Liam Neeson thought that the Taken phone scene was “cornball”.

Liam Neeson knew he sounded intimidating, but thought the dialogue in the famous Taken phone call scene was corny.

Liam Neeson has been working consistently for over 40 years now, but he got a complete reboot in his career when the action movie Taken was released in 2008. And while that movie has spawned a trilogy, launched countless memes and gave Neeson a new fanbase, Neeson wasn’t so sure how Taken‘s most famous line would stick.

Speaking with Vanity Fair, Liam Neeson said he didn’t expect Taken to be such a success. He also didn’t anticipate the most iconic scene, Taken – in which he says “I don’t know who” (-). I don’t know your intentions…but I will find and kill you”

-would have been received as well. “It was scary, but it was funny to me. It was a cornball. I really did feel that…It’s nice to be proven wrong.”Liam Neeson added, “I was very surprised by Taken…I thought it was going to be a straight-to-video film. It was such a simple story.” And yet Taken not only has two sequels (Taken 2 and

Taken 3-titles not quite as clever as some of the trilogy’s finest moments), but also inspired a television series of the same name, with Clive Standen starring in the origin story. Neeson ended up taking on the role of veteran action star and many others followed his lead. So, yeah, you could say one “cornball” line triggered its own subgenre of action movies.Liam Neeson has previously spoken about Taken, figuring it wouldn’t be a hit but that it ultimately proved a positive experience for him.

“I remember thinking, It’s going straight to video, …’ But that’s three months in Paris. How terrible could that be? It was a joy to work with these stunt men every evening. It was a pleasure. A quarter year in France, helping to mold the model for the over-the-hill action star. Not bad for somebody probably best known for playing Oskar Schindler and Alfred Kinsey…Liam Neeson also said that, despite some hesitations, he did actively pursue Taken. “I had read this [co-writer/producer Luc Besson]Taken

script and I approached there and said, ‘Look, I’m sure I’m nowhere near your list of actors for this, but I used to be a boxer, I love doing fight scenes, I’ve done quite a few sorcery movies with swords and shit. Please think of me for this.’ Push came to shove and he offered it to me.”What did you think of Liam Neeson in the