After rumors began to circulate about a potential reboot of the comedy franchise The Naked Gun last year, it now appears that Paramount Pictures has given the project the go-ahead to move forward, and Liam Neeson is in discussions to play the lead role. According to Deadline’s report, the upcoming film will be helmed by Akiva Schaffer, and it is being produced by Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane and Erica Huggins through their Fuzzy Door production company. The Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers writing team of Dan Gregor and Doug Mand will be reunited with that movie’s director, Schaffer, on the project, and they will be rewriting the existing draft of the script that was written by Mark Hentemann and Alec Sulkin.
Leslie Nielsen, who is best known for playing the role of Frank Drebin in the ABC series Police Squad, was the original choice to play the lead role of Frank Drebin in The Naked Gun. Although the television show only lasted for six episodes before being canceled due to its extremely low ratings, the feature film that was released after it became an instant hit and was one of Nielsen’s most successful movies, along with others like Airplane! Despite having had a lengthy career as a dramatic actor prior to transitioning to comedy, Leslie Nielsen is most well-known for the comedic side he displayed in The Naked Gun. This side has a lot of visual jokes, double entendres, and slapstick that is just plain silly.
Because of this, the selection of Liam Neeson to take over the franchise from Nielsen, who passed away in 2010, might appear to be an odd one, but in reality, Neeson is the ideal person to fill Nielsen’s shoes. It has been rumored that Liam Neeson will not be taking over Connie Nielsen’s role in the new movie. Instead, it is speculated that Neeson will play the son of Frank Drebin, who will undoubtedly have inherited his father’s ability to cause complete chaos while still catching the bad guys. Even though there have been no official details about the plot of the new movie, it is thought that there will be a follow-up to the first movie.
Liam Neeson has been waiting for an opportunity to join the remake of Naked Gun for quite some time.
For almost as long as the decade that a possible new version of the film has been on the cards, but certainly, for the last couple of years, Liam Neeson has been talking about the possibility of a Naked Gun reboot. Neeson has been known to put in a comic turn in the past, and it appears that he was ready to throw himself into The Naked Gun the year before last. Despite the fact that he is currently best known for his roles as tough-guy action characters, Neeson has been known to do so in the past. When we asked him about it at the time, he responded as follows:
“I know Seth and his team are working on a draft, I’m very excited, and I think and hope Seth might be directing it himself. No date has been set, I think, I believe it’s Paramount Pictures that approached Seth, and Seth approached me. This was about a year and a half ago, maybe two years ago. So it’ll either ruin my career, whatever’s left of it, or I’ll find another little adventure, you know?”
Although some things have changed, including the fact that MacFarlane is not directing the project himself anymore, it appears that the movie is now in a secure position. As this appears to be a revival/sequel to the original Naked Gun movies, and with someone like MacFarlane – who is not known for his subtle humor – being a part of the production, there is probably no better team to bring The Naked Gun back in style. MacFarlane is not known for his subtle humor.
