Liam Neeson has said that director Neil Jordan spent a lot of time focussing on his voice as Michael Collins when they made the 1996 biopic together.
During an interview with US magazine Esquire to publicise his work on the new animated film The Prophet, Neeson was asked if any directors had obsessed over his voice.
"Maybe Neil Jordan?" he replied. "On Michael Collins. He is a terrific writer. Writers will talk about the pace of what you're saying."
The 63-year-old Taken actor stressed the importance of getting a character's voice right, and said his life experience makes him a better actor.
"I think you can work on a certain gravitas with a voice," he said.
"In Taken, he's a man of few words, lots of action. He never struck me as someone with a high-pitched voice.
"I remember Steven [Spielberg, director] wanted a rich cigarette, cognac voice [for Schindler's List]. I never drank cognac. I used to be a smoker, so maybe I had a residue left."
"But it was a beautiful script by Steve Zaillian. There was maybe one comma changed in that," he added.
Neeson's voice skills were recently put to the test in the adaptation of Kahlil Gibran's classic text The Prophet, where he voices poet Mustafa.
The actor first read the book as a teenager but said he did not fully appreciate it at the time.
"I thought it was beautiful, but it bounced off me - I didn't have life experience," he said.
"Now that I'm 63, I'm the father of two boys, reading it again, it's a richer experience."
Neeson as Taken hero Bryan Mills
