Paramount has toyed with making a new Naked Gun movie for many years. Liam Neeson was the only man brave enough to actually do it.
In the film he plays Lt. Frank Drebin Jr. (already a very funny name), the son of the original Drebin, played by Leslie Nielsen in three hilarious Naked Gun films from the 1990s. Based on the first trailer for the new reboot/sequel, the new crew has maintained the same tone of the previous films, spoofing cop movies and silly Hollywood cliches in general. And that O.J. Simpson joke … wow. That you need to see for yourself. (If you’re not familiar with the original movies, Simpson appeared in all three of them as Drevin’s partner, Nordberg.)
You can watch the trailer below:
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The poster for the film also pays homage to the first Naked Gun trilogy in general and almost exactly copies the pose that Leslie Niesen had in one of the posters for The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear.
The new Naked Gun was directed by Akiva Schaffer, one-third of the Lonely Island, and perhaps most importantly in this context, the director of the recent Chip ’n’ Dale: Rescue Rangers movie, which was itself basically a spoof of legacyquel culture. He’s the right guy to do something like this. And Neeson is another smart choice; a guy who can do comedy (see his vocal work in The LEGO Movie) and has made so many deadly serious action movies over the last 15 years, that he has a persona he can make fun of in this context.
Here is the new Naked Gun‘s official synopsis:
Only one man has the particular set of skills… to lead Police Squad and save the world! Lt. Frank Drebin Jr. (Liam Neeson) follows in his father’s footsteps in THE NAKED GUN, directed by Akiva Schaffer (Saturday Night Live, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping) and from producer Seth MacFarlane (Ted, Family Guy). Joining the case are cast Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, CCH Pounder, Kevin Durand, Cody Rhodes, Liza Koshy, Eddie Yu, with Danny Huston.
The Naked Gun is scheduled to open in theaters on August 1 of this year.
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