0:00

I am on him with Mario Lopez.

0:03

What's up? You're al Mario Lopez joining me now on zoom

0:05

oscar nominated actor mister Liam Niese

0:07

and welcome to the show.

0:08

How are you, Liam, I'm good, my friend,

0:10

How are you?

0:11

I'm well?

0:11

Thank you and thank you for taking the time to talk.

0:14

Congratulations on the new movie. In the

0:16

Land of Saints and Sinners. Great

0:19

title, a period piece from the seventies

0:21

Ireland.

0:21

Huh set

0:23

in the seventies. Yeah, we didn't make it in the seventies.

0:26

Set in the seventies. Yes, what's

0:29

the premise?

0:31

Okay, you know what. I'm just going to read this toy

0:33

that's better than me him and not knowing fair

0:36

enough. Okay, I'll do it with

0:38

some John Ireland, nineteen seventies.

0:40

Eager to leave his dark past behind,

0:43

fin Bar Murphy leads

0:47

a quiet life in the remote coastal

0:49

turn of blam Cullum Kill

0:51

that's up in Donegall in the northwest

0:53

of Ireland, far

0:56

from the political violence that grips the rest

0:58

of the country. But when a menacing

1:01

crew of terrorists arrive, led

1:04

by a ruthless woman who

1:06

led by Carrie Conton, Finn

1:08

Bar is drawn into an increasingly

1:10

vicious game of cat and mice, forcing

1:13

him to choose between exposing

1:15

his secret identity or

1:17

defending his friends and neighbors.

1:20

That is a good tease, right there.

1:22

I want to watch this movie and I hear it

1:24

has a bit of a Western feel

1:26

to it.

1:27

Yes, yes it does. It has a

1:29

Western vibe to it, Yes it does.

1:31

I love that. I love that genre.

1:33

There, you carry a shotgun, I heard throughout

1:35

the film.

1:36

I carry I carry a shotgun.

1:38

Yeah, you get shot in real life?

1:39

Liam, Have I shot in real

1:42

life at targets? Yeah?

1:44

Well yeah,

1:47

it's really.

1:49

The occasional rabbit raccoon upstate

1:52

New York. I have to admit, when the kids

1:54

were small, I had occasion to shoot

1:57

some rabbit raccoons, right. I

2:00

did not enjoy doing, but it had to be done.

2:02

You know, it has to be done.

2:03

You know it's good eating too, By the way, I've

2:05

eaten.

2:06

Please, were you eating

2:08

that raccoon?

2:09

Rabbit? I should say raccoon. I haven't tried, but I don't

2:11

want to knock it because it might be good. I don't know. But rabbit

2:13

I have, and rabbit's delicious.

2:15

Rabbit is delicious. I would agree with you there.

2:17

Yeah, fair enough.

2:18

Congratulations on that film.

2:20

And later on this year you start shooting a new

2:22

Naked Gun movie, which I'm very

2:24

excited about because I was a fan of the originals.

2:26

Is this just a straight up comedy, A

2:30

straight.

2:30

Up comedy, Yes,

2:33

we started I think in May. Yes,

2:37

part of under rebooting than I could. Gun Franchise

2:40

have offered the part to

2:42

me, the wonderful Leslie Nielsen

2:44

played in the eighties. So

2:47

why do you give it a show? I bit

2:49

nervous. I must have meant because I've done a couple

2:51

of funny sketches in

2:54

the past on TV. But carry

2:57

a film for ninety five hundred

2:59

minutes I've never done before with a

3:01

comedy genre. So they're

3:04

assembling really good

3:06

actors and actresses. Do

3:09

you have funny chops? And

3:11

there'd be lots of visual gags happening behind

3:13

the characters' backs.

3:14

Yeah, I can totally see this.

3:16

I think it's great casting you with your voice

3:18

and your straight, deadpan delivery and

3:20

all the hyjenks happening. I think it's gonna be very

3:22

funny.

3:24

It's the twenty fifth anniversary of

3:26

Star Wars Episode one. Well,

3:28

what do you remember about about that time, and

3:31

everybody.

3:32

Keeps telling me, just thirty

3:34

years of Shimers, let us go thirty

3:36

years of Now now you're telling me twenty

3:38

five years of the Found the Menace.

3:41

Oh my gosh, you're making me feel really

3:43

old.

3:44

I remember waiting in line to see that

3:46

during that time. Were you reluctant at all? Were you a Star

3:48

Wars fan?

3:49

We were just I'm jumping right in.

3:50

No, I do remember. I was in

3:52

the theater in Belfast nineteen

3:55

seventy six when the first one came out

3:57

with Harrison and

4:00

all those lovely actors on the cinema

4:03

in the Armor Road in Belfast.

4:06

You could hear armored cars,

4:08

Saracens going up and down the road. But the

4:10

cinema was packed to see this rather

4:13

strange Star Wars episode

4:15

four. Rights.

4:18

Yes, I know.

4:20

The cinema was packed with old ages, kids,

4:23

women, old age pensioners. It was

4:26

packed and everybody enjoyed

4:28

it. I'll never forget it. It was really

4:31

something else.

4:32

I bet, I bet well, Yeah, changed cinema

4:35

forever. And is this true?

4:37

Liam?

4:38

You turned down rolls of James

4:40

Bond and Lincoln back in the day.

4:42

No, I did not turn down James

4:45

Bond. They uh,

4:48

they were interested in

4:50

made for a while, but they were interested in every British

4:52

actor at the time. I was not offered

4:54

it and I didn't turn it down. Lincoln

5:00

I was tied to at one stage,

5:02

oh many many years ago. And

5:05

then then uh,

5:08

Stephen brot on Tony Kushner, the brilliant

5:11

writer, and he took the script

5:13

in another direction and it was

5:16

it was and

5:20

look he cast it right down day.

5:22

Lewis was genius casting

5:24

and he was brilliant and it was a terrific movie.

5:26

So yeah, I was like hearing

5:28

those those sorts of stories. And we talked briefly before

5:31

we started to get on

5:33

air about you being a boxer growing

5:35

up, which I love and I often think there's a

5:37

lot of parallels as far as with the arts as

5:39

well. You're you're you're alone, vulnerable,

5:43

having to figure out stuff by herself, and

5:46

uh, would you attribute are you still a fan

5:48

of the sport?

5:49

Would you attribute to a lot of that? Is

5:51

that?

5:51

What were you fighting and then you fell

5:53

into acting or did you always want to

5:55

get into the arts?

5:56

Well, just that that's a very good description of

5:59

a box and the arts and acting

6:02

plus the fact you're doing it in short pence.

6:05

Yeah, practically naked.

6:07

Which I which I

6:09

hate it. Yeah. I never never liked my legs

6:11

as a kid, and I was always conscious of

6:13

showing my legs as I was boxing. So

6:16

I have taken mat on board as well as

6:18

trying to figure out an opponent's next moves.

6:21

But yeah, I did it as not majority started when it

6:23

was nine. I think I had my last fight when I

6:25

was seventeen.

6:26

That's a good run.

6:28

It was a good run and I loved

6:30

it. I still do. I try and follow

6:32

it. I

6:37

love watching a good fight. My gosh,

6:39

I'm trying to think the last time I enjoyed

6:41

a really good boxing match.

6:43

Some good fighters come out of Ireland, tough.

6:46

There's a couple, Yeah, there's

6:48

a couple.

6:50

Then of course in MMA, we've got Connor McGregor

6:52

that's going to make his acting debut and Roadhouse.

6:55

Oh really yeah, I heard he's I

6:57

heard he's really good at it too.

6:59

Yeah if he shows up

7:01

on time. He's not a very

7:03

good time keeper.

7:05

Yes, apparently good.

7:08

That would be great.

7:10

No, that's very cool, very cool.

7:11

So wait, so then you got into acting just

7:13

later on by Designer by accident.

7:17

School plays. Got in a

7:20

wonderful English

7:22

teacher, Jerry mckown who recently

7:24

passed away, and he started a

7:26

little amateur dramatic

7:29

company in my home time. So I

7:31

joined that and we did more plays,

7:33

and one thing I do another. Yeah,

7:36

one thing led to another. I went to a teacher training

7:39

school in the north of England, just

7:41

spend most of my time in the drama studio.

7:44

Yeah. Eventually

7:46

I got paid for it and ended up at the

7:48

Lyric Theater, wonderful theater

7:51

in Belfast. And then

7:53

here we are now, Yeah,

7:55

here we are now.

7:58

I love it well.

7:58

I've always been a big fan and I appreciate you taking

8:01

the time. In the Land of Saints

8:03

and Sinners is hitting theaters on

8:05

Friday.

8:06

Be sure to check it out.

8:07

Liam, thanks so much for hanging out, taking the time.

8:09

So I appreciate it. Nice seeing you.

8:11

Bye with

8:13

Mario Lopez