Claim: Liev Schreiber made appearances in Ransom.

Ransom is a 1996 American crime thriller film directed by Ron Howard and written by Richard Price and Alexander Ignon . The film stars Mel Gibson , Rene Russo , Gary Sinise , Brawley Nolte , Delroy Lindo , Liev Schreiber , Evan Handler , Donnie Wahlberg , and Lili Taylor . Gibson was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor .   The original story came from a 1954 episode of The United States Steel Hour titled `` Fearful Decision '' . In 1956 , it was adapted by Richard Maibaum and Cyril Hume into the feature film Ransom ! , starring Glenn Ford , Donna Reed , and Leslie Nielsen . The film was also influenced by Ed McBain 's police procedural novel King 's Ransom .   The film received mostly positive reviews , and was a major financial success , becoming the 6th highest-grossing film of 1996 in the United States .