Liam Neeson Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Robin Williams called him every week to cheer him up while he was filming his 1993 Holocaust movie, “Schindler’s List.”Spielberg’s friendship with Williams stretched back to “Hook,” the 1991 flick that Spielberg directed and featured Williams as an adult Peter Pan.Spielberg opened up about “Schindler’s List,” and several other topics, in a wide-ranging interview in the Hollywood Reporter to talk about the 30th anniversary of the movie, which was filmed in Krakow, Poland, in 1993.The movie, which won seven Oscars at the 66th Academy Awards in 1994 — including Best Picture and Best Director (for Spielberg) — told the story of German industrialist Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), who saved thousands of Jews from the Nazis during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories.“Robin knew how hard it was for me on the movie, and once a week, every Friday, he’d call me on the phone and do comedy for me,” Spielberg said.“Whether it was after 10 minutes or 20 minutes, when he heard me give the biggest laugh, he’d hang up on me.”Neeson also remembered Williams’ Friday phone calls to Spielberg.“Steven would tell us afterward the sorts of things Robin would say,” Neeson recalled. “Once he started a riff of ‘I’m not a Nazi, I’m a nutsy,’ all this sort of s – – t.”Williams, the comedically brilliant “Mork & Mindy” star and Oscar-winning actor (“Good Will Hunting”), died by suicide in 2014 at the age of 63.Spielberg said that shooting “Schindler’s List” took its toll on him, emotionally.“The hard days were beyond my imagination and the easy days were never easy,” he told THR.

David Tennant hosted the 2024 BAFTA Film Awards and, during his opening monologue, took a jab at Donald Trump as he makes a presidential run in the U.S.

Liam Neeson has revealed that he and Ewan McGregor were “personally hurt and offended” by the backlash to Star Wars character Jar Jar Binks.The character (played by Ahmed Best) received a hugely negative reception after making his debut in 1999 prequel The Phantom Menace.Speaking to Empire about working with McGregor and Best, Neeson looked back fondly, recalling: “Ahmed was so funny and inventive. Myself and Ewan were personally hurt and offended by the critical reaction to the character.”Last year, Best opened up about the backlash to his character, revealing that he was afraid to leave his apartment after receiving death threats when his phone number was leaked online.“It was terrible.

At this point, there’s a whole subgenre called “a particular set of skills” stories. Popularized by Liam Neeson and his “Taken” film series, this genre finds an older man called upon to return to his old way of life, which typically means kicking ass and murdering people.

EXCLUSIVE: Three-time Best Picture nominated producer Robert Lorenz (American Sniper) is set to direct airplane thriller Papa Alpha Heavy for former MGM exec Eric Paquette, Aaron Barnett, and Brian O’Shea’s The Exchange.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Liam Neeson is to reprise his role as a truck driver turned rescue worker from 2021 indie hit “The Ice Road.” With director Jonathan Hensleigh (writer of “Die Hard with a Vengeance,” “Armageddon” and “Jumanji”) again on board, “The Ice Road 2: Road to the Sky” relocates its story from Canada in the original to Nepal in the sequel. Film production is set to shift from North America to Australia’s Victoria State. Filming will begin this month using Gippsland town of Walhalla as the backdrop for some of the picture’s action scenes.

EXCLUSIVE: Amazon MGM Studios‘ Orion Pictures has entered production on Hedda, its reimagining of Henrik Ibsen’s famed 1891 stage play Hedda Gabler, announcing the addition of six to its cast. Newcomers include Imogen Poots (Baltimore), Tom Bateman (Thirteen Lives), Finbar Lynch (Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan), Mirren Mack (The Witcher: Blood Origins), Jamael Westman (Hamilton), and Saffron Hocking (Top Boy).

Crazy Rich Asians and Harry Potter are among the film highlights on New Year’s Day.After wishing 2023 a boozy farewell, the TV schedules are loaded with films to help ease you into the new year.Highlights include Ridley Scott’s Gladiator, which is set to receive a sequel starring Paul Mescal later this year. For something lighter, there’s Crazy Rich Asians on BBC Three and Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone on ITV2.Elsewhere, Liam Neeson action flick The Commuter is on Sky Showcase, while the 2020 remake of The Witches starring Anne Hathaway is on BBC One.See all the films airing on New Year’s Day below.If you want new films, streaming services have added a bunch in recent weeks.

Naman Ramachandran David Leland, the British writer, director and actor whose credits include “Wish You Were Here,” “The Borgias” and more, died on Dec. 24, according to his agents Casarotto Ramsay & Associates. He was 82.

David Leland, who helmed an Emmy-winning episode of HBO’s “Band of Brothers,” and worked with A-listers including Pierce Brosnan, Tim Roth and George Harrison, has died at the age of 82.Leland passed away Christmas Eve surrounded by his family.British-born Leland also worked with “Monty Python” stars Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam and co-wrote the Oscar-nominated 1986 movie “Mona Lisa” with Neil Jordan.He was also an actor and trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama before co-founding the Drama Centre London and stage-managed at the Crucible Theatre.Leland gave Pierce Brosnan his start in the Tennessee Williams play “The Red Devil Battery Sign.”“David Leland holds a might place in my heart,” Brosnan told The Sun. “I was just out of Drama Centre where David was also an alumni.

Fans of the smash-hit 2003 Christmas movie Love Actually might be surprised to learn there’s a second title in the franchise!

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Liam Neeson-starring “Honest Thief” has secured a multi-platform streaming release in mainland China. It launches on SVOD platforms on Christmas Day (Dec.

The Holiday and Last Christmas are among the film highlights on TV for Christmas Eve.In the run-up to Christmas Day, TV channels will be showing a range of both festive and non-festive fare.Highlights for Christmas Eve include The Holiday starring Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law and Jack Black. Director Paul Feig’s 2019 film Last Christmas, meanwhile, is showing on BBC Three, which stars Emilia Clarke and Henry Golding.If you fancy violence, Film4 has the best options between Taken starring Liam Neeson and Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.See all the films available to watch on Christmas Eve below.If you want some new festive offerings, streaming services have added a bunch of new films in recent weeks.

K.J. Yossman Jennifer Ehle has been cast in Jaclyn Bethany’s queer indie drama “In Transit.” Written by Alex Sarrigeorgiou, the Maine-set feature tells the story of a small town bartender called Lucy who agrees to model for painter Ilse – played by Ehle – who is existentially floundering as she seeks solitude away from her career and complicated personal life while on an artists retreat. “Through their relationship, both women must confront their preconceptions of what makes a good life,” reads the logline.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Oscar winners Dustin Hoffman and Helen Hunt are attached to star in Peter Greenaway‘s drama “Lucca Mortis,” which has started filming in the Tuscan city of Lucca. The new film by the 81-year-old iconoclastic British filmmaker and artist — known for arthouse hits such as “The Draughtsman’s Contract,” “The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover” and “The Pillow Book” — is the tale of a New York writer (Hoffman), who in in 2001, following the attack on the Twin Towers in New York, takes a sabbatical to visit Lucca in search of his distant Italian origins.

Love Actually, will hit Showcase Cinemas from November 24. Starring Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant and Liam Neeson among others, it depicts the lives of different people and couples in the run-up to Christmas, and how their paths may cross in more ways than one.For fans of the romantic genre, The Holiday will return on December 8.

Netflix this December, including a dozen DC movies, the final part of the latest season of The Crown and family fun animations.From unnerving thrillers such as Black Swan to iconic early 1999 romcom starring Freddie Prinze Jr., She’s All That, there is plenty to choose from on the streaming platform.Other highlights include the 2023 biopic, Maestro, starring Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan, as well as the highly anticipated May December, the latest movie by Carol director, Todd Haynes, which stars Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore.There’s plenty of action packed into the list with Liam Neeson movies, Taken, Taken 2 and The Commuter hitting the site on December 1. And for celebrity documentary fans, Kevin Hart & Chris Rock: Headlines Only, will be arriving on December 12.For a full list of the new additions to US Netflix, take a look below (via What’s On Netflix).December 1Basketball Wives (seasons three and four)Big Brother (seasons six and seven)Black Swan (2010)Blockers (2018)Boyz N The Hood (1991)Burlesque (2010)College Hill: Celebrity Edition (season one)Man Of Steel (2013)Batman V. Superman: Dawn Of Justice (2016)Suicide Squad (2016)Wonder Woman (2017)Justice League (2017)Shazam! (2019)Birds Of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation Of One Harley Quinn) (2020)Wonder Woman: 1984 (2020)The Suicide Squad (2021)DC League Of Super-Pets (2022)The Batman (2022)Shazam! Fury Of The Gods (2023)Fisk (season two)Gajen Nad Professional Mixed Breed (2023)Good Boys (2019)Holey Moley (multiple seasons)Hunter Killer (2018)Insidious (2010)L.A. Confidential (1997)May December (2023)Lucy (2014)One Piece (season 19)Radical Wolfe (2023)Real Husbands Of Hollywood: More Kevin, More Problems (season one)She’s All That (1999)She’s The Man

It was released 20 years ago, but watching Love Actually over the Christmas period has become as much of a tradition as snogging under the mistletoe and overcooking the turkey. Somehow, we never tire of seeing a distraught Karen (Emma Thompson) sob in her bedroom after discovering the necklace her husband Harry, played by the late, great Alan Rickman, bought her for Christmas was actually a gift for his beautiful new assistant Mia (Heike Makatsch).

The Crown has been the most-streamed show in the UK over the past week, but the final season’s ratings have lost a little shine when compared with last year.

Cold Pursuit starring Liam Neeson has topped the film chart on Netflix UK.Directed by Hans Petter Moland, the 2019 action thriller follows snowplow driver Nels Coxman (Neeson) who sets out on a revenge mission against members of a drug cartel following the murder of his son.READ MORE: ‘The Killer’ review: not quite top-tier David Fincher but he still hits the targetThe film is a remake of the 2014 Norwegian film In Order Of Disappearance, also directed by Moland. Other cast members in Cold Pursuit include Tom Bateman, Tom Jackson, Emmy Rossum, John Doman and Laura Dern.Elsewhere in the film chart on Thursday (November 16), David Fincher’s The Killer dropped to second place following its release on Netflix last week (November 10).Focus, a crime comedy-drama starring Will Smith and Margot Robbie, is third on the chart, followed by Bryan Singer’s 2013 film Jack And The Giant Slayer.

BreAnna Bell Jeffrey Donovan will not be returning as Detective Cosgrove for Season 23 of “Law & Order,” Variety has confirmed. According to TVLine, who was first to report the news, producers are already on the search for a new series regular. The outlet reports sources claim the two parted ways due to creative differences.

Ed Meza @edmezavar Studiocanal and Universal Pictures are re-releasing Richard Curtis’ holiday classic “Love Actually” worldwide this year in a new 4K restoration. The Working Title film, whose all-star cast includes Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Keira Knightley, Colin Firth, Bill Nighy and Liam Neeson, will also be released on home video and digitally in the U.S. and France.

Ed Meza @edmezavar Tom Tykwer’s first feature film since 2016, “Das Licht” (“The Light”), is set to start rolling this month at Studio Babelsberg near Berlin. The X Filme Creative Pool production, about a troubled family who take in a Syrian immigrant as their new housekeeper, is one of a number of projects heading to the renowned studio as business picks up following a lull this year stemming from the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes.

EXCLUSIVE: Celebrated Oregon studio Laika has brought in new talent, hiring director Pete Candeland, along with Victor Maldonado & Alfredo Torres, the Annie Award-winning duo together known as Headless, to develop new animated features. The appointments are effective immediately, though there’s no word yet on what the projects are.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic With “Leo,” Indian director Lokesh Kanagaraj adds another “badass” to the growing network of formidable action heroes he calls the “Lokesh Cinematic Universe.” How do we know this guy’s a badass? Because the Tamil film’s techno soundtrack tells us so, chanting “Leo Das is a badass!” before even establishing who Leo Das is. By this time, the character in question has already wrestled a wild hyena into submission with his bare hands.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Black Adam” filmmaker Jaume Collet-Serra has been hired by Amazon Studios to direct a movie starring Emily Blunt as pioneering female detective Kate Warne. Melissa Stack wrote the screenplay from a previous draft by Gustin Nash. The untitled film, described as a “propulsive action thriller,” centers around the Sherlock Holmes-esque Kate Warne.

Stephen Emery, a producer at Big Swell Entertainment, died unexpectedly following a workout at a Los Angeles gym on Saturday. He was 46.

Martin Scorcese has suggested in an interview that he regrets his decision to direct Shutter Island, the mystery thriller that came out in 2010.READ MORE:‘Killers Of The Flower Moon’ review: Martin Scorsese’s heartbreaking true crime chillerAhead of the release of his upcoming eighth collaboration with Leonardo DiCaprio, Killers Of The Flower Moon, Scorcese revealed to GQ that he now thinks Shutter Island may not have been the right project for him at the time.Scorcese’s success at the Oscars with The Departed in 2007, sending him home with the award for Best Director, “encouraged [him] to make another picture with Shutter Island.” But the nine-time Oscar nominated director said that at this point, he perhaps should have picked something else instead.He told GQ, “It turned out I should have gone on probably to do Silence,” referring to his 2016 historical drama starring Liam Neeson, Adam Driver and Andrew Garfield. The movie was not one of Scorcese’s great successes, making a loss at the box office, however it has been seen as a great “passion project” of his.Shutter Island, the 2010 psychological thriller about a remote psychiatric facility which saw Scorcese collaborating with DiCaprio for the fourth time was received well at the time and became his second highest grossing film worldwide following Taxi Driver.However, it received no Academy Award nominations at the 2011 ceremony, making it the director’s only feature film released in the last 20 years to have received no Oscar recognition.Scorcese also shared with GQ that he viewed Shutter Island, released by Paramount Pictures, as “the last studio film I made,” with his recent projects being funded independently.

Laura Linney shared her reaction to an “unfortunate” incident that occurred during New York Fashion Week, in which a member from her security team get hit in the head by an aggressive fan.

Liam Neeson’s new action thriller Retribution has been described as in the running for “worst film of the year” by critics.Directed by Nimród Antal (Predators), the film follows financier Matt Turner (Neeson) who is threatened by a mysterious bomber while driving his son and daughter to school. Other cast members include Noma Dumezweni, Lilly Aspell and Jack Champion.It’s the third remake of the 2015 Spanish film The Stranger, following German and Korean adaptations in 2018 and 2021 respectively.Retribution, which was released in the US on August 25, received a negative review on Rolling Stone, who described it as a “formula beaten into submission”.“Retribution is not the worst of his thrillers/action movies – that honour belongs to either last year’s god-awful Blacklight or this freezer-burned turkey – but it does suggest that Neeson may want to consider retiring from the everyman action-hero beat for good,” the review reads.