The director of the original Naked Gun movies has said he will not be watching the 2025 reboot, despite wishing all the best to the new filmmakers.
David Zucker directed all three Naked Gun films starring the late Leslie Nielsen, which ran from 1988 to 1994 and were box office successes. He would also make the 1980 comedy classic Airplane! as well as two films in the Scary Movie franchise.
The filmmaker is seen as a pioneer of the spoof genre, and spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about his feelings regarding the new film, directed by Akiva Schaffer and starring Liam Neeson.
“I’m excited about it because it just shows that there’s a strong market for comedy in movie theaters, and spoof in particular,” he said. “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.”
However, he revealed he has no plans to see the film. “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 said.
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“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”.
He also said Paramount offered him an Executive Producer credit on the film, which he turned down. “I won’t take credit on anything that I didn’t work on from the beginning” he said. “I don’t need the money”.
The film has been well received by audiences, making $28.5million (£21.4million). It’s been seen as a victory for theatrically released comedy movies, which have been rare in recent years. The film highlighted this with a comedic PSA to promote the film.
Elsewhere, star Liam Neeson has confessed that despite the success of his Taken films, he feels “embarrassed” by them.
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