Liam Neeson on a roll

MANILA, Philippines - Liam Neeson is on a roll and he’s got the best plan ever. Having just descended from the lofty Mt. Olympus in Clash of the Titans, Neeson takes off higher in the upcoming A-Team as master tactician Col. Hannibal Smith.

The undetectable A-Team led by its brilliant mastermind Hannibal Smith (Liam) along with conman Templeton “Face” Peck (Bradley Cooper), combatant B.A. Baracus (Quinton “Rampage” Jackson) and ace pilot Mad Murdock (Sharlto Copley) is composed of highly skilled soldiers turned renegades for a crime charged against them while completing a top secret mission. The team’s string of mind-blowing adventures finds them after their stint in Iraq where they eventually work as soldiers for fortune while being chased by the government’s Lt. Sosa (Jessica Biel) for the crime framed on their heads.

While he may be experiencing new heights in his career, it is a bittersweet achievement, suffering the loss of his wife of 15 years, Natasha Richardson, just as Taken was hitting its box office stride. Already a fiercely private man, Neeson kept his focus on family and work in the following Q&A for the most anticipated action reinvention in A-Team.

Your co-stars can’t speak highly enough about the A-Team experience which finds most of you defying type in many ways. What was the attraction?

“I had got a lovely taste of action adventure with Taken. And I liked it. I like the physicality about it very much. I’ve always kept myself fairly fit and I was just looking for another opportunity to kick some ass. My agent was talking about the A-Team. The couple of times I did look at it, it was for a younger audience. They sent me the script and I saw Ridley Scott was behind it, which was great. And so before I knew it, I was onboard.”

Do you like this new incarnation of yourself as a post-modern action male lead?

“I do actually. I was a boxer for seven years as a kid, so I did know how to throw a punch. It’s just nice to get a chance to do it on screen, you know.”

Is there an iconic moment they should look out for?

“I think there’ll be two or three of those actually. I like Rampage and I think fans of his are going to be incredibly surprised at how wonderful he is in this film.”

The great George Peppard is no longer with us but did you ever get a chance to meet him?

“You know something? When I lived out in Hollywood many years ago, I was using the airport in Burbank. I don’t know if it was called the M-G-M jet, but it doesn’t operate anymore. It flew from L.A. to New York and it was pretty exclusive and Mr. Peppard was in the lounge, myself and a couple of others. And I said, ‘That’s George Peppard and he’s smoking a cigar.’ He was getting on the same flight but I’ve never actually met him.”

Given the longevity of your career, what continues to compel you to remain with films, as opposed to other mediums?

“I love making them. I love being with crews. In fact, as I look back over the past 10 years, it’s not individual actors I’ve worked with, it’s crews I’ve been with. I can remember sound recorders from certain films and the director of photography for certain films and, you know, the head gaffer. I can remember people like that. I love spending my days with those people. The execution of the film still gives me a real rush, and certainly that little period of time between action and cut is still very precious. ”

Now enjoying a wildly re-written second act in his career, Liam’s quiet brand of intensity as shown in his Oscar-nominated role in Schindler’s List has propelled him as the go-to man for dramatic bios and period pieces that included Rob Roy, Michael Collins, Gangs of New York, Kinsey and Kingdom of Heaven. But when that intensity exploded in the 2009 revenge thriller Taken, the box-office heat generated by its global success reaffirmed something film fans have known all along Liam was really meant to be an action hero. His other movies now considered influential masterpieces are Darkman (1990), Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and Batman Begins.

A-Team opens June 10 in theaters from 20th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.