Most Saturdays, the Interdisciplinary Science & Engineering Complex on Northeastern University’s Boston campus is a quiet place. Students can be found studying and prospective students touring the six floors of classroom and research space.

This Saturday was not one of those days.

The bright lights and hustle and bustle of Hollywood filled parts of ISEC on Nov. 5 with all eyes on Academy Award-nominated Irish actor Liam Neeson, who spent much of the day filming a movie scene for his new action thriller, “Thug.”

Neeson arrived on set at dawn sporting a brown leather jacket over a black collared shirt, his trademark Stanley thermos in his right hand.

For Northeastern, it was an opportunity to show off to the world one of Boston’s most beautiful buildings.

“This building always attracts talent, usually from academia, sometimes from Hollywood,” said Renata Nyul, vice president for communications at Northeastern. “It’s great to welcome Liam Neeson and his crew to Northeastern and have ISEC play a small part in his next movie.”

According to IMDB, Neeson’s latest movie is about an aging gangster—Neeson is 70 years old, after all—who tries to reconnect with his children and rectify the mistakes in his past, but the criminal underworld won’t loosen its grip willingly.

Neeson was nominated for an Academy Award for best actor for his role in Schindler’s List, but he’s best known as an action star, playing Bryan Mills in the “Taken” series. His other roles—and there are hundreds—include Qui-Gon Jinn in the “Star Wars” trilogy and Ra’s al Ghu in the “Batman” trilogy.

Neeson’s co-stars in “Thug” include Yolonda Ross, Ron Perlman and Daniel Diemer. Tony Gayton wrote the screen play, while the movie is being directed by Hans Petter Moland, who also directed “Cold Pursuit,” starring Neeson in 2019.

In addition to Northeastern, “Thug” has also filmed scenes in other Massachusetts locations, including Winthrop and Boston’s North End and Allston neighborhoods.

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