GUNNING FOR LAUGHS

LIAM NEESON trades action for absurdity in a bold reboot of The Naked Gun-bringing deadpan charm and decades of gravitas to comedy's silliest badge

- JENNIFER H. CUNNINGHAM

IN HIS FIVE DECADES IN HOLLYWOOD, LIAM NEESON HAS seen and done it all—from Oscar-nominated dramas to hard-hitting action thrillers, with a touch of romantic comedy and a flirtation with parody along the way.

Now, at 73, and with more than 100 movies under his belt, the Northern Irish actor is taking perhaps his boldest turn yet: stepping into the world of slapstick, starring as Frank Drebin Jr. in a reboot of one of the funniest film franchises of all time—The Naked Gun.

Despite some “tiny little apprehensions” about a foray into the genre, Neeson said when The Naked Gun producer Seth MacFarlane approached him about the role four years ago, he was all in. “He called me and proposed this reboot that the studio was thinking of, of The Naked Gun, and would I be Frank Drebin Jr?” Neeson told Newsweek. “I said, ‘Yeah, of course I'd be open to that.' I know Seth's wicked sense of humor, at least from Family Guy and stuff. So I thought, OK, this could be interesting.”

It's a genre pivot few might expect from Neeson— but in many ways, it's the culmination of a complex and richly layered career.

Neeson grew up in a working-class Catholic family in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, the third of four children. He had three sisters and was raised in a modest household, where his father worked as a caretaker at a school and his mother was a cook. From a young age, Neeson showed interest In acting, joining the local theater in Belfast before moving into film.

HIGHS AND LOWS Neeson at the funeral (bottom) of his wife Natasha Richardson (below) in 2009. He discussed his career with Newsweek's Jennifer H. Cunningham (far left).

His breakout role came in 1993, playing the titular German industrialist in Steven Spielberg’s