The 'Naked Gun' Remake May Be In A Different Comedy Style From The Original

There's a new version of The Naked Gun on the way, because of course there is. The remake will star Ed Helms and at this point that's all we really know about it. We hope it is fairly different from the original films, because otherwise what's the point? But if David Zucker, director of the original, is being straight in a new interview, the Naked Gun remake may be considerably different. Specifically, it might not even be quite a spoof picture.

Zucker told Yahoo! News,

It won't be like the Naked Gun that I did. It may be good, but it won't be that kind of movie. They're going to use the title. They asked me if I wanted to produce. They're nice people, but they don't want to do that style of spoof that I do. I would want somebody who had never been in an comedy. Ed Helms is very well known for three of the biggest comedies ever. I understand why Paramount is doing what they're doing. If my name was on it, I would be making all sorts of suggestions and trying to change it, and it would be frustrating.

As you can tell, Zucker isn't really involved, so there's a point where we have to be a bit cautious about taking his word too seriously. So why do The Naked Gun as not "that kind of movie," I.E. as something other than a spoof?

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that theatrical spoofs have degenerated to a particularly bad place where they're like live-action Family Guy interludes with even less comedic value. Dreck like Epic Movie is a far cry from the spoof films that Zucker was instrumental in making decades ago.

Zucker seems to agree.

It becomes watered down. I produced Scary Movie 5, [and] that was so watered-down that [it] contributed to ruining the genre, as did all the Friedberg and Seltzer movies [such as Date Movie, Epic Movie, and Meet the Spartans]. [Parody] has come on hard times. They're not being done well.

I can see a cop comedy that has some insane and over the top jokes and setpieces, and isn't actually spoof of the conventions of other cop films. That wouldn't quite be The Naked Gun, but it would be more in like with the sort of comedy that is popular now.