“Liam Neeson Won’t Imitate Leslie Nielsen in ‘Naked Gun’ Reboot”
Do you think Liam was chosen because he has the same initials?
More important, will the new Nordberg imitate O.J.? Does he have to do it offscreen as well? If so, I have a casting suggestion – is Oscar Pistorius out of jail yet? Wait! What am I saying? O.J. is out of jail. Time for his comeback.
The film will be produced by Seth MacFarlane. For reasons not known to me, David Zucker, whose team created the Naked Gun trilogy as well as the original Police Squad TV series, has been completely excluded from the development of the new one. Pat Proft, who co-wrote the Naked Gun trilogy, said: “I’m not pleased. It may come out and may be great — and good for that — but I sure as fuck should be writing it. I should have done this one.”
There’s a specific thread of comedy woven through cinema by John Landis, the Zuckerberg brothers, Pat Proft, and all of their various cohorts starting in the early 1970s at the same time Mel Brooks and Saturday Night Live were carving their respective paths through the comedic landscape.
Theirs was lesser known, because it was based less on them as it was the product. But you start rattling off Kentucky Fried Movie, Airplane, Naked Gun, etc, and everyone knows what you’re talking about. It was that pack of maniacs behind the scenes of that unique brand of satirical humor.
Like Brooks and, love him or hate him, Lorne Michaels, once they’re gone we won’t have another. Now that this crew is done with making comedy, that era is over. The thread has run out.
To even attempt to remake one of theirs is akin to trying to remake Blazing Saddles without Brooks. Just forget it. Terrible idea from the first word. Doomed. Completely doomed. And shows McFarlane’s ego that he thinks he can pull it off.
I could see it working out, but as always w/ remakes/reboots it’s more likely to fail.
Has Liam ever done comedy before? I can’t think of any. Maybe that makes him a perfect replacement for Leslie Nielsen.
That’s pretty much what I was thinking too, tbh. I can’t think of any comedy he’s been in, probably closest you’ll come to it would be Love Actually but that’s more of a dramedy.
I’m completely sold on Liam. He just needs to act like he’s in a drama, let the dialogue work, and let the action unfold around him.
I’m not sold on the idea of the film itself, but I’m keeping an open mind. Maybe you can catch lightning in a bottle.
Neeson was chosen because he has a very particular set of skills.
Okay, somebody had to get that one out of the way.
Have you looked at Zucker or Proft’s work post-1994? Zucker’s last movie was American Carol in 2008 and pretty much ended him as a director. And both are approaching 80.
Indeed.
Scary Movie V came up a bit short of masterpiece level.