Sometimes a project can help an actor’s personal life. In an interview with IndieWire, Liam Neeson talked about how 2011’s The Grey was the movie that helped him through the death of his late wife, Natasha Richardson, who died in 2009.
The film follows six oil workers and a huntsman stranded after a plane crash. They must survive in the snow without many resources and defend themselves from vicious wolves. For Liam Neeson in The Grey, his huntsman is currently grieving as his wife is dying of a terminal illness. Although Richardson did not die of an illness (she died from a fall at a ski slope, she was 45), the timeliness was what helped the veteran actor grieve.
In the interview, the actor was asked about his long career. When asked about a project that should have performed better, commercially or critically, he could not think of anything, so the interviewer, Kate Erbland, brought up the 2011 survival film, which sparked the nostalgic answer of the actor looking back on the making of the film.
“It was a special film to shoot, too. Just personally, too. It was soon after the death of my wife. I needed to do that film and when Joe Carnahan sent me the script, I thought, ‘This, I have to do. I have to do this to channel my grief, to channel something about what’s our f—ing reason for being on this planet.”
The Grey was the film that helped Liam Neeson through the death of his wife
The two met during the 1993 play rendition of Anna Christie. By 1994, they had gotten married. They had two sons, Daniel Neeson and Micheál Richardson. Now, after those years have passed since her death, the Taken actor still visits her grave in New York to speak with her.
Carnahan directed and co-wrote the film with writer Ian Mackenzie Jeffers. In The Grey, Liam Neeson was joined by supporting cast members Dermot Mulroney (Scream VI), Frank Grillo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier), Dallas Roberts (Glass Onion), Nonso Anozie (Sweet Tooth), James Badge Dale (Hightown), and Joe Anderson (Brave New World).
The Grey was an overall success. It earned respectable reviews with 79% on Rotten Tomatoes from critics. The audience score was on the lower side while still maintaining a fresh rating of 61%. From a $25 million budget, it grossed about $80 million worldwide.
