David Zucker slams new Naked Gun

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 Baked 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?

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