Liam Neeson is in Talks To Star in New ‘Naked Gun’ Movie
‘Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers’ director Akiva Schaffer is overseeing the new film, which may see Neeson as the son of Leslie Nielsen’s Frank Drebin.
Liam Neeson as Bryan Mills in 2012's 'Taken 2.'
Sitting happily near the top of most peoples’ list of the best movie comedies is surely David Zucker’s ‘The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!’. The 1988 cop spoof is likely best remembered for Leslie Nielsen’s iconic performance as super-serious but also often incompetent police officer Frank Drebin.
While its two sequels were of mixed quality, the original has stood the test of time.
The pressure is on, then, for anything thinking about rebooting the movie. Yet that’s just what Paramount is looking to director Akiva Schaffer to do, and he has Liam Neeson – a man more known for his dramatic or action roles than comedy – set to star.
‘The Naked Gun’ was drawn (as per the title) from Zucker, brother Jerry, Jim Abrams and Pat Proft’s comedy series ‘Police Squad!’ which introduced Drebin as an LAPD detective. He’s a great cop, but usually accidentally, and the movies, like the series are crammed with jokes.
Also starring Priscilla Presley and Ricardo Montalban, ‘The Naked Gun’ followed a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II during a visit to Los Angeles. There is mind control, a baseball game and (somewhat more controversially these days), O.J. Simpson as a fellow officer.
There are no concrete details about what the story will be for the new movie, but the original script came from Mark Hentemann and Alec Sulkin. Schaffer is teaming back up with ‘Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers’ writers Dan Gregor and Doug Mand to create their own draft.
Leslie Nielsen as Lt. Frank Drebin in 1988's 'The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!'
Given how successfully funny the ‘Rescue Rangers’ movie was, reworking existing characters for new entertainment, this new ‘Gun’ feels like it could be in safe hands.
According to Deadline, though, the story could revolve around the son of Frank Drebin, rather than anyone trying to step into Nielsen’s shoes. Which seems like a smart move to us – there really is no replicating Leslie Nielsen.
Neeson is not necessarily the first person we’d have thought of for a new ‘Naked Gun’, but it’s worth remembering that Nielsen, was known as a dramatic actor before turning his hand to deadpan comedy – but he excelled at the style partly thanks to the ZAZ/Proft team, who broke new laugh-grabbing ground with the ‘Airplane!’ movies and ‘Top Secret!,' among others.
So there is precedent. And it’s not as though Neeson has eschewed comedy altogether. He’s shown up in films and shows from Seth MacFarlane and did great work in ‘The Lego Movie’. Plus, who didn’t find ‘Battleship’ hilarious? Just us? Okay.
It’s MacFarlane who is partly responsible for Neeson’s presence here – he came up with the idea to cast the actor and got in touch with him.
Paramount has yet to flash the greenlight for this one, but with the creative team and cast starting to come together, it’s certainly moving towards that way.
Leslie Nielsen as Lt. Frank Drebin in 1988's 'The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!'
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
