Liam Neeson Says He’s Voiced Endless ‘Taken’ Threats on Voicemail for His Son’s Friends

In Taken (2008), Liam Neeson plays Bryan Mills, a retired CIA operative whose daughter is kidnapped in Paris. It’s a movie that changed the direction of Neeson’s career, redifing him as an action star, but it also gave us plenty of lines to quote memes from.

The famous phone call scene is certainly the most memorable. The kidnappers grab his daughter, and he gets on the phone with them. He calmly delivers a monologue:

“I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don’t have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career, skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don’t, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.“

It’s become one of the most quoted lines in modern action movies because it’s delivered so calmly. And as it turns out, Neeson decided to have fun with it in his private time too. In his recent interview with the New York Times, Neeson admitted that at first he was embarrassed about the movie but later decided to have fun with it.

“I was a tiny bit embarrassed,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong, I did love the script. But I can’t tell you how many voicemails [of the ‘Taken’ speech] I’ve recorded for my sons’ friends.”

Taken earned $145 million in North America and $81.8 million internationally, for a worldwide total of $226.8 million against a modest $25 million production budget.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 60% approval rating based on 178 reviews, with an average score of 5.80/10. The site’s consensus states: “Taken is undeniably fun with slick action, but is largely a brainless exercise.” On Metacritic, it has a weighted score of 50 out of 100 from 32 critics, indicating “mixed or average reviews.”

Despite the lukewarm critical reception, the film’s box office success launched a full franchise, including two sequels and a television series.

Now Neeson is promoting his latest movie, The Naked Gun reboot. The movie was directed Akiva Schaffer, who co-wrote the screenplay alongside Dan Gregor and Doug Mand. Serving as a legacy sequel to Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult (1994), it marks the fourth installment in the Naked Gun franchise.

The story follows the son of the legendary Lt. Frank Drebin as he tries to live up to his father’s legacy while racing to stop the impending shutdown of Police Squad. The film stars Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, Kevin Durand, and Danny Huston.

The Naked Gun had its world premiere at the SVA Theater in Manhattan on July 28, 2025, before opening in theaters in the United States and United Kingdom on August 1, 2025, through Paramount Pictures. The film was met with positive reviews from critics.

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments!