IT'S HARD not to be 'taken' with Liam Neeson, even when he's an hour late.

He strides into the room, chewing a cocktail stick between his teeth, with a jovial grin and a twinkle in his blue eyes and all is forgiven.

Neeson returns in his latest film Taken 2 as Bryan Mills, a protective father who just happens to be a retired CIA agent with a "very particular set of skills".

The 60-year-old, who has had roles as diverse as Michael Collins, Schindler, Zeus and a Jedi, says he was surprised to play Mills again.

Since the success of Taken – one of the most successful French-made films ever released in the US – Neeson has found a resurgence in his career, and fans have been crying out for a sequel.

Having won legions of admirers through his roles in films such as Schindler's List and Star Wars: Episode I, and capturing women's hearts as a grieving widower in Love Actually, now Neeson is an action hero.

But the Irishman admits, despite his admiration for screenwriter Luc Besson, he didn't expect the first film to be such a hit.

"We were all pleasantly surprised," he says in his husky tones.

After the film was released in France to an average reception, Neeson thought he'd heard the last of it.

"I remember thinking, well that's the end of that, it's finished... It will disappear into DVD land."

But the movie was released in America and the UK in 2009 and was an instant smash hit.

Since his first big screen role playing Jesus Christ in Pilgrim's Progress in 1977, Neeson has had a prolific acting career, making more than 70 films – six in the last year alone.

Tragically widowed when his wife Natasha Richardson died following a ski-ing accident in 2009, Neeson was left to bring up their two young sons alone at their home in New York. He also threw himself into work, but says it was the idea of a trip to Paris that first attracted him to Taken.

"There was something about the story that was dead simple, plus there was a chance to do all this physical stuff, which I loved doing, you know.

"And it was three months in Paris, which isn't too shabby," he adds, chuckling.

While Taken fans have been begging for a sequel ever since, Neeson reveals it took time for him to come round to the idea.

"They proposed a couple of ideas a few years ago and I thought they were silly," he says.

Then he got the script set in Istanbul, with Maggie Grace and Famke Janssen returning more prominently as Mills's daughter and ex-wife, and Neeson was convinced.

Again, another exotic location was part of the attraction. But filming car chases, shoot-outs and explosions in the narrow, winding streets of Istanbul was a challenge.

"It's an extraordinary city," he says, "but a lot of the streets we shot in, which are thousands of years old, were as wide as this room, with shops on either side and merchants selling their wares, and you're doing a car chase at 70 miles an hour and people are saying, 'No, no, no, I'm not closing my shop. You do your movie and I sell my wares'.

"So there's people crossing the road all the time!" Neeson recalls.

Being cast as an action hero when you're 60 is not as easy as Neeson makes it look.

"I keep pretty fit in life as a rule. You have to these days, right? And for this sort of stuff, sure there's a few more push-ups and sit-ups you have to do in the morning."

But despite meticulous fight training, he didn't stroll away from the set completely unscathed.

"It starts to hurt," he admits. "The knees creak a little bit more."

The end of Taken 2 seems to leave the door open for another sequel, and the fans are sure to want one.

"Do you think so? I don't think so," Neeson says, shaking his head modestly. "I think we're finished. Mind you, I thought we were finished with the last one."

In fact, he's ready to pass the baton to Maggie Grace, who plays Mills's daughter Kim.

"Maggie's very fit, so I didn't have to teach her anything. She took it all on board. So if there is a sequel it should be based on Maggie's character."

Earlier this year, Neeson had a cameo as himself in Warwick Davis and Ricky Gervais's comedy Life's Too Short, in which he appeared discussing – totally deadpan – his desire to move into comedy. It was hilarious, but Neeson gives Gervais all the credit.

"That was all scripted, every comma and full stop was scripted by Ricky and Stephen Merchant, his writing partner."

The experience has given Neeson an appetite for more. A brilliant mimic, with great timing, he has everyone in stitches as he talks about Taken 2, and says he would like to do a comedy "if I can find something that's right".

After playing so many great men, Neeson is not sure what he'd like to do next, while he waits for the perfect comic role.

"For 10 seconds I was going to be Noah in Noah's Ark. But Russell Crowe is playing that, I think. And they wanted me to play his nemesis and I thought, 'Ach!'" he says, waving his arm dismissively. "If you're not Noah, what's the point?"