Since George Lucas and Steven Spielberg pushed the green light on Indy 4, Liam Neeson has been left twiddling his thumbs somewhat, given that he was all set to star in, before the hat and whip were dusted off, what was going to be Spielberg's next project, the Lincoln biopic. He's a resourceful fella though, our Liam, and just days later, he's signed on for Pierre Morel's Taken.
Morel is a long time creative collaborator of Luc Besson, as cinematographer on The Transporter and Unleashed, and making his directorial debut with District 13, released in the UK just last year.
Taken will see Neeson playing an ex-soldier travelling in Europe with his daughter. When the girl is kidnapped by slave traders, Dad has to find her before she's shipped off, never to be seen again. Hopefully this will see the 6' 4" Northern Irish actor periodically opening up cans of whupass.
The script is by Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, who have written together previously, coming up with **The Transporter, The Fifth Element **and Kiss Of The Dragon. It'll be funded by Besson's production company EuropaCorp, and filmed mostly in Paris. Neeson is quite a late addition to the project, which is set to start shooting on February 14. Guess that kind of gives his Valentines Day plans away, then.