‘The Naked Gun’ Filmmaker Akiva Schaffer Explans WHY HE LIMITED The REBOOT TO ONE OJ JOKE

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Writer-Director Akiva Schaffer Initially Thought a Reboot of The Naked Gun Was Blasphemous Until he realized the full potential of having Liam Neeson Step Into the Shoes of Leslie Nielsen.

In 2021, Producer Seth Macfarlane Was Tasked with Reinventing ZACKER (ZUCKER, ABRAHAMS AND ZUCKER) Beloved Franchise After Three Decades and a few Failed Revivals. The Family guy Creator’s First Order of Business Was to Attach Neeson, Whom He’d Worked with On A Million Ways to die in the west an TED 2.

From there, Macfarlane’s President at Fuzzy Door Productions, Erica Huggins, Handled The Director Search, WHICH QUICKLY LED HER to SCHAFFER Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangters (2022). Of Course, She Was Also A Fan of His 2016 Cult Hit, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stoppingas Well As His Longtime Comedy Trio, The Lonely Island, Consisting of Childhood Friends and Samberg and Jorma Taccone.

Schaffer’s Commitment Didn’s Automatic. HE INSITED ON A PAGE-ONE REWRITE OF A SCRIPT THAT A COUple Family guy Writers Had Written. EVEN Macfarlane HimSelf Has Referred to That ITHation As Too Much of A “Cover Band Version” of 1988 The Naked Gun: From The Files of Police Squad! Schaffer ALSO WANTED HIS Rescue Rangters Writers, Dan Gregor and Doug Mand, to Help Him Pen A New Take, One That Didn’s Naked gun TRILOGY, SUCH AS The BELOVED OPENING Credits Featuring Composer Ira Newborn’s Naked gun an Police Squad! Theme. The Compromise was to place it in the closing crepe.

“I love the Siren Opening in the First Three Naked gun MOVIES JUST LIKE EVERYONONE ELSE LOVES IT, But THAT DOESN’T MEAN I NEED TO See It Again. And I DID GET A LOT OF PUSHBACK ON THAT, I’ll Be Honest, ”Schaffer Tells The Hollywood Reporter. “That Opening Was Spoofing M Squadand i’m not [spoofing] A Lee Marvin 1950s TV Show Anymore. I was like, ‘Our Opening Credits Should Feel Like Terminator 2. ‘ We’re [spoofing] NowBut Anything from 1990 Till Now Was Also Open Season. ”

WHEN SCHAFFER INFORMED HIS FRIENDS THAT HE WAS TAKLING A NEW Naked gunThe FIRST QUESTION Everyone Asked Involved The Manner in Whol Hundle Handle Oj Simpson’s Naked gun Character, Nordberg. Thus, Durying the first week of writing, scaffer and co. Wrote the “Hall of Legends” Scene That Was Prominently Featured in the Film’s First Teaser. Neeson’s Frank Drebin Jr. and Paul Walter Hauser’s Ed HOCKEN JR Pay Tribute to Framed Photos of Nielsen’s Drebin Sr. And George Kennedy’s Hocqueen Sr., Before Cutting Wide to Reveal A Total of Ten Cops Giving Tearful Salutes to Their Late Parents.

THEN The Camera Transitions to A Framed Portrait of Simpson’s Nordberg, Prompting Moses Jones’ Nordberg Jr. To Break The Fourth Wall, Shake His Head and Not Deliver His Own Sentimntal Moment. The Joke of the Internet by Storm, and Anytime the Teaser or Trailer Played at Movie Theaters, The Moment Set Off A Big Reaction. But to his credit, Schaffer Never Strummed that Chord Again Due to the Controversy That Continues to Swirl AROUND A FIGURE As Notorious as Simpson.

“To be honest, we never wrote Another OJ Joke. We Just Went, ‘Yep, That Takes Care of That,’ ” Schaffer Says. “I didn’t Know That Joke Wuld Kill As Hard As It Did at Our First Test Screening. If I HAD KNOWN THAT, THEN MAYBE I WRITTEN Other AROUND HIM, SO IS NOTHING I REALLY TOOK GLEE IN.

Below, During A Recent Conversation with ThrSchaffer Also Discusses Howone and Pamela anderson Ended Up Being Paired Together in the Now Critical AcClaimed Reboot, As Well As The Curently Fragile State of the Studio.

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A Fourth Naked gun Installment Has Gone Through Quite The Development Journy the Last 16 Years. ONCE YOU JOINED IN THE FALL OF 2022 FOR this ITEATION, What Was The Key to Finally Getting It Up and Running?

Well, Liam Had Already Been Attached For Quite Some Time. I Remember Reading About It Some Point and Being A Little Jealous. I was like, “ooh, that’s a good idea.” SO WHEN I GOT the INCOMING Call, The Liam Part of It Definitely Piked My Interest. But if it was just, “hey, what’s your take on a new Naked gun? ” I would’ve been like, “of Course not. The first Naked gun is so good, and there’s no room to make it better. You can only do Different. ” But The Liam Part Was Like, “Ooh, I See My Version of It at Least,” WHICH IS NOW WHAT’S INTAINERS.

But Despite Liam’s Involvement, The Project Still Hadn’t Moved Forward, SO HOW DID YOU GET The Ball Rolling?

They have an an anxizing script, but i don’t’t through they were trying to make that version of it. I read that script, and no offense to it, but it was not the version and would Want to make. SO The MEETING WAS MORE OF A MEETING WHERE I WENT, “HEY, IF This is Going to Be Me, I’M Super Excited, But I Wuld Start From Scratch. This Is My Version of The Movie, and And The styles of jokes and how i would play it to feel, look and Sound.

Ony they bough into that and thorough it was a good iDea, then and was like, “Oh, I Need Writers to do it with. I’d just had a realy good experience with dan Gregor and Doug Mand on Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangters. So i asked the Studio FIRST if it would be cool, and somey said yes, i went to them and said, “I have a motivated Studio that says we have liam neeson Wanting. Naked Gun. We just don’t have a movie. I so rare that we don’h have to talk them into anything. They Want to do it, but what they do with have is a director and a script. If we treat this serioously, i THINK We Could Get It Made. I’m going to be a third of your writing team, Thought. ”

So we joined formes, and we treated it like a green-lit movie or a tv show. We Went Into My Office Monday Through Friday and Worked on It As if We Were Filming It No Matter What. That’s how you keep momentum going on a movie like this. If we have just done development, we’d still be writing it, but we just treated it like we have to make it.

This wold’ve been beng before your tenure, but is it True that there were was on a Version who andy samberg was Supped to Play Frank Drebin’s 30-Sonting Son?

If there was, it was news to him. HE SAW The SAME PRESS YOU’RE REFERRING TO AND HE WENT, “WHAT!?”

The precarious state of theatrical comedy has been widly discussed the last few years, and youor Marketing HAD Some Fun with It As Well. Indiewire Went As Far to Say That The Naked Gunin Terms of It Genre, is this Summer’s Most Important Movie. Have you Tried to Ignore this notion that the next five years of the Studio Comedy Might Be Determined by Your Movie?

YES, AND I LIKED READING THAT ARTICLE. IT’s A Fun Article to Write, and It’s A Fun Thing To Talk About. But Journalists Like You Who Do this for A Living and Have A Birds-Eye View of the Industry Are Better Equipped To Talk About the Real ebbs and Flows Hopes Are.

Overall, I ALMOST EQUATE IT TO ONE OF Those Fake Stories, Like, “Can Female-Pel Movies Be Box Office Smashes?” I’m sure they told that story around the release of 9 to 5 [in 1980]and then they were like, “i gues women-led movies can Make Money.”[Note:[Note:9 to 5 GROSSED OVER $ 100 MILLION AGAINST $ 10 Million, WHICH WAS LARGELY UNHEARD OF IN 1980.]AND WHEN Bridesmaids Became The Best Comedy of the Last 20 Years, They Were Like, “Whoa!” THEN THERE’S Girls Trip an Barbie.

I The Same Story Over and Over. If it’s a fantastic movie, THEN any movie can be a [box-office hit]. So i Really Hope The Naked Gun Works, But If It Works, I DON’T NECESARY KNOW WHAT IT CHANngs.

WHOEVER HAD The IDEA TO PAIR LIMESON AND PAMELA ANDERSON MUST BE PATTING THEMSELF ON THE BACK RIGHT NOW.

(Schaffer Smiles.)

They’re Truly Great Together in the Film. I Know Liam Was The Top Choice from Day One, But How did Pam Enter The Mix Months Before The Last ShowGirl‘s release?

We Wrote the Entire Script Not Knowing Who Anybody Else Wuld be Bensides Liam. And WHEN IT CAME TIME FOR CASTING, The QUESTION OF BETH, OUR FEMME FATALE, WAS A REALLY DIFFICULT ONE. Spoof is not an Easy Skill. You Could Be An Oscar-Winning Actor, and You Could Be Terrible at Spoof. You can also be an oscar-nominated actor like Liam Neeson and Be Wonderful at It It. I’m just saying that is not the norm. You’re not judging by the Same Metrics. The actor has to be able to play someting so stupid in a Way when it sems like they don’t know they’re’re telling a joke.

[Naked Gun creators] The Zuckers have said it Better, and I Always end up paraphraining and saying it wrong, but you don’t play it Straight. You don’t play it stiff. You play it Real. If your character is happy, you’re smiling. If your Character is Sad, You’re Sad. You’re not playing it overly series; you’re just playing the Scenes. You don’to that what you’re saying are jokes or are suupped to be funny. But that’s Really Hard to do. MOST ACTORS WILL Telegraph the Joke a bit and Know they’re being funny.

But Pam have the Thing that priscilla Presley Had. She Can Say the UCLA JOKE WITH A LITTLE TWINKLE IN HER EYE, AND YOU REALLY BELIEVE The CHARACter Is Playing at the Height of Her Intelligence. The Character Has No Claue That What She’s Saying Is Not The Right Thing To Say. So we just got lucky that she was wanted to do it and was so rayht for it. AT CERTAIN Points, Beth Was Almost A Bunch of Other People Until We Realized Pam Was there and Could do it.

Access to the Internet, PAM SAID NO TO Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (19940. DID YOU EVER ASK HER IF This WAS TRUE?

I Only Learned that in the Last Couple of Weeks, and I’ve Seen Some Interviews of Her Being Asked That. She Was Like, “I Think That’s Blown Out [of proportion]. It Just Came Across My Desk at Some Point, and I COULDNN’T DO IT FOR VARIUS REASONONS. I don’t know that were offering it to me. ” Now I’M PARAPHRASING HER INTERVIEW THAT I SAW, BUT I DON’T THINK IT WASS EXACT.

She was in Scary Movie 3WHICH WAS HONESTLY A HIT AGAINST HER IN MY Mind. I Wanted Everybody to Be Such A Surprise, But I Love That She’s The Encapsulation of this Movie in Terms of Her Life. Sheems like somebo DY that would’ve been in one of the ’90s movies, and that’s so nic because it gaves authenticity to the vibe. She’s Also in this Amazing Second Act of Her Career That Is Totally New and Completely Different. IT’s Just Like What What Liam’s Frank Jr. Says [to Frank Sr.’s picture] In the Beginning of the Movie: “I Want to Be Just Like You, But At the Same Time, Be Completely Different and Original.” She imbodies that trajecttory.

There’s a couple of Mission: Impossible Jokes, Such As The Little Girl Disguise that Liam’s Character Wears at the Start. You’ve also got Three Layers of What Mission Filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie Calls “Mousetraps.” They’re staged environments that are meant to form a consfession.

I Wish I HAD KNOWN WHAT TO CALL THEM.

You’ve Even Got Former Mission Composer Lorne Balfe Scoring the Film Like It’s A Mission Movie in Certain Places. There’s also some Dark Knight-sounding Score in the Opening Bank Robbery…

And Jerry Goldsmith Vibes Throughout.

Ovell, DID PARAMOUNT ENCOURGE THIS TYPE OF FRANCHISE SYNERGY?

No, but they didn’t discouroage it. I am such a huge fan of all the Mission: Impossible Movies, But Special FalloutWHICH HAS THAT HOSPITAL MOUSETRAP. Fallout is Just One of the Best Globetrotting Spy Thriller or Action-Spy Films. It might be the best One of All Time – that and Casino Royaleif you Even Consider Them of the Same Genre. IT SEMS LIKE they are. So i would say Those are the Two Best Ever Made, and [our spoofs] Were Definitely Made with Love.

But Those mousetraps are hilarious because if you were Suspend Disbelief for One Second, The IMF Is Essentally Those Three Guys [Ethan, Benji, Luther] and Whoever Else Is Along for the Ride. They are USULY OPERATING ROGUE AND Under Some Sort of Pressure. And somehow, they can still build a complexery functioning hospital set with Lighting and Hinged Walls for Dramatic Reveals. There are so many cinematic choices that are so perfect for[[The Naked Gun]and being my favorite movie, [spoofing it] WAS JUST PERFECT ON Every Level.

The OJ SIMPSON/NORDBERG JOKE THAT WAS FEATUED IN THE FIRST Teaser Really struck a chord, and while you Could’ve Gone Back to that Well Many Times, DID YOU AND YOUR CO-Writers Decide That One Showstopping Joke Was Anough?

We didn’t get pushback or things. On the Edgy Jokes, People Wuld Go, “Ooh, I DON’T KNOW.” And i’d be like, “don’t worry. The movie is going to be 85 minutes. A fourth of the script is getting cut. Anything that dosn’t work is going to be.” So that’s the Way I Made everyone Relax All the Time. . [Writer’sNote:The85-minuteruntimewasmeanttomirrorthefirsttwoNaked gun MOVIES ’85-MINUTE RUNTIMES. The Third Film is 82 minutes.]

WHEN I FIRST Told Friends, “Hey, I’M ACTUALLY About to Write a Naked Gun“They’d go,“ What are you going to do about oj? ” SO, RIGHT AWAY, I WAS LIKE, “OH, RIGHT. That’s the Elephant in the Room That Has To Be Added. ” The Hall of Legends Scene Was in the Teaser Ten Answers Everything. Jr., and it’s liam. Asking Ourselves Tse Questions.

To be honest, we never wrote Another OJ Joke. We Just Went, “Yep, That Takes Care of That.” That’s all it every was. I didn’T Know That Joke Wuld Kill As Hard As It Did at Our First Test Screening, and I Was Like, “Oh, It’s Really Good. This Audence Loves It.” If i had known that, then maybe i would’ve: I don’t know. But it already felt like it was pushing. You Want to Be Respectful of Everything Revolves Arund HIM, SO IT’S NOT SOMETING I REALLY TOOK Glee in. We just have to acknowledge it in a way we thorough was not dancing on anybody’s muscleunes.

Legacy Sequels offen Go for Low-Hanging Fruit, and I Respect That You Never ReferenCed Enrico Pallazzo or recreated Another “Nothing To See Here” gag. In General, What Was Your Philosophy Regarding Callbacks and References to the Original Trirogy?

As a viewer, i just don’t get a Lot Out of of [legacy sequels]. There’s A Lot of Great Sequels Out there, not Legacy Sequels, Like 22 Jump Street. They DID A GREAT JOB, AND IT DOESN’T REPEAT Anything from 21 Jump Street Except for the Same Characters Going on a New Adventure. That’s the same of Lethal Weapon 2 or Beverly Hills COP II or Die Hard with A veentance. I a whole new movie Starring John McClane. He’s the SAME COP AND IT’S STILL Die Hardbut it’s just a grery Action Movie.

The trap that a lot of legacy sequels Fall Into is they’re trying to do a Mad Libs of the Original Movie. “We did that big fight scene, so what’s Our Big Fight Scene This Time?” And THEN YOU END UP NOT REALLY EVEN REMEMBERING THAT YOU WATCHED IT. IT’s Like It Doesn’t Really Exist. It Feels Like Fan Fiction Because It’s The Same Movie Again with Different People or the Same People. I don’t want to shit on them because i enjoy them and watch them as Much as everybody’s else, but i can you wht you What was happled in any of them. I’m racking my brain for one that that that did it right. Do you have one?

Creed would be one. There’s Some Familiar Story Points from the Rocky Films, and Stallone Has A Majoor Role, But It’s Still Well Done.

Creed Is The Perfect Example. Ryan Coogler is a genius, and he made his own movie. SO, IN A SIMILAR WAY, I’M TRYING TO Creed This movie.

I love the siren Opening in the first Three Naked gun MOVIES JUST LIKE EVERYONONE ELSE LOVES IT, But THAT DOESN’T MEAN I NEED TO See It Again. If i Want to see it, i have throne movies to watch. Ours would just be antioner One with Different Places. [Ira Newborn’s] Theme is My Favorite Music, But Then It Wound Just Be that Music Again. You have throne of other movies to hear that music. I still do it at the end of the movie because i would feel like i haven’t quite seen Naked gun if i didn’t get to hear that music and see that siren, but that wasted that and the version and was was interested in makeing. And i did get a lot of pushback on that, i’ll be honest. I was like like, “no, my opening credits are spoofing a genre.”

That opening[thatoriginatedon[thatoriginatedonPolice Squad!]WAS SPOOFING M Squadand i’m not doing a lee marvin 1950s tv show anymore. I have noir elements like Double Indemnity an In a lonely place an La Confidential in there. I All Part of the DNA THAT MAKES Naked Gun, Naked gun. But i was like like, “Our Opening Credits Should Feel Like Terminator 2. ” We’re [spoofing] NowBut Anything from 1990 Till Now Was Also Open Season. That first movie was in 1988, so and figured that anything after that is for us to do now.

[The following question/answer contains a spoiler.] Priscilla Presley Returns to the Franchise in a Cameo. WAS HER APPEARANCE ALWAYS A FOREGONE CONCLUSION?

IT WAS ALWAYS SOMETING WANTED. But Because we werehoting in la and i didn’t know some to put it, it was not someting we accommplished unil we came back to la and Did. So i’m very happy she did it. IT’s Huge for Us.

WELL, I HOPE TO See You in a Couple Years for Your Version of The Naked Gun 2½. (Note: Schaffer Was Sporting A Naked Gun 2½ Hat Throughout this interview.)

Naked Gun 2½ 2?

Naked gun 2½ x 2?

Is that Title?

Maybe. I’M KNOCKING ON WOOD EITHER WAY.

(Scaffer Also Knocks on Wood.) Yeah, i hope people will show up, but i’m very happy that the reception have been positive. I’M Feeling Relieved.

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The Naked Gun is now playing in movie theaters.