Neeson used ‘denial’ to prepare

Liam Neeson dropped “16 or 17 pounds” for his role as Jesuit missionary Fr. Ferreira in "Silence."

PARAMOUNT PICTURES

By Karen Butler

Ballymena-born actor Liam Neeson offers powerful performances – although he is nearly unrecognizable – in not one, but two high-profile movies this season.

Martin Scorsese's "Silence" features a thin and haunted-looking Neeson as a Portuguese-Catholic missionary tortured for his beliefs and teachings in 17th-century Japan, while J.A. Bayona's "A Monster Calls" is a contemporary, live-action movie in which Neeson portrays via motion-capture and animation an enormous, terrifying looking creature.

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Asked by the Irish Echo during a recent round-table interview with reporters in New York about how the physical transformations he underwent impacted his approaches to this pair of roles, Neeson replied: "Martin wanted us, all of us, to drop some weight. I thought, 'OK, well... a good start is to give up the carbs.' And, some of the boys, Adam [Driver,] I mean, he dropped 51 pounds, he told me. And I managed 16 or 17 or something like that. ... So, that helps [you think], 'OK, you're physically preparing for something.' Denying yourself, which was very appropriate for this Jesuit film. Denial's very important."

Known for his many dramatic and heroic roles, the actor admitted he felt "totally ridiculous" as he used motion-capture technology to bring to life the towering, title character in "A Monster Calls." The screen adaptation of Patrick Ness's young-adult novel follows the Monster as he makes nightly visits to British teen Conor O'Malley [played by Lewis MacDougall] whose mother [played by Felicity Jones] is dying.

Neeson recalled how he was first shown a bust of his character, then guided to pretend he was 40 feet tall, while his every gesture and facial expression was documented by scores of cameras.

"And you're in the middle. And you're in a onesie with ping-pong balls attached to you," the 64-year-old actor revealed. "It's totally ridiculous. And they're all connected to sensors and the computer nerds are giving you digital makeup is what I would call it. And you're acting away."

Although movie magic makes it look like MacDougall's character is on-screen with Neeson, the actor said he recorded his part using a tiny prop person to help build the illusion of the Monster's size.

"I was acting to a puppet or little doll to get the scale and perspective right, so that was interesting," the elder actor confessed.

As for getting the Monster's voice right, Neeson said he studied carefully the facial features of a yew tree-inspired, creature model the filmmakers commissioned.

Lewis MacDougall, who plays Conor in “A Monster Calls,” with

a model for Liam Neeson’s title character. FOCUS FEATURES

"And that informed me a lot because it looked like someone had just squashed their face up against a tree," he reasoned. "And I thought, 'Well, his nose is broken, so that affects breathing and that'll affect the voice in some way.' And just those little things. ... It's a lovely film, isn't it? ... It's very entertaining and emotional. And it's like the book. ... I remember it was a very, very quick read. But it kept coming up and biting me in the back of the head again. I'd keep reaching for it, you know, there's a wonderful essence on it."

A common bridge between Neeson's two new pictures is faith. In "Silence," Neeson's Father Ferreira's belief in God is challenged to the point that he publicly denies it, while, in "A Monster Calls," his giant urges a frightened boy to accept he is strong enough to survive the heartbreak of his mom's passing.

"Ferreira actually existed," Neeson noted of his "Silence" character. "He was a very important Jesuit in the 1600s. And to hear word got back that he had apostatized and had taken a wife and was subsequently excommunicated... So, it was up to me and Martin and [screenwriter] Jay Cocks to try and find a reason why this guy did this. And I even thought: 'Well, he was tortured. So, everybody has a level of pain they can't go beyond, you'll murder your mother for.' If someone pulls your fingernails out, for example. Somebody might withstand that. Some of these martyred Christians, Japanese were hung upside-down for 33 days. My guy apparently lasted five hours. Which is nothing, really. But I thought, 'Well, that's why he converted, because he couldn't stand the pain anymore.' But then I went beyond that and thought, 'No, there has to be another dimension to it.' And I think what it was, he was living in a hostile land for many years. And he gradually lost all sense of ego. And was reduced to just an absolute bare human being and it's then he kind of discovered his faith with that incredible doubt. I think his faith and doubt go hand and glove."

So, what about how Lewis's thinking changes after his interaction with the Monster?

"I'm not sure if he gains faith," Neeson mused. "He certainly gains something. He certainly is taught to recognize something of the complexity of being the emotional life of a human being. He has to go through, is going through something that you don't want to inflict on any child. The closest relationship you have is with your mom. And she's dying and no one's saying she's dying. That's what he can't stand either. They're treating him as a kid. They say, 'Well, he won't be able to understand this.' Of course, he can. All kids can. And he conjures this Monster that's an amalgam of his grandfather, the little paintings his mom did with him as a kid and this huge tree way out in the back of the property. He manages to forge some essence of a presence from [these elements,] that tells him these extraordinary stories."

Both films are playing in select theaters now.

 

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