The 'Taken' star signs on to the Jonathan Hensleigh-directed project months after he derailed the publicity tour for 'Cold Pursuit' with his controversial rape revenge remarks.
- Aug 23, 2019
AceShowbiz - Liam Neeson is continuing to attempt to revive his film career after controversial rape revenge comments landed him in hot water with a new action adventure role.
The actor has signed on to star in "The Ice Road", in which he'll play a big-rig driver who must lead an impossible rescue mission over a frozen ocean after a remote diamond mine collapses.
Directed by Jonathan Hensleigh, production is set to begin next January (20).
Neeson is also currently attached to headline the thriller "The Minuteman", which was announced in May.
The 67-year-old has stayed out of the public eye since he told British newspaper The Independent in February that when he was a young man he once wandered the streets looking for a black man roughly fitting the description of his friend's rapist. The star's comments derailed the publicity tour for his film "Cold Pursuit", led to the cancellation of the U.S. premiere, and forced Liam to make a TV apology for his insensitive remarks.
In the troubling interview, the "Taken" star said, "I went up and down areas with a cosh, hoping I'd be approached by somebody. I'm ashamed to say that. And I did it for maybe a week, hoping some black b**tard would come out of a pub and have a go at me about something, you know? So that I could kill him."
Following the backlash, the actor explained he had sought help to curb the "primal urge to lash out" he felt as a young man.
