Leslie Nielsen was sheer perfection in 1988’s “The Naked Gun: From The Files of Police Squad!” — if you can believe it, this comedy classic, a total spoof of the detective genre, was one of the films that most influenced Paul Thomas Anderson while he was making “Inherent Vice.”
Today, Paramount Pictures revealed the long-rumored ‘Naked Gun’ reboot, starring Liam Neeson, will arrive in theaters on July 18, 2025. The original “Naked Gun” movies were created by Jim Abrahams, and brothers David and Jerry Zucker (“Airplane!”). Sadly, these comedic geniuses are not behind this reboot.
Neeson taking on the iconic Nielson role might actually work out here. I can definitely imagine Neeson poking fun of his own action star image. He has a rather intense persona in all of his films, barely exuding any sense of humor, that it could be amusingly self-deprecating for him to poke fun at it.
The “Naked Gun” reboot will be directed by Akiva Schaffer and written by Dan Gregor and Doug Mand. Schaffer directed “Hot Rod” and “Popstar: Never Stop Stopping.” Schaffer, Gregor and Mand all worked together on 2022’s “Chip n’ Dale: Rescue Rangers.”