Original Naked Gun director David Zucker has gone back on the attack over the recent reboot starring Liam Neeson, after appearing to soften his tone in the wake of its release.
In an interview with Woman’s World, Zucker said that Seth MacFarlane, producer on the new Naked Gun and previously director and co-writer of the Ted movies “totally missed” the spoof-comedy style that Zucker, along with collaborators Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams, made famous in Airplane! and the three original Naked Gun films.
“My brother, Jerry, and our partner, Jim Abrahams, started doing spoof comedies 50 years ago, and we originated our own style – and we did that so well that it looks easy, evidently. People started copying it, like [producer] Seth MacFarlane for the new Naked Gun. He totally missed it.”
He added: “It can look like we’re just throwing stuff up against the wall to see what sticks, but we’re not. There’s thought behind it.”
Zucker added that it was pointless to make the movie without Leslie Nielsen, who played Frank Drebin and who died in 2010, saying: “They tried to replace Leslie Nielsen in the new Naked Gun, and you can’t replace him. No one else can do that.”
Zucker had previously objected to plans to go ahead with a Naked Gun reboot, saying in 2024 that he was “not excited about having the franchise given to other people”. Adding: “They have not contacted me to make a cameo or be involved in the writing. Whether or not they’re going to do a good job with it, this kind of spoof, I mean it’s not rocket science, but it’s not easy.”
However, after a string of positive reviews and strong box office returns after its release in August, Zucker struck a more conciliatory tone, saying: “I’m excited about it because it just shows that there’s a strong market for comedy in movie theatres, and spoof in particular.”
However, Zucker returned to the attack in the new interview, criticising the amount of money involved. “Big budgets and comedy are opposites, and in the new Naked Gun, you could see that they spent a lot of money on scenes full of technical pizzazz while trying to copy our style.”
He added: “Everybody’s in it for the money now, and that feels like the only reason why they wanted to do a new Naked Gun.”
