?
Neeson: Very much so. He’s a very dear friend.
And when you were reading the script for "Unknown," how long did it take you while to guess the ending?
Neeson: I actually didn’t guess it. I really didn’t. It really surprised me.
Liam, you did a wonderful job of looking confused in this movie without overselling it. Is there an emotion that’s harder for you to act than others?
Neeson: Confusion, yeah. You work with a very good director, and then they kind of bring it out of you. It’s simple and as difficult as that, actually.
January, you play such a horrible mother/ice queen on "Mad Men." For your movies, would you like to do a character who is warm and sweet, which is what you initially appeared to be in this movie? Is that intentional?
Jones: What’s fun about that, being sweet? Am I typecast as being horrible? Maybe. It’s kind of great, isn’t it? I try to always do something different. I don’t think that this character has anything to do with anything I’ve ever done. And it just keeps me interested in the job to do all kinds of different things. I think that the "sweet," as you said, can be kind of boring. So I will try to stay away from that, for everyone’s sake.
Liam, you said earlier that being an action hero has given your reboot to your career. Do you see yourself balancing action roles with more introspective roles?
Neeson: Yeah, I guess so. I always like to think of something Burt Lancaster said years ago. He said that he acts with his hair. When he’s doing a studio movie, he has a wig. And when he’s doing an art-house movie, he shows his bald patch. You know what I mean.
Diane, is anyone going to want to get in a car with you again?
Kruger: [She laughs.] Probably not!
Was that really you driving the whole time during those car stunt scenes?
Kruger: Yes, I was driving.
Neeson: All the time.
Kruger: He [Liam Neeson] was a little scared.
January, has your acting career gone according to plan?
Jones: I don’t know if I have a plan or ever had a plan, but I’m very happy with the way it’s gone. I’m still very motivated and inspired and challenged and older. I don’t know how you can, in this business, orchestrate anything, but I feel like I’ve been able to work with a lot of great people, and I’ve been very lucky in my choices. And I think I’m very strong-willed, so that’s helped a lot, I guess. But really, I just feel very lucky to have been able do the things that I’ve gotten to do, and haven’t made too many mistakes yet.
Your characters in "Unknown" are in very extreme circumstances. What were you able to pull from your own lives to ground these characters in some sort of reality?
Kruger: Well, when it came to my character, I’m from Europe. The Bosnian-Yugoslavian War is still very much on my mind, for sure. Especially in Europe, I think it’s something that a lot of people still talk about and remember. I was very familiar with many — not the same — stories, but very similar stories that you’ve heard over the years. Actually being born in Germany myself, we have a lot of immigrants from those countries.
I thought it was interesting and what made this movie really interesting to make — apart from the fact that it’s fun and there’s action and it’s a thriller and an intriguing story — it’s very rare to get a female character who has her own back story and has her own interests in why she would help the male protagonist. And I thought that was interesting and gave it a bit of depth. And certainly, for me, as an actress, it was something to bring to the story without weighing it down, that tied it all together and that had a great balance. It wasn’t your regular "run with him" gal.
Have any of you lost your passport while visiting another country in real life?
Kruger: It happened to me, and I’m not American. It’s a pain. Days and days at the embassy, trying to prove who you are when you don’t have your birth certificate. It’s not easy.
Have you ever felt confused, like maybe you’re living someone else’s life?
Jones: I feel like this is me. No, I’m good. I feel solid.
Neeson: I saw in the ["Unknown"] production notes that Berlin went through and is still going through a period of confusion since the [Berlin] Wall came down. And there are very different attitudes between West Berlin and East Berlin. And also, given the economic times that we’re in, there’s definite confusion in the streets, almost like a pulse. So that was good to tap into, because that’s what our characters were going through.
Were there any physical ramifications or injuries because of any training you did?
Neeson: Well, lots of training when you know the fight’s coming up. Little [injuries], but nothing serious.
Was the toughest fight scene the one in the apartment?
Neeson: That was a tough little fight because it was supposed to look scrappy and not too choreographed. The choreographer, who’s also a very dear friend of mine, Olivier Schneider, it’s like doing a wonderful ballet with him. We’ve worked very intensely before, so that induces an absolute confidence. When you’re confident, then you can start breathing normally and you don’t get as injured as much as you would with someone who’s stiff and a bit scared.
One of the most memorable lines in "Unknown" is: "I didn’t forget everything. I remember how to kill you!" Were there any other lines from the movie that were your favorite?
Kruger: "Sympathy. Always the first thing to go."
Liam, would you consider going back and doing a play with the Abbey Theatre in Ireland?
Neeson: They did actually ask me to do something this year. It’s not going to work out, but I do feel the need to go back to the theater. It’s kind of like a drug. It’s a muscle you have to exercise every now and again. The last time was two years ago at Lincoln Center [in New York City], so I’m due to go. I don’t know with what, but I’m on the lookout for something.
Would it be particularly significant for you to go back to Ireland to do theater?
Neeson: It would be at this stage, because I haven’t worked there — certainly in theater — since 1980. So it would be nice to do something.
Can you talk about doing the scene with the taxicab underwater?
Neeson: It was very, very scary for me. I worked with Mark in a tank and a swimming pool to get used to it. I’m not a very strong swimmer; I came to water late. In fact, I learned to swim at the age of 20. But Mark is an amazing friend, and an amazing stuntman. There were lots of days we would meet in the swimming pool and I’d put my head six inches under, two inches under.
When we shot the scene, it was half a cab, and Jaume wanted it to gradually sink into the heated tank, which was great. I’m sitting in the back and I felt confident enough. Mark was literally there with the mask, as I knew he would be, and I banged the window, I’m unconscious and just feeling the water coming up, knowing everybody’s there, and once it got to there I just panicked. We got out, which was easy enough. I wasn’t in control. That’s what it was about. Mark talked me through it. I basically took deep breaths and lowered myself into the seat, which was much, much easier to do.
Kruger: Well, I’m not as scared of water, but there does come a point where it’s very tiring, because I have to dive back down and under, and not just pull him out, but grab the actual pick to break the glass. They had a stunt girl there for me, but there comes a point when you have to do it anyway for two days. You might as well get your close-up, because it’s a pain the ass anyway. So there was one shot we added that wasn’t supposed to be me. And I’m glad I did it, because it’s in the movie, and you really can see that it’s me. I felt like it was an accomplishment. It was fun to do. And that whole sequence, I think, came out so cool. I’m really, really proud of it.
Is the appeal of a film like "Unknown" the literally hands-on aspect of the combat in the stunt sequences?
Neeson: Yeah, that’s partly an attraction. Again, I just go back to the script. That was our foundation and even time after time it was always exhilarating to read the script. Little bits you may have forgotten, or a little piece of stage direction that I usually ignore when I’m reading a script, but in this instance the stage direction was actually quite critical. It was like delving back into a great short novel again.
Liam, you were a boxer when you were younger. Does that help you now when you have to do intense action or fight scenes?
Neeson: I was an amateur boxer. Well, I guess in a deeper way. I was a kid when I boxed. I started when I was 9, and I finished when I was 17 or so, competitively. There’s just something about the discipline of going to a gym and hitting a heavy bag. It gives you a respect for hard work. That’s probably the bottom line of it.
As well as keeping reasonably fit, it’s a discipline, and you have to apply that if you’re lucky enough to get films. That certainly applies. There’s a physical discipline of getting up at 6 o’clock in the morning and shooting until 7, 8 o’clock at night and going home and doing your workout or whatever it is, and eating and going to bed for two months, three months, four months. So that training I did as a child, just the physical aspect, has certainly stood me in good stead in the motion-picture business.
Liam, at this point in your career, how would you define, in a few words, your journey as an actor?
Neeson: Two words? "Very lucky." Seriously.
For more info: "Unknown" website
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