“Our families are close” 

PHOTO: MARION CURTIS/STARPIX/SHUTTERSTOCK

Aidan Quinn and pal Liam Neeson have an easy working relationship, even when they have to go head to head.

The actor stars opposite Neeson in Blacklight, a new action flick in theaters Friday, as an FBI director with shady missions that prompt his one-time cohort, Neeson’s Travis Block, to take violent measures to stop him.

Quinn, 62, tells PEOPLE he is “absolutely” down to play villains on the big screen, especially “if they’re well-written and I get to play with the likes of my good friend, Liam Neeson. It’s a great thrill and a lot of fun for me.”

This isn’t the first film the duo has made together. They were costars in 1986’s The Mission and 1996’s Michael Collins.

There’s also the 2011 thriller Unknown that they did together, another of Neeson’s recent action films that he’s perfected in the years since Taken was a box office hit back in 2008.

And Quinn agrees that the star, 69, has a very particular set of skills in the genre.

“He’s so good at this now,” says Quinn. “He’s gotten this particular genre down where he can do it with such grace and yet be very charming and still have the gravitas that his characters have.

It’s a pleasure to see him do this at the top of his game.”

BEN KING/OPEN ROAD FILMS

Quinn says he and Neeson have an “ease” and “familiarity” working together, all thanks to staying close friends over the years.

“Liam’s got a great sense of humor and we’re old friends,” he tells PEOPLE.

“It’s very hard to meet up with Liam because he’s so frickin’ busy! I see him two, three times a year it seems like nowadays because he’s always in Berlin or Australia or out in the west.

He’s pretty booked up,” added Quinn. “So I don’t get to see him as much as I’d like, but yeah, normally we get together.

Before the pandemic, we would have a meal in the city. We see each other upstate sometimes at our houses with our families. Our families are close.”

Quinn’s family is wife Elizabeth Bracco and their two daughters.

The pair celebrate 35 years of marriage this year, and the actor have some advice in the department of maintaining a long-lasting relationship.

“Keep a sense of humor and give up trying to change the other person to think the way you think. Just give it up,” he says. “Give it up early — you’ll save yourself a lot of grief.”