Original ‘Naked Gun’ Director Drags Remake in Uncensored Remarks

In a recent interview with Woman’s World, Zucker spoke out about Akiva Schaffer’s reboot of the classic parody franchise. Following on the heels of three iconic installments starring Leslie Nielsen as dimwitted Lt. Frank Drebin, Schaffer’s reboot was exceptionally well-received by audiences and critics. The reboot holds an 88 percent critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes, the same number as the original. 

'Totally Missed' the Point

One person not won over, however, was the original director, who claimed the reboot “totally missed” the franchise’s patented spoof style. “My brother, Jerry, and our partner, Jim Abrahams, started doing spoof comedies 50 years ago, and we originated our own style—and we did that so well that it looks easy, evidently,” Zucker said. “People started copying it, like Seth MacFarlane for the new Naked Gun. He totally missed it.” MacFarlane served as producer and contributed "additional literary material” to the production.

Zucker Lambasted the Supposedly Inflated Budget

Zucker also lambasted the reboot’s supposedly inflated budget, accusing the money of warping the finished product. “You shouldn’t spend too much money on comedies, and one of our rules is about technical pizzazz,” he explained. “Big budgets and comedy are opposites, and in the new Naked Gun, you could see that they spent a lot of money on scenes full of technical pizzazz while trying to copy our style.”

The Naked Gun reboot was produced for about $42.5 million and earned $102 million worldwide. Zucker’s 1988 original cost $14.5 million, which, adjusted for inflation, is around $38 million. Still, Zucker isn’t convinced. “Everybody’s in it for the money now,” the filmmaker lamented, “and that feels like the only reason why they wanted to do a new Naked Gun.”