It's been ten years since a little action movie called "Taken" hit theaters, completely transforming Liam Neeson's career and proving that audiences are perfectly happy to watch middle-aged action heroes rack up a Schwarzenegger-worthy body count. To celebrate this anniversary, here are some interesting facts you might not know about the movie that spawned a franchise.

1. Producer Luc Besson pitched the premise of "Taken" to director Pierre Morel over dinner, with Morel immediately latching onto the father/daughter angle.

2. Before Liam Neeson signed on to star, Jeff Bridges was cast as Bryan Mills. No doubt that would have resulted in a very different sort of movie.

3. Neeson trained in multiple forms of armed and unarmed combat to prepare for the role. The martial arts form his character actually uses in the film is called Nagasu Do.

4. Neeson seems as surprised by "Taken's" success and resulting impact on his career as anyone. The actor has admitted to assuming "Taken" would be released as a direct-to-video movie.

5. "Taken" is often criticized for creating an unrealistic view of Europe as a dangerous place for American tourists, a perception Neeson has often worked to counteract.

6. Mills kills no fewer than 35 people over the course of the movie.

7.Maggie Grace revealed on an episode of "Conan" that when she was going through a bad breakup, Neeson phoned her ex-boyfriend in character as Bryan Mills to threaten him.

8. The budget for "Taken" was a modest $25 million, which is barely more than Neeson's $20 million salary for "Taken 3."

9. Neeson has reprised the role of Bryan Mills multiple times outside of the "Taken" trilogy, including in a 2014 "Saturday Night Live" sketch and in a 2015 commercial for the mobile game "Clash of Clans."

10. "Scary Movie" creators Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer announced plans to direct a "Taken" parody called "Who The F#@k Took My Daughter?". However, as of 2019 the film hasn't materialized.

11. In 2011, a man named William G. Hillar was convicted of wire fraud after impersonating a Green Beret and falsely claiming "Taken" was inspired by his own life.