Liam Neeson is ready to show off his comedic chops.
The Retribution star, 71, shared in an interview with ComingSoon.net that despite having had funny cameos in shows like Atlanta, Life’s Too Short and Derry Girls, he is ready to prove that he can carry a comedy with the Paramount reboot of The Naked Gun.
“It has to be proven,” the actor said of his comedy chops, adding, “Yeah, so I’m slightly nervous of it. A little Stephen Colbert sketch or Ricky Gervais, I’m okay because it’s short. But a whole film, we’ll see. We’ll see.”
Neeson also teased what he thinks of the script for the movie, which is directed, co-written and executive produced by former Saturday Night Live writer Akiva Schaffer and executive produced by Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane.
Dan Gregor and Doug Mand, two screenwriters who worked with Schaffer, 46, on 2022’s Chip ‘n Dale; Rescue Rangers, are also writing the script the latest untitled installment in the crime spoof franchise.
“It’s a good script,” the Taken star shared. “We’re still in the casting process for the other parts, but the script, there’s some very funny laugh out loud moments,” he added.
Neeson will be taking over the role of Leslie Nielsen’s character, police officer Frank Drebin, who was featured in the original 1982 television series, Police Squad!, and three Naked Gun movies, released in 1988, 1991 and 1994. Since Nielsen died in 2010 at 84, Paramount searched for a new actor to lead the franchise.
David Zucker and Pat Proft, who directed and cowrote the original series, told The Hollywood Reporter that they had originally penned a script for a new sequel, though Paramount decided to go with new writers for the reboot.
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“Pat, Mike [McManus] and I wrote a script for Naked Gun 4, and we heard Jon Gonda at Paramount had read the script and laughed all the way through it,” Zucker said. “But somewhere along the line, they decided not to go with Pat and Mike and me.”
He continued, “So that’s when they got Seth MacFarlane, and he has Akiva Schaffer directing Liam Neeson. I was never able to meet with Seth.”
The next Naked Gun movie is set for release on July 18, 2025.
