🔗 Share this article David Zucker Renews Attack on New Star-Led Naked Gun Reboot The original director of The Naked Gun, David Zucker, has renewed his verbal assault concerning the newly released revival featuring Liam Neeson, after briefly appearing to soften his stance in the aftermath of the film's cinema debut. Zucker's Critique of the New Film's Style In a recent interview, Zucker stated that Seth MacFarlane, the creative force behind the new Naked Gun and formerly the director and co-writer of the Ted movies, "completely failed to grasp" the spoof-comedy style that Zucker, along with his partners Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams, popularized in Airplane! and the three original Naked Gun films. "My brother, Jerry, and our partner, Jim Abrahams, began creating spoof comedies five decades in the past, and we developed a unique approach – and we did that so well that it appears simple, clearly. People started copying it, like Seth MacFarlane for the recent reboot. He completely misunderstood it." Zucker continued: "It might appear that we're just throwing stuff up against the wall to see what sticks, but we're not. Consideration is involved." The Irreplaceable Star Zucker added that it was pointless to produce the film without Leslie Nielsen, who played Frank Drebin and passed away in 2010, remarking: "They tried to replace Leslie Nielsen in the recent revival, and he cannot be replaced. Nobody else is capable of that." Previous Reservations and Changing Stance Zucker had previously objected to the decision to proceed with a Naked Gun reboot, remarking last year that he was "not excited about having the franchise given to other people". Adding: "I have not been approached to make a cameo or participate in scripting. Regardless of if they're going to do a good job with it, this kind of spoof, I mean it's not rocket science, but it is challenging." However, after a string of positive reviews and strong box office returns after its release in August, Zucker struck a more conciliatory tone, commenting: "I'm excited about it because it just demonstrates there's a healthy audience for comedy in cinemas, and spoof in particular." Renewed Disapproval Over Financial Aspects However, Zucker returned to the attack in the new interview, criticising the amount of money involved. "Big budgets and comedy are opposites, and in the recent reboot, you could see that they invested heavily on scenes full of technical pizzazz while attempting to replicate our style." He added: "Everybody's in it for the money now, and that feels like the only reason why they decided to produce a fresh installment."