Liam Neeson first played the iconic role of the Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn, the master of Obi-Wan Kenobi in the first prequel movie of the original Star Wars trilogy, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. The Irish actor portrayed the role of Qui-Gon Jinn to such perfection that he has always been asked by the fans to reprise his role as a Jedi master once again. However, Neeson recently denied that he will be picking up a lightsaber ever again.
In another interesting piece of news, the doorframes on the set of The Phantom Menace had to be rebuilt just so that Liam Neeson could walk through the doors without bumping his head.
The doorframes on the set of The Phantom Menace had to be rebuilt
According to sources, Liam Neeson was allegedly so tall that Lucasfilm had to spend another $150,000 just so that the actor could walk through the doors in scenes without bumping his head. It seems like sets did not consider the height of the Irish giant when they built the set of The Phantom Menace, therefore they had to spend extra money on making the doorframes larger.
According to IMDB, “Sets were built only as high as the tops of the actors’ heads, and computer graphics filled in the rest. Liam Neeson was so tall that he cost the set crew an extra $150,000 in construction.”
Liam Neeson opened up about his possible return to the Star Wars franchise
Over the years, fans have begged Liam Neeson to reprise his role as the Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn. However, the actor feels that the franchise has lost its essence over the years by making too many spinoffs. On his appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, Neeson was asked if he would be interested in having his spin-off series as the Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn once again and the actor replied,
“No, I’m not. There’s so many spinoffs of ‘Star Wars. It’s diluting it to me, and it’s taken away the mystery and the magic in a weird way. It was nice to do a little bit with Ewan after 25 years after 24 years you know.”
Neeson turned to Paul Rudd to explain, “did a little TV version and I appeared in the last episode. I had 3 lines to say, 2 lines and that was cool and I loved it but yeah that’s it.”
Neeson wasn’t lying when he said that the magic of the series has been taken away with too many spinoffs. There have been too many spinoffs of the Star Wars franchise and old viewers of the series are just not that interested in the franchise anymore.
Source: IMDB and Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
