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Liam on the Ellen Degeneres Show
Liam appeared on the Ellen Show on Dec 7, 2004.
Here is the
clip of it. Please rightclick and save. A transcript is also available, see
below.
Thanks to Kathy and Sally for bringing this to us!
Thanks to Kathy and Sally for bringing this to us!
transcript:
Ellen: Our first guest is Academy Award nominated actor who you know from big films like "Schindler’s List", "Star Wars the Phantom Menace", his new move "Kinsey" has critics raving. Please welcome the very talented Liam Neeson. ("What a man" is playing in the background) You look beautiful.
Liam: Thank you, Ellen.
Ellen: I … oh, were you just saying …
Liam: Bad choice of colour, right?
Ellen: No, it’s a great choice of colour. That’s beautiful!
Liam: Like where do you keep the batteries.
Ellen: No, I like it a lot. You look great!
Liam: Thanks, and you too.
Ellen: Now, how about … uh … what did you think of my accent, laddie? I do a good Irish accent, if you’d like to hear it the entire time.
Liam: Do you wanna start it?
Ellen: I’ve started now.
Liam: It sounds a wee bit Scottish to me.
Ellen: Really?
Liam: But it’s a really good.
Ellen: Tell me the difference between the Scottish and the Irish, laddie.
Liam: Well, “laddie”, they say in Scotland.
Ellen: Oh, and what do you say in Ireland?
Liam: We don’t. I’m just wondering … I don’t know if we have an equivalent. Actually where I come from, in the Northeast of Ireland, you can see the Isle of Sky 30 miles away. So, my hometown is called Ballymena, so we’re actually known as Ballymena Scots, so I don’t have the traditional brogue. You wouldn’t call my accent a "brogue".
Ellen: No, it’s not brogue.
Liam: Right, (laughter) that’s good!
Ellen: I didn’t know you wanted me to do the brogue.
Liam: That’s better, that’s better!
Ellen: Now, you actually … uh … ‘cause you had to lose your accent for the movie and is that easy for you just to erase that?
Liam: Yes, of course it is, Ellen.
Ellen: Really?
Liam: No, no it’s.. I work with, uh, Debbie Hicks, this wonderful dialect coach. And it’s a constant thing everyday and before every scene because I’m not one of those actors that kinda comes off set and keeps it all ...
Ellen: You go right back into a normal accent when you …
Liam: Oh, yeah! And at the end of the day I like to hang the character like a coat behind the door. I like to know its there, but …
Ellen: Yeah, you don’t need to keep in character the whole time.
Liam: No, I can’t.
Ellen: I have a gift for you because I found out that you … uh … which I’ll let you explain first because I don’t know how much you are into this, but you chew toothpicks nonstop which you don’t have right now.
Liam: I do actually, yeah.
Ellen: Like is it really nonstop … how do you ...
Liam: I’ve … I’ve taken the label off so there was no advertising, but, uh, yeah. They’re teatree oil toothpicks. And when I used to smoke I chewed these as well. "Okay, what’s gonna go? The cigarettes or the toothpicks?" And I thought (chuckle), "Sorry, cigarettes!" Do you wanna try one?
Ellen: No, thank you! Um … so, but, but shouldn’t you have a nice flat, like stain ... no, sterling silver … some kind of a beautiful case for that?
Liam: I … sometimes people get me these little gifts of … and they’re very beautiful, but they’re kinda tricky to open and they’ve got little chains and stuff …
Ellen: Oh, you need something that’s easy opening because what you wanna do … (cheers from audience ) Go ahead, take them!
Liam: And they’re bigger too.
Ellen: Yeah, you just need to make sure you get the right thing.
Liam: That’s great, thanks a lot.
Ellen: Make sure it’s classy.
Liam: Can I take that home?
Ellen: Yeah, you can have that actually. So, do you actually chew them? Do you … ‘cause that’s what someone said that you do it nonstop.
Liam: I kinda chew them and then I suck them, and I chew them up and then I get rid of it.
Ellen: You don’t swallow it?
Liam: No, I don’t swallow it.
Ellen: Good.
Liam: I guess it’s kinda quite rude, but I’ve been doing it for years. And it helps me think and it keeps me, you know … relax.
Ellen: Well, better than smoking, I would say that. There’s nothing wrong with chewing on a piece of wood over smoking. All right and also … here’s a beautiful picture of your wife Natasha Richardson which is, uh … that’s … you’ve been married 10 years. (applause from audience) That’s you and your wife!
Liam: Oh, I, oh, yeah.
Ellen: Yeah, that’s you and your wife.
Liam: I was checking out my gear, I should have worn that actually.
Ellen: No, you look great. I don’t know why ...
Liam: That’s her. I haven’t seen her for a while. She’s been in a ... she’s in Shanghai making a movie.
Ellen: Oh, really?
Liam: Yeah.
Ellen: Wow, that’s hard because you have two kids.
Liam: We’ve two kids. But we actually just got back there from last, uh, Sunday.
Ellen: And you’ve been married 10 years, right?
Liam: 10 years on …
Ellen: So, how long … so, you been doing … how long do you go without seeing each other sometimes?
Liam: Well, up until this, this, uh, piece of work, it’s … we don’t let it go beyond 4 weeks. But this time it was like nine weeks.
Ellen: Because your family’s in Ireland, right?
Liam: Yes, actually, you know, something I have to tell. My mum flew into New York last night, that’s where I live. And when I saw that little segment with that lady, Kitty … she’s very like my mum and mum is called Kitty, too.
Ellen: Really?
Liam: Yeah!
Ellen: Well, I just made up her name. Her name’s Charlotte, but we saw her in the audience one day and we didn’t know who she was and I just named her Kitty and it caught on. And, uh, that’s not her name at all, and she finally contacted us. She thought we would leave her alone, it would go away … she didn’t know me.
Liam: She’s a big star now.
Ellen: So, now she’s a big star … so, that’s your mother’s name, Kitty. Yeah, so that’s why I thought that, uh …
Liam: And “kitty” is Irish for “Kathryn”.
Ellen: Really?
Liam: Yeah.
Ellen: Probably it’s from my background I decided to do it. All right, we have to take a break! When we come back, I wanna give you a little gift.
Liam: Thanks, Ellen.
Ellen: All right, we’ll be right back.
(Film clip)
Ellen: We’re back with Liam Neeson and a clip from "Kinsey". And there’s just a lot of Oscar buzz about, uh, with your performance in this. You’re so good in it and the film is so good.
Liam: Thank you, Ellen.
Ellen: I really didn’t know anything about Kinsey, you know, until I saw the movie.
Liam: Nor me, I didn’t. I certainly didn’t know anything about him growing up in Ireland, in fact, the books were banned there … until like the 70’s.
Ellen: And how do you feel about … you were raised in that kinda of family, that sex was not talked about or ...
Liam: Yes. I was brought up in a very traditional Irish Catholic, uh, background. I had three sisters, I have three sisters, I should say. My parents … and, uh, yeah, I, I… sex was not talked about, never ever talked about, nor was it talked about at school, you know. And, uh, I learnt it from bathroom walls essentially … drawings, you know, crude drawings.
Ellen: Right.
Liam: And also …
Ellen: I’m sorry I was thinking about a drawing I once saw, um, um …
Liam: Tell Dr. Kinsey.
Ellen: Now, will you, will you talk to your kids
differently after doing this movie or would you talk to them similarly because the way that the family spoke at the dinner table? I was just like, "Oh, my God, I can’t imagine parents talking to their kids that openly." Are you scared of talking to your kids about that?
Liam: I kinda, in my head, I want to see myself with the toothpick and the cardigan and the roaring fire and saying, “Come here, sons!” You know, doing all that, but I suspect I’ll get very, very uptight. They’ve already started asking pertinent questions. We haven’t quite got to the, you know … maybe a little ( ? ) songs of the birds, but definitely not the bees. We have that ahead of us.
Ellen: Well, you said they are 8 and …
Liam: 8 and 9.
Ellen: That’s, you know … hopefully kids can stay kids for a little while longer. Kids are growing up too fast now and they don’t need to know that yet.
Liam: I agree, I agree.
Ellen: Not till they are 20, 21.
Liam: But I’d rather they hear it from us rather than bathroom walls.
Ellen: Yeah, well, exactly right, yeah, bathroom walls. Well, there’s sometimes moisture that distorts things and uh ... All right, listen, we want to give you this gift because your family is in Ireland. And, uh, it’s a video phone that we were just talking about. So, uh …
Liam: Oh, that’s fantastic.
Ellen: "Kinsey" is up, it’s currently playing everywhere. We’ve got update on Houston (a former employee of the show who recently got an acting job through Ellen). Don’t go away, we’ll be right bacK
Ellen: Our first guest is Academy Award nominated actor who you know from big films like "Schindler’s List", "Star Wars the Phantom Menace", his new move "Kinsey" has critics raving. Please welcome the very talented Liam Neeson. ("What a man" is playing in the background) You look beautiful.
Liam: Thank you, Ellen.
Ellen: I … oh, were you just saying …
Liam: Bad choice of colour, right?
Ellen: No, it’s a great choice of colour. That’s beautiful!
Liam: Like where do you keep the batteries.
Ellen: No, I like it a lot. You look great!
Liam: Thanks, and you too.
Ellen: Now, how about … uh … what did you think of my accent, laddie? I do a good Irish accent, if you’d like to hear it the entire time.
Liam: Do you wanna start it?
Ellen: I’ve started now.
Liam: It sounds a wee bit Scottish to me.
Ellen: Really?
Liam: But it’s a really good.
Ellen: Tell me the difference between the Scottish and the Irish, laddie.
Liam: Well, “laddie”, they say in Scotland.
Ellen: Oh, and what do you say in Ireland?
Liam: We don’t. I’m just wondering … I don’t know if we have an equivalent. Actually where I come from, in the Northeast of Ireland, you can see the Isle of Sky 30 miles away. So, my hometown is called Ballymena, so we’re actually known as Ballymena Scots, so I don’t have the traditional brogue. You wouldn’t call my accent a "brogue".
Ellen: No, it’s not brogue.
Liam: Right, (laughter) that’s good!
Ellen: I didn’t know you wanted me to do the brogue.
Liam: That’s better, that’s better!
Ellen: Now, you actually … uh … ‘cause you had to lose your accent for the movie and is that easy for you just to erase that?
Liam: Yes, of course it is, Ellen.
Ellen: Really?
Liam: No, no it’s.. I work with, uh, Debbie Hicks, this wonderful dialect coach. And it’s a constant thing everyday and before every scene because I’m not one of those actors that kinda comes off set and keeps it all ...
Ellen: You go right back into a normal accent when you …
Liam: Oh, yeah! And at the end of the day I like to hang the character like a coat behind the door. I like to know its there, but …
Ellen: Yeah, you don’t need to keep in character the whole time.
Liam: No, I can’t.
Ellen: I have a gift for you because I found out that you … uh … which I’ll let you explain first because I don’t know how much you are into this, but you chew toothpicks nonstop which you don’t have right now.
Liam: I do actually, yeah.
Ellen: Like is it really nonstop … how do you ...
Liam: I’ve … I’ve taken the label off so there was no advertising, but, uh, yeah. They’re teatree oil toothpicks. And when I used to smoke I chewed these as well. "Okay, what’s gonna go? The cigarettes or the toothpicks?" And I thought (chuckle), "Sorry, cigarettes!" Do you wanna try one?
Ellen: No, thank you! Um … so, but, but shouldn’t you have a nice flat, like stain ... no, sterling silver … some kind of a beautiful case for that?
Liam: I … sometimes people get me these little gifts of … and they’re very beautiful, but they’re kinda tricky to open and they’ve got little chains and stuff …
Ellen: Oh, you need something that’s easy opening because what you wanna do … (cheers from audience ) Go ahead, take them!
Liam: And they’re bigger too.
Ellen: Yeah, you just need to make sure you get the right thing.
Liam: That’s great, thanks a lot.
Ellen: Make sure it’s classy.
Liam: Can I take that home?
Ellen: Yeah, you can have that actually. So, do you actually chew them? Do you … ‘cause that’s what someone said that you do it nonstop.
Liam: I kinda chew them and then I suck them, and I chew them up and then I get rid of it.
Ellen: You don’t swallow it?
Liam: No, I don’t swallow it.
Ellen: Good.
Liam: I guess it’s kinda quite rude, but I’ve been doing it for years. And it helps me think and it keeps me, you know … relax.
Ellen: Well, better than smoking, I would say that. There’s nothing wrong with chewing on a piece of wood over smoking. All right and also … here’s a beautiful picture of your wife Natasha Richardson which is, uh … that’s … you’ve been married 10 years. (applause from audience) That’s you and your wife!
Liam: Oh, I, oh, yeah.
Ellen: Yeah, that’s you and your wife.
Liam: I was checking out my gear, I should have worn that actually.
Ellen: No, you look great. I don’t know why ...
Liam: That’s her. I haven’t seen her for a while. She’s been in a ... she’s in Shanghai making a movie.
Ellen: Oh, really?
Liam: Yeah.
Ellen: Wow, that’s hard because you have two kids.
Liam: We’ve two kids. But we actually just got back there from last, uh, Sunday.
Ellen: And you’ve been married 10 years, right?
Liam: 10 years on …
Ellen: So, how long … so, you been doing … how long do you go without seeing each other sometimes?
Liam: Well, up until this, this, uh, piece of work, it’s … we don’t let it go beyond 4 weeks. But this time it was like nine weeks.
Ellen: Because your family’s in Ireland, right?
Liam: Yes, actually, you know, something I have to tell. My mum flew into New York last night, that’s where I live. And when I saw that little segment with that lady, Kitty … she’s very like my mum and mum is called Kitty, too.
Ellen: Really?
Liam: Yeah!
Ellen: Well, I just made up her name. Her name’s Charlotte, but we saw her in the audience one day and we didn’t know who she was and I just named her Kitty and it caught on. And, uh, that’s not her name at all, and she finally contacted us. She thought we would leave her alone, it would go away … she didn’t know me.
Liam: She’s a big star now.
Ellen: So, now she’s a big star … so, that’s your mother’s name, Kitty. Yeah, so that’s why I thought that, uh …
Liam: And “kitty” is Irish for “Kathryn”.
Ellen: Really?
Liam: Yeah.
Ellen: Probably it’s from my background I decided to do it. All right, we have to take a break! When we come back, I wanna give you a little gift.
Liam: Thanks, Ellen.
Ellen: All right, we’ll be right back.
(Film clip)
Ellen: We’re back with Liam Neeson and a clip from "Kinsey". And there’s just a lot of Oscar buzz about, uh, with your performance in this. You’re so good in it and the film is so good.
Liam: Thank you, Ellen.
Ellen: I really didn’t know anything about Kinsey, you know, until I saw the movie.
Liam: Nor me, I didn’t. I certainly didn’t know anything about him growing up in Ireland, in fact, the books were banned there … until like the 70’s.
Ellen: And how do you feel about … you were raised in that kinda of family, that sex was not talked about or ...
Liam: Yes. I was brought up in a very traditional Irish Catholic, uh, background. I had three sisters, I have three sisters, I should say. My parents … and, uh, yeah, I, I… sex was not talked about, never ever talked about, nor was it talked about at school, you know. And, uh, I learnt it from bathroom walls essentially … drawings, you know, crude drawings.
Ellen: Right.
Liam: And also …
Ellen: I’m sorry I was thinking about a drawing I once saw, um, um …
Liam: Tell Dr. Kinsey.
Ellen: Now, will you, will you talk to your kids
differently after doing this movie or would you talk to them similarly because the way that the family spoke at the dinner table? I was just like, "Oh, my God, I can’t imagine parents talking to their kids that openly." Are you scared of talking to your kids about that?
Liam: I kinda, in my head, I want to see myself with the toothpick and the cardigan and the roaring fire and saying, “Come here, sons!” You know, doing all that, but I suspect I’ll get very, very uptight. They’ve already started asking pertinent questions. We haven’t quite got to the, you know … maybe a little ( ? ) songs of the birds, but definitely not the bees. We have that ahead of us.
Ellen: Well, you said they are 8 and …
Liam: 8 and 9.
Ellen: That’s, you know … hopefully kids can stay kids for a little while longer. Kids are growing up too fast now and they don’t need to know that yet.
Liam: I agree, I agree.
Ellen: Not till they are 20, 21.
Liam: But I’d rather they hear it from us rather than bathroom walls.
Ellen: Yeah, well, exactly right, yeah, bathroom walls. Well, there’s sometimes moisture that distorts things and uh ... All right, listen, we want to give you this gift because your family is in Ireland. And, uh, it’s a video phone that we were just talking about. So, uh …
Liam: Oh, that’s fantastic.
Ellen: "Kinsey" is up, it’s currently playing everywhere. We’ve got update on Houston (a former employee of the show who recently got an acting job through Ellen). Don’t go away, we’ll be right bacK
Posted: Do - Dezember 9, 2004 at 07:47 nachm.