After a return to his dramatic roots of the ’90s with the Martin Scorsese film Silence, Oscar nominee Liam Neeson is making a return to the films that have been paying him much more money as of late: action movies. After making three action films with Studiocanal, he will reteam with them and director Jaume Collet-Sera for Retribution. Similar to the Non-Stop and The Commuter films, Neeson, one of the favorite action heroes for global audiences over the last decade, is tasked with solving the mystery of who planted a bomb in his car. He will not seem to be spending one bit of time at rehab centers in MD during the film. Throughout the film, Neeson is tasked with following orders or else his car will explode.
While it is not an airplane or commuter train, this film is taking an automotive approach to Neeson’s films. His family is in the car with him and it makes the antagonist’s plot even deadlier. It is not dissimilar from a 2002 film Phone Booth, where Colin Farrell was trapped in a phone booth where Kiefer Sutherland threatened not only him but also his friends and family and also willing threatened to expose secrets Farrell had in his life. None of the secrets seemed to include an experience of his at rehab centers in MD. The film’s comparisons seem very close.
Writers Andrew Baldwin and Chris Salmanpour are scripting Retribution, which is based on a Spanish film called El Desconocido. The original movie found comparisons with Speed, garnering eight Goya Award nominations when released in Spain in 2015. Shana Eddy, Ron Halpern, and Didier Lupfer are providing oversight on Retribution. The film is set to begin shooting in fall 2017 and is being co-produced by The Picture Company and Ombra Films. Neeson just finished filming Hard Powder for Studiocanal and has Felt in post-production, where he stars as Mark “Deep Throat” Felt in the Peter Landesman-directed film. Neeson’s The Commuter is also in post-production and will be released in early 2018.
Neeson is repped by the Creative Artists Agency (CAA).
About the author: Tommy Zimmer is a writer whose work has appeared online and in print. His work covers a variety of topics, including politics, economics, health and wellness, addiction and recovery and the entertainment industry.
