Sometimes a torch is tough to pass up, especially when your name is so tied to it. But David Zucker made the attempt to lend a hand at sprucing up the script for the upcoming sequel The Naked Gun. After he was turned away, he was offered nothing more than a producer credit. This was all more than a decade ago — and Zucker is still miffed that there’s even another Naked Gun hitting the streets.

David Zucker — who co-wrote the original Naked Gun trilogy and directed the first two (not to mention co-creating the original Police Squad! series) recalled that those moving forward without him may have wanted nothing to do with him at his age. “I read the script, and I politely told them I wasn’t going to put my name on it. They wanted nothing from me except my name. They assume I’m old and using a walker and I can’t do it anymore. I guess talent leaves after age 40 in Hollywood.”

The rift between David Zucker and Paramount — who of course produced the Naked Gun movies along with Airplane! and Top Secret! — stems partly from them rejecting another Naked Gun he had pitched called Naked: Impossible, which would have found someone continuing the story as Frank Drebin’s son. This, to Zucker, would have introduced enough of a twist to generate interest. And while the new Naked Gun has a similar idea in having Frank Drebin, Jr. lead, Zucker did take issue that it stars Liam Neeson, who, at 73, is a few years older than Leslie Nielsen was in his final outing as Lieutenant Drebin. 

Zucker, too, imagined turning the Naked Gun series on its head with Naked: Impossible due to the fact that the genre in which it originally spoofed (police procedurals) are a rarity nowadays. “We didn’t even want to do it in a police station. They don’t make cop movies anymore. When you do parody, you’ve got to spoof something current.” 

Having David Zucker and brother Jerry (fellow ZAZ member Jim Abrahams died last year) lend their support to The Naked Gun would have been a good get on the press circuit, but it turns out they may not need it at all since it looks pretty damn funny and just the sort of comedy to get people into theaters.

What do you make of David Zucker’s take on the new Naked Gun? Are his gripes reasonable or does he come off bitter?

The post David Zucker slams new Naked Gun appeared first on JoBlo.

EW also dropped the first look at Pamela Anderson in The Naked Gun, which you can check out below.

Anderson stars opposite Liam Neeson, who plays Lt. Frank Drebin Jr., the son of Leslie Nielsen’s character. She loved working with Neeson, saying their “chemistry was clear from the start. We have the utmost respect for one another.” She went on to call Neeson “mysterious,” “inspiring,” and a “true gentleman,” and she said that working with him was “electric in a way.“

She would also leave Neeson baked treats in his dressing room, such as sourdough bread, cookies, or muffins. “We had many dinners out with the cast,” she added. “I invited him and his assistant over for romantic dinners with me and my assistant so our relationship stayed ‘professionally romantic’ during filming.“

As for The Naked Gun, Anderson said, “I’m hoping people love it. We had so much fun making it. I think it’s timely for a beloved comedy like this. I’m a fan of the originals. As Liam says, ‘We could all use a good giggle.’ I pray we do more.“

In addition to Neeson and Anderson, The Naked Gun stars Paul Walter Hauser, Kevin Durand, Danny Huston and more. Although Neeson has experience in comedy, he’s never led one himself. He explained why he wanted to take on The Naked Gun last year. “It’s funny because right before Christmas, my sons and I were looking through the Academy screeners and trying to find something silly, some silly, stupid movie that we could giggle at,” Neeson explained. “There was none, of course, as they were all very heavy and international. I mean, brilliant movies but all very heavy. When Seth MacFarlane approached me about it — this was about two years ago, now — I thought, yeah, I guess I could do that as long as I play it dead seriously and not try and imitate Mr. Leslie Nielsen. He was wonderful. Akiva Schaffer is directing it and he’s from the [Saturday Night Live] world. I’m looking forward to it. It’s a good script, and there’s a few laugh out loud moments in it.” The Naked Gun will hit theaters on August 1st.

The post The Naked Gun: Pamela Anderson goes femme fatale in first look at her character appeared first on JoBlo.

Our own Alex Maidy recently spoke with Paul Walter Hauser and couldn’t resist asking him about the upcoming Naked Gun reboot, specifically about who he would be playing. When Hauser’s casting was first announced, it was said that he would play Captain Ed, the role played by George Kennedy in the previous Naked Gun movies. Well, we might want to add a “Jr.” to the end of that.

“In Naked Gun. I am playing the son of the George Kennedy character from the originals, Captain Ed Hocken,” Hauser said. “Liam Neeson is playing the son of Leslie Nielsen’s character, Frank Drebin Jr.“

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they’ll be able to pull this one off, and Hauser added that he believes they found the right tone. “It was really a mastery of tone. That’s one of those things where they got the right guy to make it: Akiva Schaffer, who I love,” Hauser said. “I felt like he and his partners took it so seriously, and they were trying to do low-brow comedy from a high-brow perspective. And how do we make this faithful to the tonality of the originals? And, you know, I think they did. I haven’t seen the movie yet, but everything I experienced, everything I shot. It feels like, wow, they somehow captured this and will make many people really happy.“

In addition to Liam Neeson and Hauser, The Naked Gun stars Pamela Anderson, Kevin Durand, Danny Huston and more. Although Neeson has experience in the realm of comedy, he’s never led one himself. He explained why he wanted to take on The Naked Gun last year. “It’s funny because right before Christmas, my sons and I were looking through the Academy screeners and trying to find something silly, some silly, stupid movie that we could giggle at,” Neeson explained. “There was none, of course, as they were all very heavy and international. I mean, brilliant movies but all very heavy. When Seth MacFarlane approached me about it — this was about two years ago, now — I thought, yeah, I guess I could do that as long as I play it dead seriously and not try and imitate Mr. Leslie Nielsen. He was wonderful. Akiva Schaffer is directing it and he’s from the [Saturday Night Live] world. I’m looking forward to it. It’s a good script, and there’s a few laugh out loud moments in it.” The Naked Gun will hit theaters on August 1st.

Hauser will next be seen in The Luckiest Man in America, a drama which tells the true story of Michael Larson, a man who won over $100,000 on Press Your Luck after he figured out the secret behind the game. The film will be released on April 4th.

The post The Naked Gun: Paul Walter Hauser reveals who he’s playing in the reboot (Exclusive) appeared first on JoBlo.