Maggie Grace: Like Father, Like Daughter in TAKEN 2

Hit action director Olivier Megaton heats up the action arena with twice the thrill, action and carnage in the upcoming sequel “Taken 2” where the first movie cemented Liam Neeson as this era ’s most relatable action hero being a family man keen on saving his daughter at all cost from human trafficking.

From the first movie where his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) had been abducted by a cartel of human traffickers, “Taken 2” now follows Bryan Mills and his family at Istanbul where the father of the cartel’s leader is out to avenge his son killed by Mills during his daughter’s rescue. With Mills and his wife abducted this time, Kim tries to save them at breakneck speed taking cues from his father’s infallible timely instructions to track them down.

At the helm of the movie is director Olivier Megaton who was born Olivier Fontana – Megaton being his artistic name that fitted right into the mix of a new wave of action directors. Megaton started working on a number of TV and short projects and eventually teamed up with Luc Besson where he wrote and directed the film “Exit.” It was then followed by the crime thriller “The Red Siren” and continued to work in the production of the game-adapted movie “Hitman.” After the success of “Hitman,” he was then offered to direct “Transporter 3,” which went on to become the highest-grossing film in the “Transporter” series.

In the first movie Bryan’s a guy with nothing to lose. He's divorced and he's lost filial relations, but all that changed when his daughter was kidnapped. “Taken 2” takes it in a whole new platform where Bryan’s got that relationship back and he's even flirting with his ex-wife (played by Famke Janssen).

Director Megaton notes that “ It's almost cheesy, but that makes him all the more human at the beginning of the movie because he's not thinking about his training; he's thinking about his family. He's a little less strong, less robotic. He's a little less lonely, and he has some hope in this one. This hope is initially lost because when he tries to have lunch with his wife, he lets trouble in. He would never have invited Kim and Lenora to Istanbul before because he was working and he wasn't sure something could happen. It's sweet and at the same time it gives the character some more humanity. I think this is the little difference that makes the movie more interesting.”

Megaton confirms that “Taken 2” they detoured from the action sequel’s formula, “Bryan Mills is exactly what people are looking for. You realize that you can change the formula, you don't have to stick to it, but what's important is the character. The fact that this guy has a daughter and she's becoming like him was really the brand new thing in TAKEN 2. Suddenly Kim becomes something different – a real action character. At the end of the first movie she's trying to rebuild her life, she tries to fall in love—the classic American girl—but she has been impacted by what's happened to her. These dark memories arrive suddenly and it makes her different, allowing her to become an action hero like her father. That was the real trick of TAKEN 2,” assures the director.

“Taken 2” in theaters nationwide on October 4 from 20th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.