Liam Neeson didn't like his iconic Taken speech and thought it was 'corny'

It's a given that many of us cringe over things we've done in the past, from awkward conversations to embarrassing encounters - it's definitely a common phenomenon.

However, what isn't so common is having one of your worser moments available for millions to play back and forever quote you on.

And that is definitely the case for Hollywood star, Liam Neeson, who's revealed that he found his iconic speech in Taken to be nothing more than just 'corny'.

In case you needed a reminder of this brillant scene, here it is:

The action-thriller first hit our screens back in 2008 with a star-studded cast including the likes of Famke Janssen (X-Men), Jon Gries (The White Lotus) and Leeland Orser (Seven).

The plot follows ex-CIA agent, Bryan Mills (Neeson), on a hunt to find the human traffickers that abducted his teenage daughter in Paris.

With barely any information to go off and no help at all from local authorities, the father heads to the capital city to rescue his daughter.

Taken ended up being a huge box-office smash after taking home over $226.8 million with just a $25 million budget.

After the initial movie's release, an entire franchise followed with Taken 2, which was released in 2012, and Taken 3 hitting cinema two years after.

20th Century Studios

One of the reason's for Taken's critical success was the stand-out performance that Neeson offered, especially with the multiple high-production action scenes and lengthy dialogues.

And it was exactly one of these dialogues that launched the film into the hall of fame.

After receiving a call from his daughter that there were men in her apartment, Neeson remains totally helpless as he overhears a man dragging her out from under the bed she was hiding under.

When the attackers then pick up the phone she dropped, Neeson begins his speech which has since been dubbed 'one of the great dialogues' in film history.

Composing himself, Neeson begins: "I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want.

"If you are looking for ransom I can tell you I don’t have money, but what I do have are a very particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a very long career."

20th Century Studios

He continues: "Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now that’ll be the end of it."

Then, arguably one of the most well-known mic-drop lines in cinema, he finishes: "I will not look for you, I will not pursue you, but if you don’t, I will look for you, I will find you and I will kill you."

However, Neeson clearly didn't find his speech as iconic as the rest of his fans.

Speaking to Vanity Fair, the Schindler's List star admitted that while he did give off an intimidating tone, he also found the speech itself to be fairly lacklustre.

He revealed: "I certainly did sound scary, but I thought it was corny."

"It was a cornball," he continued, "I really did feel that."

However, while he was initially not that into the script at first glance, the box-office numbers clearly didn't lie as the film went on to be one of the most notable performances in Neeson's whole filmography.

"It’s nice to be proven wrong," he admitted.