By Rick Bentley
The Fresno Bee
LOS ANGELES — Liam Neeson is the right age to have been part of the generation that embraced the writings of Kahlil Gibran in “The Prophet.”
“When I was 17 or 18 years old, reading the book was the thing to do,” Neeson, 63, says. “We were all thinking about peace and love and poetry. That book offered a very romantic view of the world for us who were pondering life and art.”
Neeson’s gone past pondering the writings to helping bringing them to life with the animated film “The Prophet.” He provides the voice of Mustafa, a much persecuted writer and orator who is driven into hiding by the local authorities who believe his ideas about peace and love are too dangerous.
The character’s story is the connecting thread that holds together a series of animated vignettes based on writings from Gibran’s book.
“The Prophet” is among the most popular volumes of poetry ever written, selling more than 100 million copies in 40 languages since its publication in 1923. The animated feature, produced and spearheaded by Salma Hayek, was an official selection at Cannes and made its North American premiere at Toronto International Film Festival.
Written and directed by Roger Allers (“The Lion King”), the film intersperses sequences by filmmakers Tomm Moore, Nina Paley, Bill Plympton and a host of award-winning animators from around the world.
Neeson says that except for remembering the book from his youth, he didn’t know much about it. When Hayek approached him to be the voice of Mustafa, he was hesitant because he didn’t know how all the prose would be transferred to screen.
“It’s not much of a story,” Neeson says. “But having this character talking to his followers and his relationship with the young girl who becomes fascinated with his writings, I saw that it was a very lovely story. The film ended up being very touching. I believe the film offers such a diverse look and complex story that it would be a great teaching tool.”
Neeson likes how the film shows a young girl rebelling against a society that would treat her like a second- or third-class citizen to be able to express herself.
That’s interesting coming from an actor who has made a living out of tough guy roles, from the remake of “The A-Team” to “Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace” to the “Taken” trilogy. But Neeson has also shown his soft side in films such as “Les Miserables” and “The Chronicles of Narnia” movies.
Just like “Narnia,” Neeson’s can show a softer side through his voice work. To him, “The Prophet” was a perfect fit.
“I’m Irish and there’s something about that accent that comes across so nicely when it comes to poetry,” Neeson says.
He found Gibran’s words flowed naturally from his mouth. It was such an easy recording session, Neeson ended up reading the poems only a few times before the director got what he needed.
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