Paul Salfen’s exclusive interviews with Liam Neeson, Forest Whitaker, then actresses Famke Jannsen and Maggie Grace
Ex-government operative Bryan Mills is accused of a ruthless murder he never committed or witnessed. As he is tracked and pursued, Mills brings out his particular set of skills to find the true killer and clear his name.
Interview Synopsis by Summer Moore
Paul Salfen sat down with a few of the cast of Taken 3 (2014) and spoke with them about the possible future of the franchise, it’s hands-on director, and purpose on the big screen.
Although they all stated that this third movie would not lead to a fourth, viewers aren’t entirely convinced as each star seems to be tickled by the idea of another. Forest Whitaker (Bird, Repo Men, Out of The Furnace, etc.) suggests that the next movie should revolve around a grandchild and Liam Neeson (Taken 1 & 2, Schindler’s List, The Dark Knight Rises, etc.) agrees saying it would be about a “ great granddad actually, obsessive granddad” and the jesting continued as Neeson raised his hand and exerted “I’ll babysit!” back at Salfen. He even theorizes that Whitaker’s character could be “very interestingly developed for a fourth one.” Maggie Grace (Malice in Wonderland, The Twighlight Saga, etc.) teases Salfen about the movie poster’s headline “It Ends Here”. She smiles and asks “Do you not believe us when we write in large red letters?…Have we broken your trust?” Moreover, Famke Janssen (GoldenEye, The Faculty, X-Men, etc.) gasped and playfully laughed while saying “Nobody believes anything anymore!…How Terrible!”
This lighthearted interview also contained a lot of insight into the directing of the film by Olivier Megaton (Taken 2 & 3, Transporter 3, Colombiana, etc.). While Neeson felt thankful that Megaton was able to keep a calm and level head during major deadlines, he was also able to step away from the “Video Village” and be “there with his actors all the time.” Whitaker agreed saying that he couldn’t think of a time when the director didn’t have a camera “on shoulder” and wasn’t a part of the “technical sides” of filming as well as his many other duties.
Grace praised the cinematography asserting that the heart racing film should be viewed on the big screen so as not to miss “the thrills and the spills.” The visual aspect of the film is not the only big-screen factor as Famke asserted:
“There’s also the sound, there’s something that, however good of a system at home you can get with surround sound or whatever, there’s something about going into a theatre. Personally, I like the experience of it all, but the sound resonates everywhere. It truly surrounds you…”
Both actresses gesticulate enthusiastically about the holisitic and “communal aspect” of going to a theatre and seeing a movie with other people. Grace notes that movie-going can be an exciting and energetic endeavor like when she attended the Taken 3 premiere with “a bunch of friends and family and it got really loud. It was as if [they]were, you know, watching the world cup or something.”
According to the cast, Taken 3 is an adventure that engages its audience and encourages them to take a suspenseful ride through the world of main character, Bryan Mills (Neeson). Not only did the cast enjoy filming, but they also had high praise for the director, Olivier Megaton, and his passion for filmmaking. Audiences hate to see this be the last of the franchise, but honestly the cast didn’t seem so sure that it does, in fact, end here.
