Liam Neeson

Liam Neeson

Liam Neeson portrayed Ra's al Ghul/Henri Ducard in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight Rises.

Significant roles

• Gawain in Excalibur (1981)
• Seaman Charles Churchill in The Bounty (1984)
• Fielding in The Mission (1986)
• Peter Swan in The Dead Pool (1988)
• Martin Brogan in High Spirits (1988)
• Peyton Westlake/Darkman in Darkman (1990)
• Ethan Frome in Ethan Frome (1993)
• Oskar Schindler in Schindler's List (1993)
• Robert Roy MacGregor in Rob Roy (1995)
• John Lucy, Adolf Hitler in The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century (1996)
• Michael Collins in Michael Collins (1996)
• Valjean in Les misérables (1998)
• Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars, Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)
• Dr. David Marrow in The Haunting (1999)
• Charlie Mayeaux in Gun Shy (2000)
• Capt. Mikhail Polenin in K-19 (2002)
• Priest Vallon in Gangs of New York (2002)
• Daniel in Love Actually (2003)
• Alfred Kinsey in Kinsey (2004)
• Godfrey de Ibelin in Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
• Ra's al Ghul/Henri Ducard in Batman Begins (2005)
• Father Liam in Breakfast on Pluto (2005)
• Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)
• Carver in Seraphim Falls (2006)
• Bryan Mills in Taken (2008)
• Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008)
• Alistair Little in Five Minutes of Heaven (2009)
• Eliot Deacon in After.Life (2009)
• Fujimoto (voice) in Ponyo (2009)
• David Stewart in Chloe (2010)
• Zeus in Clash of the Titans (2010)
• Colonel Hannibal Smith in The A-Team (2010)
• Damon Pennington in The Next Three Days (2010)
• Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010)
• Dr. Martin Harris in Unknown (2011)
• Ottway in The Grey (2012)
• Zeus in Wrath of the Titans (2012)
• Admiral Shane in Battleship (2012)
• Ra's al Ghul/Henri Ducard in The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
• Bryan Mills in Taken 2 (2012)

Quotes

• "I'm a kind of mentor. I teach him a few techniques."
• "As a child growing up in Ireland, he wasn't my hero. I have to say, it was Superman. He was my kind of guy. I find Batman just a little bit scary."
• "I think the last two were kind of strange. Lost touch. Lost a bit of direction. But in this one, my reticence was put to bed."
• "Now, I know why this guy, Bruce Wayne, would end up dressing up in this strange funky costume and climbing over buildings. The film really delivers as to how and why that happens."
• "I do [like the part of mentors], especially now that I'm a dad of two wonderful boys. There's something extraordinary about passing on information and experience to a younger generation."
• "He's quite laconic, which belies years of hard work and dedication, kinda like Ducard!"
• "People think this [Iceland scenes] is computer graphics. It's not. This is Europe's biggest glacier. Moving at a rate of five to six inches every day into a frozen pond. And that pond was cracking and fissuring nearly all the time. These ice experts, their job was purely to look at the ice all day every day. And there were various times we'd be called off the ice because it was just not safe. And sure enough, we'd get off and you'd hear this [makes cracking noise], and Chris and I would look at each other and think, 'OK'."
• "I can tell you nothing about Dark Knight Rises, seriously. I was on set for maybe an hour-and-a-half and the director didn’t tell me anything of what it’s about. So, I’m being very honest when I say I have no idea what’s going to happen."
• "No, I haven’t, I haven’t at all [been approached to play Ra's again in Arrow]. I would, in a heartbeat, if it came my way, yeah. Very much so."
• "They have to believe in their philosophy. Ra’s al Ghul absolutely believed what he was doing was ultimately saving civilization, and it was quite a good argument he comes up with. Throughout the ages this fraternity, that brought the plague to wipe out a section of mankind because it needed to be regenerated again. Very dangerous, but you have to believe it."