RTE viewers were left gasping last night as Liam Neeson revealed his age to Late Late Show host Ryan Tubridy.
Starring in at least 104 feature films over the years, ranging from Star Wars to Taken, Neeson has been on the big screen for quite some time.
But the audience was still shocked when the Irish actor let slip that he is approaching 70 years of age.
Fans took to Twitter to express their surprise at the actors age:
Fiona tweeted: "Liam Neeson is 70 next year? Talk about ageing well #latelate #latelateshow @RTELateLateShow".
Caroline wrote: ""Liam Neeson 70 next year?? Whaaat? And Clint Eastwood 91? Mind blown #LateLate".
The revelation provided a welcome moment of brevity to the otherwise serious subject of Neeson’s new film – the Tuam babies scandal.
Despite facing the seedy underworld of human trafficking in Taken, Neeson said he was "filled with horror" by the story.
In 2017, it was announced that human remains had been found during a test excavation carried out at the former Tuam mother and baby home site between November 2016 and February 2017.
A subsequent report stated that a total of 802 children died inside the Tuam home over a period of 36 years.
Most shocking of the discoveries was that 796 babies and young children had been buried in a sewage tank on the grounds.
Recalling the moment he first learned of the discovery in the sewage tank, The Irish Sun reported that Neeson said:
"I read this and I couldn't find the words. I'm Irish and I was brought up a Catholic and a very strong Catholic and I was filled with emotion. I was filled with horror, and I was filled with embarrassment.
"For the first time in my life and I've made some 93/94 films, I never felt this way before. I was lying onto my bed, I shot up straight and I thought I'm going to do something about this. Whatever celebrity status I have in the film world, I'm going to do something."
Galvanised into action, Neeson visited Catherine Corless, the Irish historian who has compiled the facts of this dark episode in Irish history.
He said: "I called my producer friend, she works with Ridley Scott and for under 22 years and I said, 'Jose, I'm going to send you this article, I want you to read it, we're going to produce a film about this, we have to. Don't ask me where the motivation is coming from, we have to do it.'
"She read it and said, 'yeah, I'm on board.' We approached Rose Garnett, the Head of BBC Films, we got this extortionary writer.
"I was filming in Belfast, and I visited Catherine in Galway and her lovely husband, Aidan three years ago. I spent a few hours, and I was just struck by the humility by this ordinary and extraordinary woman and her husband.
"She filled me in on this extraordinary story. So, we're going to do this film, we have a wonderful writer on board, and I told Catherine to be patient with us as the film process can take a long time, for example, Shindler's List took 10 years to get together until we got a script.
Neeson added: "This Tuam Babies [film] will not take 10 years, it's three years already but we're very near completion. Hopefully maybe in a years' time, we will start production on this to tell the story to the world."
See More: Irish Actor, Irish Movie, Liam Neeson, Tuam Babies
