Liam Neeson's audition as Santa is super scary

Liam Neeson gets his scowl on in order to impersonate Santa.

Liam Neeson has reinvented himself as an action man in recent years, but if this new video is anything to go by, he just can't shake his Taken persona.

In a skit for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Neeson does his best - or, rather, worst - impersonation of Santa, with dark results.

Neeson growls his way through iconic Christmas carols, delivering lines like, "I see you when you're sleeping," in a way that would scare small children.

When he is told to "make it jolly," his smile could send chills.

"Do you understand what Santa's saying here?" Neeson asks the director later when justifying his take.

"He's making a list, naughty, nice, he's detailed. He's single-minded. He's an eye in the sky bringing swift judgement."

"He's also bringing toys to children," the unseen director timidly adds.

"Not the naughty ones," Neeson snarls back.

The Irish actor is promoting his new movie Silence, in which he plays a Catholic priest captured and tortured in Japan. It hits theatres on February 16.

While on The Late Show, Neeson also revealed he would be open to making a fourth movie in the Taken franchise, which has made more than NZ$1.3 billion at the box office.