“Eggs aren’t the only thing that’ll be dying tonight”
Liam Neeson has a very particular set of skills, which apparently does not include embodying the Easter Bunny. In a skit on The Late Show, the actor auditioned to play the furry holiday rabbit, bringing an undeniable intensity to the popular verse, “Here comes Peter Cottontail, hopping down the bunny trail. Hippity hoppity, Easter’s on its way.”
When asked to keep it light, with the producer reminding Neeson the character is for children, Neeson explained, “Do you understand what’s happening here? He’s hopping down the bunny trail, hippity hoppity. He’s coming. He’s an unstoppable force, measured, inevitable.”
Later, Neeson intones lines like “Eggs aren’t the only thing that’ll be dying tonight” and says the bunny is carrying a carrot in order to chew it into a shiv. Needless to say it doesn’t seem like Neeson is going to get the part, even though he claims he needs the job because he’s “running out of relatives to be taken.”
Neeson’s latest film, In the Land of Saints and Sinners, is out this week after premiering at the Venice International Film Festival last year. Directed by Robert Lorenz, the movie sees Neeson playing an ex-assassin in Ireland.
Last year, the actor told Rolling Stone he was surprised by how successful Taken was when it came out. “I remember when we were shooting that scene, I begged Pierre Morel, ‘Please, can we cut this back? This is so corny. I feel I’ve seen this and heard this in so many movies. I’m gonna kill you. I’m gonna torture you. Can we cut this whole I have a certain set of skills and all that?’” Neeson recalled. “But Pierre was like, ‘Trust me — it’s going to work.’ I’ve always thought this was a straight-to-video film, but was very surprised when Fox cleverly cut a trailer, showed it at big sporting events, and it became successful when it was released. Again, I was a little embarrassed. I felt my fight scenes were very good. We’d worked hard on those with the stunt guys, and I’ve always enjoyed that kind of stuff.”
