Whether he has tugged at your heartstrings, saved the day as the hero you can count on, or you’ve simply felt the force of his lightsaber, actor Liam Neeson continues to bring a variety of emotions to us moviegoers through his many decades of powerful performances up on the big screen.

With his latest film Memory from Open Road Films and Briarcliff Entertainment arriving in theaters, Neeson is back to his modern action role ways that fans have come to expect from the actor over recent years. So, what was it about Neeson’s latest character Alex Lewis that intrigued him to take on this Memory project?

“They sent me the Belgium film that was made in 2003, I believe, that I enjoyed immensely,” Neeson tells me over Zoom. “It was terrific, but I thought it could be updated. I find the character fascinating to play. A precision hitman assassin who is going through the early stages of Alzheimer’s. It just added texture to the character and made the moral issues of the film very ambiguous – lots of shades of gray. And just doing the research on Alzheimer’s and dementia was traumatic in some of the documentary films I saw and I have a friend in Ireland who’s early stages dementia, so I kind of knew a little bit firsthand of what this man is going through.”

There is no arguing that Neeson has built a bonafide action star persona in Hollywood. Starting around his 2008 film Taken, a sleeper hit that grossed nearly $227 million at the worldwide box office and a collective total of more than $932 million worldwide between what would become a Taken trilogy of films.

“I’ve said this publicly, we shot Taken, I loved the script. I thought it was a tight, little European thriller but I thought we’d probably end up just going straight to video. We opened it in France first, it did well, and then they opened it in South Korea and it did well. And then I remember getting a telephone call from my nephew in Worthing in the South of England. Yeah, Uncle Liam, we saw your film. What film is that? Uh, Taken. I said it’s not out yet, what do you mean you saw it? Uh well, we downloaded it on the computer. I said that’s against the law, you can’t do that! So I remember thinking well, that’s the end of that, but FOX took it in this [U.S.] country and made great little trailers, showed them at various sporting events, and they created the success of it.”

When I bring up with Neeson his famous Taken line I will find you and I will kill you, he says with a laugh, “If I had five cents for every time I said that on one of my sons’ friend’s voice messages, I’d be quite rich.”

With his long list of action films that have been released since then, I wondered what it is about these highly-trained characters that intrigues Neeson most to keep taking on these types of roles.

“‘A’ – they’re fun! I get to hang out with my stunt/fight coordinator Mark Vanselow – we’ve done 25 films together now. We have armorers with the guns and I never take that stuff for granted, even though I’ve used a lot of guns in films. Each project where there is a firearm, I try and wipe my slate clean and look at it as if for the first time someone is showing me how a gun works – how to load it and stuff, you know? I enjoy it very much and you know, they keep offering me these things!”

Even with his recent rise in the action genre, let’s not forget Neeson’s earlier years in Hollywood with his many other memorable performances in the categories of comedy and drama, from Best Picture Winner Schindler’s List to the timeless favorite Love Actually to even as Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, projects I bring up with Neeson. So, out of all of the characters and films he has been a part of over the years, I wondered if there is one specific performance for Neeson that he holds dearest to his heart because of either the role he played or the experience he had while filming.

“I have to say the films you mentioned, I’m very proud of. I’ve made 100 films up until Christmas past – I’m staggered by that and deeply honored and flattered, but my favorite is Michael Collins. He was an Irish revolutionary figure, one of the founders of the modern Irish state and he was highly controversial. I don’t think the film did terribly well here (grossing just over $11 million at the U.S. box office), even though there’s like 30 million people in the country who have an association with Ireland. I am very proud of it.”

With the ever-changing landscape of some films skipping a theatrical release with the growing trend of video streaming premieres, the North Ireland-born actor has his own thoughts on the shift we are seeing on the distribution decision-making of major motion pictures today.

“We’re all very aware of the whole streaming service – it’s almost like a whole new industry, which is great for independent films that always have trouble getting off the ground. It’s great for them. I am concerned a bit – maybe I’m being snobbish, I love the big screen. I love cinema, I love going into a darkened theater with a bunch of strangers, the curtains part, the lights go down and you’re transported. That to me always has been since when I was a kid going to see matinee movies in my hometown. I was just transported and I still am when I go to the cinema. I’ve watched a lot of these streaming series and stuff – they’re superb, they’re fantastic, but give me the big screen all the time, you know?”

On June 7, Neeson will celebrate his 70th birthday, a fact he jokes about with me and playfully shares that he has the same birthday as “It’s Not Unusual” singer Tom Jones. As Neeson continues onward with his action-packed Hollywood career, I asked Neeson what his mindset and priorities are today as he is about to embark on a new decade of his life.

“I feel incredibly lucky. Seriously, very, very fortunate. It’s funny, Anthony Hopkins, Tony Hopkins, I was in a film with Tony years ago in Tahiti called The Bounty and any time I see Tony now, we give each other a hug and I say how are you doing, Tony? He says Great, I haven’t been found out yet! I kind of feel the same myself (laughs). My mindset is look, I’m fortunate to get to do what I do. I love it! Someone told me years ago if you can find a reason to wake up in the morning and do a job that you love, you have a gift for the rest of your life, and I certainly have been given a gift. That hasn’t changed, my mindset is still the same. I love doing it. I love being with a film crew, especially film crews. I’m fond of actors but I adore film crews. It’s a bunch of guys and girls that come together to make you look good and to tell a story.”