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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 adopt a more conciliatory tone in the aftermath of the film's cinema debut.

Director's Disapproval of the New Film's Style

During a fresh discussion, Zucker stated that Seth MacFarlane, the producer behind the new Naked Gun and formerly the filmmaker and script collaborator of the Ted movies, "totally missed" the parody genre approach that Zucker, together with his partners Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams, popularized in Airplane! and the initial trilogy of Naked Gun films.

"My brother, Jerry, and our partner, Jim Abrahams, began creating spoof comedies 50 years ago, and we originated our own style – and we executed it so effectively that it appears simple, clearly. Others began imitating it, like the new film's producer for the new Naked Gun. 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. There's thought behind it."

The Irreplaceable Star

The director further stated that it was pointless to produce the film without Leslie Nielsen, who played Frank Drebin and who died in 2010, saying: "They attempted to substitute Leslie Nielsen in the recent revival, and he cannot be replaced. No one else can do that."

Previous Reservations and Changing Stance

The filmmaker had earlier expressed opposition to plans to go ahead with a Naked Gun reboot, saying in 2024 that he was "not excited about having the series handed over to other people". He continued: "I have not been approached to appear briefly or participate in scripting. Whether or not they're going to do a good job with it, this kind of spoof, I mean it isn't overly complex, but it's not easy."

However, after a series of favorable critiques and impressive financial performance following its launch 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 parody specifically."

Renewed Disapproval Over Budget Concerns

Yet, Zucker resumed his criticism 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 spent a lot of money on scenes full of technical pizzazz while attempting to replicate our style."

He added: "Everybody's in it for the money now, and that seems to be the only reason why they wanted to do a new Naked Gun."