Liam Neeson recalls a traumatic time as he promotes new movie set during Troubles

The Ballymena actor was speaking ahead of the Netflix release of In The Land Of Saints And Sinners.

He plays haunted ex-assassin Finbar Murphy in the movie, a man attempting to live a quieter life in the coastal town of Glencolmcille — but an on-the-run IRA member breaks the fragile peace.

Neeson said it was an interesting experience reliving the Troubles as “a piece of entertainment” in his latest role.

“Growing up, I was surrounded by violence. I never took part in it, but I was always surrounded by it,” he told YouTube channel MovieWeb.

“So, it was interesting to play a piece of entertainment based on those Troubles, as they were euphemistically known as.”

In The Land Of Saints And Sinners is set in 1974 — when he would have been 22 — during the height of the conflict.

Fellow Irish actors Ciaran Hinds, Colm Meaney and Kerry Condon also star.

Neeson added: “I’ve known Ciaran for 50 years, we’re very close friends.

“Colm Meaney, I’ve known Colm for 40 years, we’ve done a couple of plays together in Ireland in the old days.

“That was lovely and comfortable to be with Irish colleagues again and just to be able to indulge in one’s own Irishness.

“I shared a house with Ciaran and it was lovely. That aspect of it was lovely and we were all kind of close by, in various little houses, and the magnificent Atlantic Ocean there.”

It was his first time working with Cordon.

He explained: “I didn’t know Kerry at all.

“I’d seen her in The Banshees of Inisherin, which I admired very much.

“Kerry’s terrific — she’s such a strong actress, and a good laugh too.”

He did work with the movie’s director Robert Lorenz before on 2021’s The Marksman.

Neeson said: “I was in Clint Eastwood’s last Dirty Harry movie in 1988 and Rob is very much from that school.

“You shoot two takes, maybe three, and then move on.

“You don’t over intellectualise discussions of what the scene’s about or what a moment in the scene is about; you cast it well and shoot it.

“So, Rob and I, we clicked in that department very much and I was thrilled that he was going to direct Saints And Sinners.

“It’s lovely to just be with a band of colleagues that you look forward to going to work with every day, and having that basis of a really good, strong script.”

Next up for the actor is the lead role in the Naked Gun reboot, written and directed by Akiva Schaffer, member of comedy trio The Lonely Island.

Shooting is due to start next month.

Neeson said: “It’s a good script... it’s still developing.

“It’s got about three laugh out loud moments, but we need about seven or eight, really.

“And lots of funny gags... there’s got to be lots of visual gags happening at the same time, you know.

“Serious things are being discussed.”

In The Land Of Saints And Sinners will be released on Netflix in the UK and Ireland on April 26.