Liam Neeson has opened up about what his late wife’s conditions were for accepting his acting roles.
The actor revealed that his wife, Natasha Richardson, had one condition when it came to his career, saying that she refused to marry him if he ever played the role of James Bond.
Neeson disclosed this fact in a recent interview with Rolling Stone, where he reminisced about the time when he was a potential candidate for the role of the iconic British spy.
According to Neeson, while they were shooting the film “Nell” in 1994, Natasha told him, “Liam, I want to tell you something: If you play James Bond, we’re not getting married.”
Neeson admitted that he was interested in the part but never formally offered the role. He joked about teasing his wife by pretending to hold a gun and humming the James Bond theme, even though she gave him an ultimatum, and she meant it.
Despite the possibility of missing out on one of the most coveted roles in Hollywood, Neeson knew that he wanted to be married to Richardson more than anything. In an interview with the Hull Daily Mail, he said that his desire to marry his wife outweighed any interest he had in playing James Bond, even though he was “heavily courted” for the role.
Neeson and Richardson were married for 16 years until her tragic death in 2009, after she suffered a head injury in a ski accident.
Speaking to Anderson Cooper in a later interview about his wife’s passing, Neeson described how her death had left him feeling profoundly unstable, saying that “the Earth isn’t stable anymore.”
He added that even though the feeling had become less frequent over time, he still sometimes feels like he’ll hear her when the door opens in their New York residence.
While Neeson may have missed out on the chance to play James Bond, he has had a successful acting career, starring in films like Schindler’s List, Taken, and Love Actually.
Despite this success, Neeson has previously said that he would love to play the iconic spy. In a 2014 interview with The Guardian, he revealed that he had previously met with James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli about the role but that “it was never going to happen.”
