Liam Neeson famously portrayed Batman's arch-enemy Ra's al Ghul
Hollywood star Liam Neeson has never understood the lure of starring in superhero movies because spending hours in the gym to "pump" up his muscles doesn't appeal to him. The "Taken" star famously portrayed Batman's arch enemy Ra's al Ghul, also known as Henri Ducard, in 2005's "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight Rises" in 2012, but modern superhero blockbusters aren't top of his watch list, report aceshowbiz.com.
"I'm really not a huge fan of the genre," Neeson said to US news show Entertainment Tonight.
"I think it's Hollywood with all the bells and whistles and the technical achievements and stuff -- which I admire -- but I have no desire to go into the gym for three hours every day to pump myself up to squeeze into a Velcro suit with a cape. I admire the actors and I know some of the actors who do it -- and do it fantastically. It's just not my genre, it really isn't," he added.
Neeson says he enjoyed experiencing the use of computer-generated imagery (CGI) when he portrayed Qui-Gon Jinn in "Star Wars: Episode One -- The Phantom Menace", and although it pushed him as an actor, he found the special effects work tiring.
"The first Star Wars, I was in that, that was 22 years ago, and I enjoyed that, because it (CGI) was novel and that was new. I was acting to tennis balls, which were ultimately going to be little fuzzy furry creatures and stuff. That was interesting, acting-wise, to try and make that seem real, but that was the last. It's quite exhausting," he said.
Neeson did reprise the character for 2019's "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker", the final film in the latest franchise trilogy, but only returned for a small voiceover role.
