Original Naked Gun director David Zucker has renewed his attack on the recent reboot starring Liam Neeson, accusing producer Seth MacFarlane of failing to capture the spoof-comedy style that defined the franchise.
In an interview with Woman's World, Zucker said MacFarlane “totally missed” the approach he, along with brother Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams, pioneered in Airplane! and the original Naked Gun films. “People started copying it, like Seth MacFarlane for the new Naked Gun. He totally missed it,” Zucker stated.
Zucker also criticised the decision to proceed without the late Leslie Nielsen, who played Frank Drebin. “They tried to replace Leslie Nielsen in the new Naked Gun, and you can’t replace him. No one else can do that,” he said.
After initially softening his tone following positive reviews and strong box office returns in August, Zucker has now returned to the attack, targeting the film's budget. “Big budgets and comedy are opposites, and in the new Naked Gun, you could see that they spent a lot of money on scenes full of technical pizzazz while trying to copy our style,” he added.
Zucker further claimed that financial motives drove the reboot. “Everybody’s in it for the money now, and that feels like the only reason why they wanted to do a new Naked Gun,” he concluded.
