Liam Neeson & Ewan McGregor Made Lightsaber Sounds Filming “Star Wars”| Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend

You have staked out so many. areas. You've done so much great work, but you've also been Once you're in a. Star Wars film, you've got you're part of that whole. lore. Do you have Star Wars fans coming. up to you all the time? Not all the time. There's. I mean, it is a cult. It is. Yeah. There's so many movies and spin-offs. now. I think now you're diluting the. whole thing, I think. That's my personal. thing. And um. But yeah, occasionally. you know, you.

There's kids after. Star Wars autograph and I don't want to. give autographs. in the airport. Oh, it's not the kid, it's the grandfather. There he is. Or the dad, you know, horn-rimmed. glasses and a beard. Yeah, yeah. And they're like they become. 11-year-olds, you know. Yeah. Did you Did you enjoy cuz I know. that you and you McGregor got to use the. the lightsabers. Did you have fun with. those? We did. Uh the first time we actually. had to use pull the lightsaber and.

there's only a handle. Right. There's a handle and they add the. effect later. Yeah, and maybe a little bit of. aluminum tube with green tape. Mine's. was green cuz I'm wearing Irish Jedi. And Ewan's was red or something. Yeah. So, the first time we got to pull them, they started a little fight, you know. We both automatically went and action. Wait, you were doing that with your. mouth? I KNOW.

GEORGE GEORGE SAID TO ME, "UH LET'S CUT THAT. BOYS, we can add. that in later.". Yeah, of course. WE KNEW THAT. THAT'S HILARIOUS. I WISH THEY HAD LEFT. that in. Wouldn't that be so great? You two just spitting at each other. God, that would be so, so funny looking.

That would be fantastic. I had this. lovely makeup and hair lady. and Scottish. Mhm. And uh. I was supposed to be doing a scene with. this. little flying sort of monster that was. this kid that would eventually be Darth. Vader. He's 9 years of age. Sure. Um it was a big long scene with this. flying thing. "What do you want?" And there's all this. sort of stuff.

And. I didn't know what this thing was going. to look like. So, I'm you know, I'm. acting to. a guy. with a stick and an. orange or a green tennis ball stuck in. the top that's going to be eventually. this flying little monster. Right. And uh. So, I'm in the makeup. I got my wig on, my beard and all that stuff. And she says, "Oh, Liam uh. makeup lady says, 'Um. I did see uh. you know, a mock-up of the wee.

monster. You could be a monkey smoking a pipe. No. one's going to be LOOKING AT YOU.'". BECAUSE OF THIS THING. ISN'T THAT NICE TO HEAR JUST before you. go out? do this. And I had a lot of lines to say. on this thing, you know, to this tennis. ball, you know. And right enough, when you see the. scene, it's like, "Wow, that's amazing. What are you doing here today?". I'll show you.

You idiots. You don't need to make the. sound with your mouth. Um. it's. you know, it's incredible to me that. you've. you know, had a very distinguished. career. You've done a lot of great work. You're a terrific actor. And then this. is the way it goes. Eventually in this. business, you are acting to. a green tennis ball. And because that's. more and more, that's what the work is. And it's just uh.

I don't know about you, but there's so. many times, particularly in in my. profession, my career, my weird corner of it, where I find myself doing these things. over the years, over the many years. And. I think. I step outside my body and go, "What the. hell are you doing? You're. This is you're you're a complete fool. You're an What is it? You're a total. ass. But I think you. we're in show business ultimately. So, um even something as, you know, important and popular as a Star Wars.

film, you're there and there's a tennis. ball. And there must be some part of you. that steps outside of you where I I did. theater. I know. Yeah, yeah, there's that. But. what you've done, Clint, to me, that. would be a nightmare for me. Getting up. as Conan O'Brien or Liam Neeson. in front of an audience. and having to entertain them. That's a nightmare. The thought of it. I'm not a comedian, all right? I mean, you are. You've done. this stuff. It's like, "Fuck, how do.

they do that?". Uh well, the trick is sometimes it's not. good. That's what I've always said. The trick is you go out and you try, but. uh. um. I don't know. I don't I know that I love. it. I love being in front of people and. uh I really enjoy it, but I get very. intense before I go out and do it. And I. was telling you just before I went on. just last night, I did something with. Paul McCartney, about 800 people, I think, in the crowd.

And um had the time of my life out there. on stage, but beforehand, waiting. backstage, standing next to that guy, and I had to go out first and get the. crowd going and then bring him out. It's. things get very focused in my brain and. I still after all these years I I I get. kind of intense because I think you have. to get that way before you go out. If. you just breeze on out there it's not. going to be any good. Yeah. I remember.

just apropos of what we're talking. about. I remember doing a play, a Brian. Friel play. in New Play then. It was called. Aristocrats. in the Belfast Theatre Festival. I'm talking 1978, something like that. And I had taken over the part from. wonderful Irish actor called Stephen. Rea. Oh, yeah. And I had learned the part in 2 weeks. and it was a main a main part, you know. We played in Dublin for 2 weeks and then. we had a week off. while the company moved up to Belfast.

for as part of this festival. And on the. opening night of the play Aristocrats, which I'd already played for 2 weeks. Brian Friel's in the audience, the. director's in the audience, various. Northern Ireland dignitaries. Mhm. And I have a kind of drunken spiel to. say in the second act. And I dried. Fear audience, I forgot my. words. And you could have heard a pin drop. And. I remember seeing at the end of the. the the.

passageway. the exit sign. And I thought if I jump off the stage. tonight I can be out of this horrible. feeling. uh in. maybe 6 seconds and all this is over. Uh. I didn't, but it felt like an hour had. passed and I was still there looking at. this exit sign and the audience. looking at me. I eventually I was. supposed to be drunk, the character was, so I just kind of staggered off stage. and the script girl.

she wasn't following it all. Anyway, when I got off stage I remembered the. line and I staggered back on again. resumed the part for the. So it came back to you. It came back to me, but I'll never. forget that moment of. absolute. terrifying fear. I I kept thinking I. sometimes get obsessed with the World. War I, the Battle of the Somme, because because. I had a neighbor on my street who served. in the Somme twice. Uh and the things he must have seen. I. remember thinking those soldiers before.

they got over the trenches must have. been feeling something similar to that. It was almost like that. A near-death experience for me. I'll. never forget that. It's funny. Do you have you ever figured. out what happened in that moment? Why, you know, because you knew it. You. obviously knew it. Was there something. in that moment? Was there a reason? Was. Was it because everyone was in the. audience? Because I find sometimes I. don't like to know. Yeah. Yeah. If someone. important's in the crowd, Sure. I don't want to know.

Yeah. Yeah. I'd rather not know, cuz that gets in my. head. And I used to find it difficult. even when family would come. And they. would say like, "Oh, your. my dad's here and he's going to sit in. the crowd." That would make it more. difficult for me, which shouldn't make a. difference at all. No, I know. But, it would make it more difficult. even though it's a TV show. It's going. out to millions of homes. That's who's really seeing it, this. audience, you know? But But I I couldn't. get past that. Yeah. I think it is is part partly. knowing that. various people out there that are. you respect, you know?

And I just dropped conversation. I think. I felt too confident. I'd taken over the. part in 2 weeks, which is a fast learn. for me. Yeah, very fast, yeah. And uh. I think it just caught up with me. That's what it was, you know? I think it's refreshing. I love it when. people, especially people of your. caliber, say, "I'm scared. And I still. get scared." You know, I I and I find. that to be It's one of the things I like. most about doing the podcast and having. these conversations is I love. I think it's good for people to hear.

Yeah. that that Liam Neeson still has moments. And I you know, we all do. We all do. We. have these moments where we think, "I. don't know that I can do this.". Oh, yeah, I still get them. Not not that. fear, but. if I if I'm shooting a film and you. know, or. there's a break and they're doing a. lighting set up or something. Right. I'll look at the lines or whatever and. think, "Why do I do this?". Yeah. And I always say to myself, you know,

I think it was Robert Mitchum I saw in. some interview years ago. He said, "You walk in the room, you. plant your feet, speak the truth." Or. walk in the room, hit the marks, say the. lines. What's the problem? Yeah. Something like that, you know, something as simple as that will kind of. get me back again. It worked for Robert Mitchum, yeah. I'll. say that. And Jimmy Cagney. Cagney used to say. that, too. No stress, no strain. Walk in the room, plant your feet, speak the truth. I've said this thing, yeah. Well, he was I mean, Jimmy Cagney, he.

was I grew up I mean, it's odd, but I. think just because, you know, I grew up, I came of age in the 1970s, so you'd. think I'd be watching all this. sophisticated stuff, but. no, I ran I watched. channel 38 or channel 56 cuz they showed. reruns of And what did they show? They. showed old movies. So, I grew up on. Jimmy Cagney. Yeah. And I thought that was show business, Jimmy Cagney in Yankee Doodle Dandy, Angels with Dirty Faces, you know, Public Enemy. I just thought that's what. I Those were the movies I watched. Sure. And um.

Me, too. Yeah, and I thought that's what it is. And of course, I wasn't watching. Mean Streets. I wasn't watching I didn't. have access to those. They weren't. showing those. early Scorsese films. That's what I. should have been watching, but you know, that's what I With my education was the. 1930s and 40s, Warner Brothers. Yeah, me, too. And then we. we got a TV. I was in my teens, I think, when we got. a TV. Black and white, you know. But I. always remember every Sunday there was. always a movie on.

2:00 in the afternoon and it always. seemed to be someone in a mic with a. trilby hat pouring with rain. Yeah, film noir. Raymond Chandler. Yeah, Alan Ladd or. Mitchum or something like that, you. know. So, I feel like I kind of grew up. with those guys.