- Title: Liam Neeson and son made new film to honour late wife and mother
- Date: 25th March 2021
- Summary: UNIDENTIFIED LOCATIONS (MARCH 10, 2021) (REUTERS VIA ZOOM) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTORS, LIAM NEESON AND MICHEAL RICHARDSON, SAYING: RICHARDSON "Dad?" NEESON "Micheal, come on." RICHARDSON "It's very close to home, obviously. And you have to kind of be ready and vulnerable, open yourself up to do it. And that's kind of, it was a big attraction for me, although it could feel kind of hard to do and, you know, it involves, you know, my dead mother and loss, but that's what I've learned in grief, is that instead of trying to, like, brush it under the carpet and not deal with it and not talk about it, it's important to kind of dive towards it and recognise that and keep those loved ones in mind and talk about them and honour them in different ways. And so that's what I felt like we were doing in this film, was honouring her." NEESON "Yeah, I find it was, especially there's a couple of very emotional scenes, and I immediately left them, I thought, I know it's not going to be hard for me to channel that, those emotions. I totally ignored them even up until the day we were shooting them. And James had written the scenes beautifully actually. So I knew I could easily access those emotions."
- Embargoed: 8th April 2021 20:13
- Keywords: James D'Arcy Liam Neeson Made in Italy movie Micheal Richardson Natasha Richardson movie set in Italy
- Location: VARIOUS
- City: VARIOUS
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Europe,Film
- Reuters ID: LVA005E5L17BH
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Liam Neeson and his real-life son Micheal Richardson star as a grief-stricken father and son duo in "Made in Italy", a movie the two say they made to honour their late wife and mother, Natasha Richardson.
Richardson, also an actor and part of the Redgrave acting dynasty, died after suffering a severe brain injury in a skiing accident in Canada in March 2009 when Micheal was 13 years old.
In "Made in Italy", Micheal stars as Jack, who risks losing his art gallery, owned by his wife's wealthy family, as his short-lived marriage comes to an end. Jack pleads to be allowed to buy the venue and in order to raise the funds, he decides to sell a house in the Tuscan hills that were left to him and his estranged father, Robert (Neeson), by his mother, who died in an accident when he was young.
Jack convinces Robert, a bohemian artist, to travel to Italy by car from London for the sale, only to find the house in a dilapidated state. The two set on to restore the house to its former glory and the process also begins to restore their relationship.
In addition to hitting close to home, the film, directed by James D'Arcy, also mark's the first major role for Richardson.
"It was very, very near the knuckle, it reverberated with both myself and Micheal, I know, in a very profound way," said Neeson.
"Micheal then was 22, so I thought he might be a bit too young, but he worked very closely with James D'Arcy, for four or five hours, and then James called me and said, listen, we think this'll work. I think Micheal can really do this. Great. Let's, let's pursue it!"
Micheal, who in 2018 went through a legal process to change his last name from Neeson to Richardson in honour of his mother, said that while making the film was no easy, it also helped celebrate her memory in a new way.
"It's very close to home, obviously. And you have to kind of be ready and vulnerable, open yourself up to do it," he said.
"Although it could feel kind of hard to do and, you know, it involves, you know, my dead mother and loss, but that's what I've learned in grief, is that instead of trying to, like, brush it under the carpet and not deal with it and not talk about it, it's important to kind of dive towards it and recognise that and keep those loved ones in mind and talk about them and honour them in different ways. And so that's what I felt like we were doing in this film, was honouring her."
D'Arcy, who has acted in films including "Dunkirk", "Cloud Atlas" and "Avengers: Endgame", makes his feature film directorial debut with "Made in Italy".
He also wrote the script and said he wanted to tell a simple character-led story that offered hope.
"I think also when I wrote it, it was a reaction to the relatively bleak scripts that I was reading a lot at the time where everything was just miserable, miserable," he said.
"I want to feel charm and hope and enjoyment. And I want my films to take me on holiday and to have a lovely time while that's happening, you know, so that's how it came about."
Neeson, 68, has been keeping busy despite the pandemic.
His action thriller "The Marksman" topped the US box office at the start of the year and he said more action movies would follow - somewhat to his surprise.
"If someone had told me when I did the first 'Taken' film, which was 13 years ago when we shot it, that I'd be, I'm still being offered action scripts, I'm 69 in June and I've got three action scripts kind of lined up between now and 2022, God spares us if we are all alive. And I'm happy with it," he said.
"Made in Italy" will be released on Amazon Prime Video on Friday (March 26).
(Production: Hanna Rantala) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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