David Zucker, who directed the original Naked Gun film, sees the reboot’s positive reception as a sign that this is a good year — even if he has no plans to watch the new movie that stars Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson.
Zucker has been outspoken about feeling burned that he and other members of the original 1988 film’s team were not involved in Paramount‘s latest The Naked Gun feature, given that he had previously worked on a script for a fourth installment in the franchise. Director Akiva Schaffer‘s new movie stars Neeson as the son of Frank Drebin — Leslie Nielsen‘s character who was featured in the short-lived series Police Squad and the first three Naked Gun films — and opened this weekend in third place at the domestic box office with $17 million, a strong number for the modestly budgeted comedy.
“I’m excited about it because it just shows that there’s a strong market for comedy in movie theaters, 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. I texted him already, saying, ‘I hear the reviews are great, and it’s tracking well.’ He was very happy to hear from me, and we’ll probably get together later in the month when the smoke clears.”
That said, Zucker confirms that he still has no plans to see the new film. Zucker has previously explained that he worked on a script with Pat Proft and Mike McManus for a fourth Naked Gun that he shared with Paramount and would have centered on Drebin’s thirty-something son.
Leslie Nielsen (left) and David Zucker on the set of 1991’s Naked Gun 2 1/2.
Courtesy of Everett Collection
“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. I’ve told Akiva that I have no intention to see it,” Zucker says with a laugh. “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 notes that he doesn’t have any reservations about turning down an executive producer credit that Paramount offered. “I won’t take credit on anything that I didn’t work on from the beginning. I don’t need the money,” he says. Zucker quips, “After the agents and managers, it would have paid three electric bills, probably. If it’s a big hit, Akiva should get the credit, and he deserves it.”
The filmmaker hopes that the buzz surrounding the new Naked Gun will help to push forward his project that was initially envisioned as the fourth Naked Gun film and is now entitled Counterintelijence. Zucker also has a noir spoof script called The Star of Malta that he is hoping to shoot soon with a minimal budget.
Ultimately, Zucker wishes the best for the reboot and is grateful that producer Seth MacFarlane called him shortly after the new movie’s team had completed their script.
“He spent the first 10 minutes telling me how much he loved Airplane, The Naked Gun and Top Secret,” Zucker says with a laugh about being praised for his previous projects. “I can’t get mad at anyone who will tell me what a genius I am. That was a good conversation. I was glad that Seth called, but I told him politely, ‘Good luck, but I can’t put my name on this.’ [But] everything happens for a reason.”