David Zucker, the director of the original Naked Gun movie, has explained why he won’t be watching the new film starring Liam Neeson.
The 2025 remake is jam-packed with talent, starring Pamela Anderson, Danny Huston, and Paul Walter Hauser, and directed by The Lonely Island’s Akiva Schaffer, and produced by Family Guy’s Seth MacFarlane.
Fans have been praising the ‘jaw-dropping’ reboot, with much of the praise directed at Neeson, 72, who stars in the film as Nielson’s son Frank Drebin Jr.
The trailer saw Liam ditch his typical movie persona and flash his strawberry undies, nailing the comedic role.
But despite emphasising his excitement for the film, Zucker, 77, won’t be tuning in to watch the remake.
‘I’m excited about it because it just shows that there’s a strong market for comedy in movie theatres, and spoof in particular, Zucker tells The Hollywood Reporter.
‘People are liking it, which is great. I really like the director, and I just couldn’t wish him more well,’ he said, adding that he’d texted Schaffer and wanted to meet up with him in the coming months.
‘I’m not gonna see it, but I don’t see any of the sequels that were of my material done by other people, and that’s fine.’
He added that he’d even told the director this, rejecting his invitations to a viewing: ‘I’ve told Akiva that I have no intention to see it.’
‘He actually invited me to come see an early cut of it, but I told him there’s nothing I could do to help because it really isn’t what I would have done. That’s not to say that he didn’t actually end up doing a good movie.
‘But I don’t think I could help with that.’
Zucker directed the first movie in the franchise, The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! in 1988 and followed up to direct the second movie in 1991, The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear.
In 1994, a third movie in the franchise was released, titled Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult, directed by Peter Segal.
Zucker is credited as both a writer and producer in the third version of the film.
A reboot of the franchise has been in the works at Paramount for years, with a fourth film – The Naked Gun: What 4? Rhythm of Evil – planned as a direct-to-TV sequel in 2009.
It was set to follow on from 1994’s Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult but ended up cancelled for budgetary reasons, with Nielsen dying in 2010.
In 2013, development initially began again on a sequel with The Hangover star Ed Helms as Frank Drebin, but this was later scrapped.
The comedy reboot has been incredibly well received and has made critics ‘laugh until it hurts’.
It earned an impressive 91% ranking on Rotten Tomatoes, and has already been a smash at the box office.
The Naked Gun is out in cinemas now.
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