“The Naked Gun,” for most younger folk was — if anything — a movie series that ran a lot on cable during the ’90s and ’00s. But for Gen Xers and Boomers, it was the ultimate spoof franchise, starring the king of deadpan Leslie Nielsen. But excitement has been building across all demographics for the this year’s reboot (evidenced in the film‘s youth-heavy opening weekend numbers), as ad after ad has built upon action star Liam Neeson‘s new, bumbling persona. And, in turn, audiences have revisited the original “Naked Gun” trilogy in preparation (or at least, that’s how things were going down with my Letterboxd follows).
Neeson, however, is not to be counted among the rewatchers. In fact, the actor made a point of not revisiting the original films, which also starred Priscilla Presley (who you might just spot in the new movie) — though he did see them when they originally hit cinema screens (“They were a good giggle, he said. “Fun. School boy humor”).
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“I just trusted the script,” Neeson told Variety. “And knew it would get better the more they worked on it. [Director Akiva Schaffer] was the co-writer but there was always another writer on set — a friend of Akiva’s, obviously — and they would supply alternate endings to scenes. ‘Try this, try that.’”
As for whether or not he attempted to emulate Nielsen in his delivery, Neeson said, “No, those sort of notes I wouldn’t have accepted. I’ve done over 100 movies, so I don’t need someone to tell me how to act.”
Neeson has indeed done over 100 movies — 106 with “Naked Gun” to be exact — but he had never before done an out-and-out farce. On set, though, the “Taken” actor stuck to business as usual. “When we rehearsed stuff, we’d get rid of our personal giggles. And some of the scene require certain choreography — sight gags and stuff like that. I don’t want to say it was always serious, far from it. But it was serious business, of course, shooting any movie and keeping a sense of lightness. You know, that’s very important,” he explained.
Working with co-star Pamela Anderson — whom he’s now reportedly dating — Neeson described as a wholly pleasant experience. “I admire her very much… No airs and graces, no big ego. She’s there to do the work. She’s just a lovely human being,” he said.
Neeson is Nielsen’s son in the new “Naked Gun” timeline — an interesting choice considering the 72-year-old Neeson is roughly 40 years older than the son that was born to Nielsen and Presley’s characters in “The Naked Gun 33 1/2: The Final Insult.” But putting aside that math, Neeson was happy to be associated with the “Airplane!” star… though he did have one condition in which he would definitely not have succeeded him. “But if the producers had said I must bleach my hair for the role, there’s no way I would have done that,” Neeson shared.
