Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan gave Liam Neeson a secure refuge on the Toronto set of Chloe after the tragic death of Neeson's wife, Natasha Richardson.

"I was surprised that he came back so soon," Egoyan told Sun Media yesterday, after Sunday's world premiere of Chloe. "But he sent me a text saying: 'It is the best place for me to be!' "

Egoyan's comments were his first insights on this delicate subject. They emerged as he talked about the stellar trio of stars -- Neeson co-stars with Julianne Moore and Amanda Seyfried -- who elevate his film to greatness.

Chloe was in production when Richardson suffered a skiing accident at a winter resort in Mont Tremblant, Quebec. She died of brain trauma in New York on March 18, just after being transferred from a Montreal hospital. At the time of the accident, Neeson left Toronto to be at Richardson's bedside, first in Montreal and then New York.

Neeson returned to work soon after the funeral.

Choosing his words carefully, and showing great tenderness, Egoyan said Neeson made the choice himself to return to Toronto. The Oscar-nominated actor stayed for a week to finish shooting his remaining scenes on the erotic mystery film.

"Because he is such a great actor and he understands the profession, (he knew) the show must go on," Egoyan said of the 57-year-old, Irish-born star. In an unfortunate coincidence, Chloe explores difficult emotional terrain in a marriage. Moore plays Neeson's wife and Seyfried is the intruder into their lives.

"It was clearly painful to explore this territory in the wake of what just happened," Egoyan said. "But you do it because you have to."

Egoyan said he did not feel guilty about putting Neeson back to work. "You know what, you don't because the best thing he could be doing was working -- and he knew that. That's what he felt when he came back. He loved the crew. He loved the family feeling. He needed that -- and he said that. He was coming back to a family that loved him and that's what he needed at that point.

"What was incredible is that we were able to bring him back without anybody knowing. It was shocking that we were just able to finish the film and send him back without people knowing until he left."

Egoyan said he did not want Neeson to be subject to paparazzi and prying eyes.

"Because then it would have been ugly."

The legacy of the experience is a great performance on screen and lasting off-screen bonds among the Chloe cast and crew, Egoyan said.

The trio of Moore, Neeson and Seyfried may seem unlikely, Egoyan indicated, because Seyfried is the wild card. But she was cast for her talent, not her fame from the phenomenal success of Mamma Mia!, he said.

"We cast this before Adoration (his prior film) and before her star had broken out with Mamma Mia!. We saw a lot of young actresses and she just shone. There was just something about her and I loved that vulnerability. There was a kind of hardness to a lot of the other young actresses.

"This was the last film she was cast in before Mamma Mia! came out. So I think she knows it had nothing to do with her status. It's because I thought she is an amazing actress."

As for the veteran Moore, a luminous talent with four Oscar nominations, Egoyan said she is "an interesting contrast" to the emerging Seyfried. "She knows her instrument really well. She knows what she does. She knows how she will look when she's doing it. And she comes with a whole set of things she can do."