Last night I discreetly joined a full house of SAG ( screen actors guild ) members to see the film ‘The Grey’ and to meet the director and 2 of the actors – including Liam Neeson. Being without membership, I  felt a bit like a vegetarian at a carnivore’s picnic – a feeling that only grew as the film proceeded. The picture was about a group of men from an Alaskan oil field that survive a plane crash, and then try to survive extreme conditions of cold and snow while being picked off by a fierce pack of wolves.  Not my usual choice of film, and not one that I would have expected to see Mr Neeson act in, but he had an ulterior motive. The character Liam played in the film had recently lost his wife in tragic circumstances and the parallel to his own life when Natasha Richardson died in 2009, gave him an opportunity to work carthartical through the death, the grieving and the subsequent search for meaning. It wasn’t my kind of film, but the personal aspect was so raw, I felt like I had been witness to a very private grief. Liam was playing himself.

When Mr Neeson joined the others on stage afterwards he carried a coffee, which an assistant topped up through the Q&A. He didn’t appear to be 6’4″, spoke quietly without using his microphone, and the stories of the film – shooting in -36*, crew becoming snow blind – were only just balanced with the camaraderie of the actors and some comic moments. Questions from the audience focused mainly on the acting perspective, and others about his personal journey were quickly deflected.

It was a strange but interesting evening and one that I felt lucky to witness. It was an actor talking to actors, and although I was sad to see the spark of the Irishman dimmed, he didn’t get that nose by boxing shy…