Liam Neeson has established himself as one of Hollywood’s biggest actors, cranking out successful films year after year. You would think that with such success he would have earned some minor rights such as, oh I don’t know, getting to know the story before shooting? Apparently that’s not the case though as it turns out that Christopher Nolan‘s penchant for secrecy even extends to his high-profile actors.
Neeson told Hollywood.com that Nolan had him reprise his role as Ra’s al Ghul for The Dark Knight Rises without providing any explanation as to why he was in the film.
“[Nolan] takes it to another extreme — I didn’t know I was in the movie, I went and shot a scene for two hours with Christian Bale. There was a set, and Christian was tied up… I said, ‘Chris, what am I doing?’ [As Nolan:] ‘Um… well, just walk forward, and say the lines, walk back, and that’ll be it, really.’ I said, ‘What the f***? Tell me the story!’ [As Nolan:] ‘Um… I’d prefer not to, really.’ Okay, don’t mind me — I’m just an actor.”
I think it’s incredible that Nolan is able to operate with such a high level of secrecy and his actors accept it. The fact that actors as successful and respected as Neeson put complete faith into Nolan speaks to the quality of the director’s films in a way that box office numbers never could.
Certainly another great anecdote to add to the growing list of Nolan lore.
