David Zucker, who directed the first two Naked Gun films, recently told Woman’s World that he was not impressed with the reboot, directed by Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson. He said the film “completely missed” the now-classic style of parody comedy pioneered by Zucker, his brother Jerry, and Jim Abrahams.
“My brother Jerry and our partner Jim Abrahams started doing parody comedy 50 years ago and we created our own style, and it worked so well that it made it look easy,” Zucker explained. “People started copying it, like Seth MacFarlane in the new ‘Naked Gun.’ He totally missed it.”
According to IMDb, MacFarlane was one of the lead producers on the project and provided “additional literary material.” The film was directed by Lonely Island co-founder Akiva Shaffer, who co-wrote the screenplay with Dan Gregor and Doug Mund.
Zucker also disputed the cost of making 2025’s “The Naked Gun.” Mr. Zucker’s 1988 original cost $14.5 million, while the reboot cost $42 million, according to AFI. However, when adjusted for inflation, $14.5 million becomes about $38 million in 2025, which is not far from the new “naked gun” budget.
“You shouldn’t spend too much money on comedy. One of our rules is about technical flashiness,” Zucker said. “Big budgets and comedy are opposites, and with the new ‘Naked Gun,’ we found them trying to copy our style while spending a lot of money on scenes full of technical flashiness.”
The “Airplane!” director added that he feels the new “Naked Gun” was made solely for economic reasons. Zucker claimed, “Everyone’s doing it for the money now. It feels like that’s the only reason they wanted to make the new ‘Naked Gun.'”
