David Zucker, director and co-writer of the first two “The Naked Gun” films, does not approve of the 2025 reboot.
In a new interview with Woman’s World, the 78-year-old filmmaker bashed the latest iteration of the crime comedy franchise that was directed by Akiva Shaffer and produced by Seth MacFarlane, with Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson in the lead roles.
“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,” Zucker stated. “People started copying it, like Seth MacFarlane for the new ‘Naked Gun.’ He totally missed it.”
Zucker also took issue with the new film’s $42 million budget, compared to his “Naked Gun” movies that cost $14 million and $23 million, respectively, to make.
“You shouldn’t spend too much money on comedies, and one of our rules is about technical pizzazz,” he shared. “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.”
“Everybody’s in it for the money now,” Zucker added, “and that feels like the only reason why they wanted to do a new ‘Naked Gun.’”
The director acknowledged that “comedy changes, and I wouldn’t do the same thing anymore,” noting that if he made his own “The Naked Gun” reboot, it would be more of a parody of “Mission: Impossible” and “James Bond” than the original movies from the franchise.
Elsewhere in the interview, Zucker explained that “there’s a certain method to the madness” in how he and his producing partners make their projects.
“We had our 15 rules, and I’m teaching them in the hopes that if anybody tries to do a movie like this again, they’ll do it right,” he said.
The first three “Naked Gun” films starred Leslie Nielsen as woeful cop Frank Drebi.
In the reboot, Neeson, 73, plays Frank’s son, Lt. Frank Drebin Jr. The film also stars Anderson, 58, as Frank Jr.’s love interest, Beth.
Zucker previously criticized the reboot around the time that it hit theaters in August.
“I don’t plan on seeing it because, why would I?,” he told the Daily Mail.
“I wrote a whole script for ‘Naked Gun 4’ on spec for Paramount,” Zucker continued. “I understand the studio’s thinking to go with Seth MacFarlane. He’s a proven commodity and Liam Neeson is a big star, but it’s not a fresh idea.”
Despite Zucker’s comments, critics were on board with the reboot.
The Post awarded the comedy four stars, calling it “the funniest movie to hit theaters in a long time.”
Additionally, the flick has a 88% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 73% rating from audiences.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
