Liam Neeson has demonstrated exactly how he throws a “good” onscreen punch.

During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday, host Jimmy asked the Northern Irish actor – known for his fight sequences in action movies – exactly how he makes fake punch-ups look so convincing.

Liam then set up a fictional scene in which he pretended to threaten Jimmy for “chatting up” his girlfriend and explained that he would aim his fist at the TV presenter’s chin.

“I don’t like this already… I don’t want to act with you, you’re getting too real,” declared Jimmy nervously.

Liam then threw the fake punch with his left arm, with Jimmy expertly swaying to his side.

“Some stunt guys will say when you get punched, your head (clips back and forth). I think that’s B.S. If you get punched, you’re going to stay there a few seconds,” the Taken star explained, to which Jimmy exclaimed, “That’s how you do it – my acting coach!”

Elsewhere in the conversation, Liam promoted his new movie Marlowe, in which he plays a fictional private detective who is hired to find the ex-lover of a glamorous heiress.

After a clip played showing an action scene, the 70-year-old recalled how director Neil Jordan encouraged him to improvise some dialogue.

“I have to pick up my hat, and there’s quite a distance to the door. And I thought, ‘That’s too long a pause. I have to say something. I thought, I’ll shake my hand and say, ‘I’m getting too old for this.’ And the director, Neil, said, ‘Oh, keep that in. I like that,'” he remembered, before adding of performing stunts: “I love it. I feel like, seriously, like a kid in a toy shop. Hanging out with these stunt guys, who are there to make me look good.”

Marlowe is now showing in select cinemas.

– Cover Media