The original director of The Naked Gun, David Zucker, has reignited his criticism concerning the recent reboot featuring Liam Neeson, following a short period where he seemed to soften his stance in the aftermath of the film's cinema debut.
In a recent interview, Zucker expressed that Seth MacFarlane, the creative force behind the new Naked Gun and previously the filmmaker and script collaborator of the Ted movies, "totally missed" the parody genre approach 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, started doing spoof comedies 50 years ago, and we originated our own style – and we executed it so effectively that it appears simple, clearly. Others began imitating it, like Seth MacFarlane for the recent reboot. 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. There's thought behind it."
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 tried to replace Leslie Nielsen in the recent revival, and he cannot be replaced. Nobody else is capable of that."
The filmmaker had earlier expressed opposition to the decision to proceed with a Naked Gun reboot, remarking last year that he was "not enthusiastic regarding having the series handed over to other people". Adding: "They have not contacted me to appear briefly or participate in scripting. Regardless of if 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."
However, after a string of positive reviews and strong box office returns after its release in August, Zucker adopted a more agreeable stance, commenting: "I'm excited about it because it just demonstrates there's a strong market for comedy in movie theatres, and parody specifically."
Yet, Zucker returned to the attack in the new interview, questioning the financial investment. "Large financial outlays and humor are incompatible, and in the recent reboot, you could see that they invested heavily on scenes with impressive technical effects while trying to copy our style."
He added: "Financial motives drive everyone currently, and that seems to be the sole motivation why they wanted to do a new Naked Gun."
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