We had the trailer for the new Naked Gun the other day, and let’s just say, it wasn’t good. Liam Neeson is taking over the role of Lt. Frank Drebin, but he didn’t have the comic presence that Leslie Nielsen did.
David Zucker, was the creator of the original Naked Gun, and the TV series Police Squad! (In colour). He read the script to this new sequel, and offered to spruce it up a little. Apparently, the sprucing wasn’t taken very well and he was only offered a producer credit.
All of this took place about a decade ago, and Zucker is still amazed this new Naked Gun is being released. Zucker got the impression that the makers of this new sequel didn’t want him because of his age:
“I read the script, and I politely told them I wasn’t going to put my name on it. They wanted nothing from me except my name. They assume I’m old and using a walker and I can’t do it anymore. I guess talent leaves after age 40 in Hollywood.”
Zucker had produced a lot of work with Paramount, including Naked Gun, Airplane, and Top Secret! He had pitched a movie, Naked: Impossible, to Paramount, but it was rejected. This idea had Frank’s son carry on the Police Squad adventures.
Naked: Impossible was going to turn the franchise on its head. Zucker said that spoofs and parodies about the police are hard work these days. He doesn’t think there are many cop movies anymore:
“We didn’t even want to do it in a police station. They don’t make cop movies anymore. When you do parody, you’ve got to spoof something current.”
It also seems that Zucker was not all that impressed with the casting of Neeson, who is now 73.
We can only wait and see what the new Naked Gun will be like on the 1st of Aug.
