The 'Taken' actor remembers how his excitement when getting his hands on the iconic 'Star Wars' weapon had ruined his action scenes with Ewan McGregor.
- Sep 8, 2023
AceShowbiz - Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor were admonished by "Star Wars" boss George Lucas for making lightsaber noises during a fight scene. The actors both starred in Lucas' prequel movie "Star Wars, Episode I - The Phantom Menace" and Neeson has revealed the pair were very excited to get their hands on the iconic sci-fi franchise's weapons for a battle sequence - but their enthusiastic noises irked the director.
"The first time I actually had to pull the lightsaber and there's just a handle and a bit of alumina tube with green tape - mine was green because I'm Irish, Irish Jedi - and Ewan's was red or something," the actor explained on the "Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend" podcast.
"So the first time we got to pull them at the start of a little fight. We both automatically went and action [made light sabre sound effect noises] … George said let's cut that. Boys we can add that [noise] in later ... Of course we knew that."
Neeson also opened up about working with characters who were added in later via CGI and recalls a candid conversation with the woman who was doing his make-up.
He said, "I was supposed to being doing this scene with [Watto], a little flying monster. I didn't know what this thing was going to look like so I'm acting to a guy with a stick a ... tennis ball on top which will eventually be this little monster."
"I'm in the makeup chair, and the lady says, 'I did see a mock-up of the wee monster, and you could be a monkey smoking a pipe and no one is going to be looking at you.' And I had a lot of lines to say … to this tennis ball. And when you see the scene it's amazing."
During the podcast Neeson - who played Jedi master Qui-Gon Jinn - revealed he isn't approached by "Star Wars" fans for autographs very often and complained the franchise has been "diluted" by spin-offs.
He said, "Not all the time [I'm approached by 'Star Wars' fans] I mean it is a cult. There's so many movies and spin-offs now I think it's diluting the whole thing. That's my personal thing. Occasionally there's kids after a 'Star Wars' autograph and I don't want to give autographs at the airport. Oh but it's not the kid, it's the grandfather, there he is - or the dad. They become 11 year olds."
