Like father, like son.
Liam Neeson’s co-star in his new movie, “Made in Italy,” is his own son, and that’s not the only family connection.
Liam Neeson (as Robert): “I don’t hear from you for months, and then this sudden need to sell the Tuscan house by last Tuesday.”
Micheál Richardson (as Jack): “The house has been empty for 20 years. We just cheer the place up a bit and get it sold.”
Real-life father and son Liam Neeson and Micheál Richardson play an estranged father and son in “Made in Italy.”
Tuscany, that’s as beautiful as ever. But Robert and Jack’s long-abandoned family house? Ehh, not so much.
Liam Neeson (as Robert): “The way the light hits those windows takes your breath away.”
Micheál Richardson (as Jack): “No, that’s the dust doing that.”
The house is a painful reminder of Robert’s wife and Jack’s mother, who died in a car crash long ago.
Liam Neeson (as Robert): “You can’t remember her, and I can’t forget.”
It’s an eerie parallel to Neeson’s wife and Richardson’s mother, actress Natasha Richardson, who died after a skiing accident in 2009.
“It was personal, certainly. I thought, this is quite uncanny, the connections with the material to mine and Micheál’s own personal life, and it felt a little bit scary, but I thought, this is something I have to do.”
Writer-director James d’Arcy worried the parallels would anger or upset Neeson. Instead…
James d’Arcy: “He couldn’t have been nicer, and you know, he said, ‘Look, I really want to do the film, I’d love to do the movie. Could I make a suggestion? Would you be brave and meet my son? Give him an audition? Because I just think he’s really right for this, and I think we could bring something that brings an extra layer.'”
Micheál Richardson: “I read it, and it was surreal just how close it was to home, and it did feel like Mom, in some extent, had a hand at this. It seems, it seems like, almost fate.”
Liam Neeson (as Robert): “This house deserves to have its history honored.”
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