How The Original Naked Gun Director Feels About Liam Neeson's Reboot

Akiva Schaffer's new film "The Naked Gun" is the fourth entry in the "Naked Gun" movie series. The franchise began in 1980 with the short-lived slapstick TV show "Police Squad!," starring Leslie Nielsen as police detective Frank Drebin. Nielsen played the part completely straight (he was a stone-faced Joe Friday type), which was a marvelous juxtaposition to the absurd sight gags around him. "Police Squad!" was co-created by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker, the masterminds behind comedy classics like "The Kentucky Fried Movie" and "Airplane!" Sadly, the series was too funny to live, and "Police Squad!" was canceled after only six episodes.

However, the series lived on among a cult comedy crowd, and there was enough interest in 1988 to expand the property into a feature film titled "The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!" By then, the world was ready, and the movie was a huge hit, earning over $78 million at the domestic box office alone against a $14.5 million budget.Naturally, a sequel was put into the works, but the resulting film, 1991's "The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear," was directed by only David Zucker and co-written by him and Pat Proft. After that, the third movie in the franchise, 1994's "Naked Gun 33 1⁄3: The Final Insult," was only co-written by David Zucker.

Schaffer's "Naked Gun," as it were, had no participation from any of the property's original creators. It's very funny, and the spirit is certainly the same, but one can sense a slight shift in the "Naked Gun" sense of humor. It's clearly Schaffer's film. When contacted by The Hollywood Reporter to give his take on the movie, David Zucker said he was happy to see a slapstick comedy doing well at the box office. He also revealed he has utterly no interest in actually watching the film.

David Zucker was very diplomatic when asked about the new "Naked Gun" film. He said that its financial success was a pleasant aberration and that he was happy to see a spoof movie not only earning so many positive reviews but also performing well at the box office. He went on to note that he'd previously been in contact with Schaffer, having texted the director to wish him well. "We'll probably get together later in the month," Zucker added, "when the smoke clears." 

But Zucker also admitted he was not going to be watching Schaffer's film. It's just a personal rule of his; he doesn't want to check out sequels or remakes of his own work. As he went on to explain, this would make him feel obligated to help the filmmakers in question, and he would rather not interfere:

"I'm not going to 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. [...] 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." 

So, Zucker can't have an opinion about the new "Naked Gun" because he will never see it. It's worth noting he hasn't previously encountered another instance of someone else rebooting or sequelizing his own movies, so this will be the first time he'd made good on his personal promise. Zucker has, however, made several sequels of his own. In addition to the two "Naked Gun" follow-ups, Zucker wrote and/or directed the third, fourth, and fifth entries in the "Scary Movie" franchise. He hasn't directed a movie since "Scary Movie 5" in 2013.

"The Naked Gun" is now playing in theaters.