Liam Neeson’s son is set to embark on his own acting career and has been offered the role of one of Ireland’s most significant historical figures for his upcoming movie.
Micheál Neeson will play the Irish revolutionary leader Michael Collins in RTE’s upcoming movie The Rising, which will be released next year to mark the Easter Rising centenary.
Micheál is truly following in his father’s footsteps as Liam also played the title role in the 1996 film ‘Michael Collins’.
Micheál revealed that his father had not been keen on him following in his footsteps. Instead he had hoped for a more normal life for his son.
Micheál said: “Dad was like, ‘Please become a carpenter or something’. On my mum’s side I was encouraged to do whatever I wanted.”
The 20-year-old had, for the main part, managed to keep his father happy by staying away from acting up until now.
His only acting credit to date was a cameo in the 2013 film Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues.
He has been working as a curator for a fashion art gallery in London. However, he always knew that he was likely to end up going into acting.
He said: “My inner actor is in there lingering.”
It is certainly in Micheál’s genes. His mother Natasha Richardson was also a successful actress. Natasha died in 2009, following a tragic skiing accident.
Her death sent Micheál into a downward spiral of drugs and partying as a teenager as he was unable to cope with the loss of his mother.
He said earlier this year: “I was going out, partying a lot, looking for self-gratification. I wanted to be the man, doing these drugs’.
“Everybody said, ‘This kid has lost his mum, that’s where the problem comes from’. And I was like, ‘No, it isn’t, I just like to party’. But looking back, I realise it was a delayed reaction.”
Thankfully, Micheál checked himself into rehab and with the help of his father and brother was able to get his life back on track.
He now has the world at his feet and hopefully his appearance in The Rising next year will propel him into a long and successful acting career.