The original director of The Naked Gun, David Zucker, has renewed his verbal assault concerning the recent reboot featuring Liam Neeson, after briefly appearing to adopt a more conciliatory tone following the premiere of the film's cinema debut.
During a fresh discussion, Zucker stated that Seth MacFarlane, the producer behind the new Naked Gun and formerly the director and co-writer of the Ted movies, "totally missed" the spoof-comedy style that Zucker, along with his partners Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams, popularized in Airplane! and the initial trilogy of Naked Gun films.
"My brother, Jerry, and our partner, Jim Abrahams, began creating spoof comedies five decades in the past, and we originated our own style – and we did that so well that it looks easy, evidently. People started copying it, like Seth MacFarlane for the new Naked Gun. He completely misunderstood it."
Zucker continued: "It can look like we're just throwing stuff up against the wall to see what sticks, but we're not. Consideration is involved."
Zucker added that it was futile to make the movie without Leslie Nielsen, who portrayed the iconic character and passed away in 2010, remarking: "They attempted to substitute Leslie Nielsen in the new Naked Gun, and you can't replace him. No one else can do that."
The filmmaker had earlier expressed opposition to the decision to proceed with a Naked Gun reboot, saying in 2024 that he was "not excited about having the franchise given to different individuals". He continued: "I have not been approached to make a cameo or participate in scripting. Whether or not they're going to do a good job with it, this kind of spoof, I mean it isn't overly complex, but it is challenging."
Nonetheless, after a series of favorable critiques and impressive financial performance following its launch in August, Zucker struck a more conciliatory tone, commenting: "I am pleased by it because it just shows that there's a strong market for comedy in movie theatres, and parody specifically."
However, Zucker returned to the attack in the new interview, questioning the financial investment. "Big budgets and comedy are opposites, and in the recent reboot, you could see that they invested heavily on scenes with impressive technical effects while attempting to replicate our style."
He added: "Everybody's in it for the money now, and that seems to be the sole motivation why they decided to produce a new Naked Gun."
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