Redeem now - Liam Neeson said Natasha Richardson told him she wouldn't marry him if he played James Bond.
- He was never offered the part, but was "interested" while producers were casting 1995's "GoldenEye."
- He joked that "all those gorgeous girls" in the films might've factored into her feelings.
According to Liam Neeson, if he ever played iconic action star James Bond in a film, his late wife Natasha Richardson wouldn't have married him.
This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Log in.Asked by Rolling Stone reporter Marlow Stern if it was true he turned down the lead role in 1995's "GoldenEye," he set the record straight and said he was "interested" but never offered the part. If he had been offered it, though, he might've turned it down for a very good reason.
He was engaged to Richardson at the time, and they were filming the 1994 movie "Nell" before their July 1994 wedding while the James Bond crew was considering its cast. Neeson said he knew one of the film's infamous producers, Barbara Broccoli.
"My lovely wife, god rest her soul, said to me while we were shooting 'Nell' down in the Carolinas, 'Liam, I want to tell you something: If you play James Bond, we're not getting married,'" Neeson said.
He recalled taking her words in stride. "I would tease her by going behind her back, making my fingers as though I'm holding a gun, and then [hums the James Bond theme]. I loved doing that shit!"
"She gave me a James Bond ultimatum. And she meant it!" he continued, adding that her threat might've been due to "all those gorgeous girls in various countries getting into bed and getting out of bed."
Richardson and Neeson were married for 16 years before she died in 2009 after sustaining a severe head injury in a skiing accident in Canada. She and Neeson had two sons together. Micheál Richardson, 27, is an actor who goes by his mother's surname. Daniel Neeson, 26, is a fashion designer and entrepreneur.
"It was such a freak accident," Neeson said, reflecting on Richardson's death in Rolling Stone.
Asked about how he "picked up the pieces" of his life after her death he said, "Life goes on. Natasha's mother, Vanessa [Redgrave], and her sister [Joely Richardson] kind of moved in, and I had a wonderful assistant, Joanna… People just came to help, you know? In a big way. And I'll never, ever forget that."
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