Liam Neeson: I’m retiring from ass-kicking before I need a walker

Liam Neeson is “Taken” a permanent break from kicking bad guy butt. 

Putting his menacing “I will find you and I will kill you” threats to bed, Neeson, 68, announced Thursday that he is taking his very particular set of skills and retiring from the action movie genre.

“I’m 68½ — 69 this year,” the Oscar nominee explained on “Entertainment Tonight.”

“There’s a couple more I’m going to do this year — hopefully, COVID allowing us — there’s a couple in the pipeline and then I think that will probably be it.”

“Well, unless I’m on a Zimmer frame or something,” Neeson added, joking he’d need a walker to continue violently vanquishing villains as he’s done in high-octane hits such as “Taken,” “Non-Stop” and forthcoming feature film “The Marksman.”

Facing off with drug cartel assassins as an ex-Marine-turned-defender of a young Mexican boy in “The Marksman,” set for release Friday, Neeson admitted he’ll miss the fisticuffs of thriller flicks.

Neeson, 68, faces off with drug cartel assassins as an ex-Marine-turned-reclusive rancher charged with protecting an 11-year-old boy in “The Marksman.”Courtesy Everett Collection
“I love doing ’em,” he said. “I love beating up guys half my age.”But Neeson recently realized the beatings were taking more of a toll on him while shooting his other upcoming blockbuster, “Backlight.”

“I’ve just finished [‘Blacklight’] in Australia and I had a fight scene with a kid — lovely, sweet actor called Taylor,” said the Northern Irishman, who’s received honors from the queen herself.

“And halfway through the fight I looked up, I was breathless and it didn’t cost him a cent, and I said, ‘Taylor, what age are you?’ He said, ‘25.’ I said, ‘That’s the age of my eldest son [Micheál Richardson]!’”

The star of “The Dark Knight Rises” previously denounced doing any more superhero movies — noting his disdain for having to “go into the gym for three hours every day to pump myself up to squeeze into a Velcro suit with a cape.”
Liam Neeson, 68, is retiring from action movies. His upcoming film “The Marksman” will be one of his last.Courtesy Everett Collection
Nonetheless, Neeson is honored by fans’ demands that he reprise his role as Zeus from “Clash of the Titans” to star alongside Gal Gadot as her omnipotent father in “Wonder Woman 3.”

“I guess so, sure. I mean, I’m very flattered!,” the box-office boomer said, before revealing that he didn’t know Zeus is Wonder Woman’s dad.

“I wasn’t aware that the ancient Greek gods appeared in ‘Wonder Woman.’ I have to say, much to my chagrin, I haven’t seen kind of the ‘Wonder Woman’ movies.”

Once brought up to speed on comic book lore, Neeson said with a cheeky grin: “I’ll call my agent!”