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The original director of The Naked Gun, David Zucker, has renewed his verbal assault concerning the recent reboot featuring Liam Neeson, after briefly appearing to adopt a more conciliatory tone following the premiere of the film's theatrical release.

Zucker's Critique of the Reboot's Comedy Approach

In a recent interview, Zucker expressed that Seth MacFarlane, the creative force behind the new Naked Gun and formerly the director and co-writer of the Ted movies, "completely failed to grasp" the parody genre approach that Zucker, along with his collaborators Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams, made famous in Airplane! and the three original Naked Gun films.

"My brother, Jerry, and our partner, Jim Abrahams, started doing spoof comedies five decades in the past, and we developed a unique approach – and we executed it so effectively that it appears simple, clearly. People started copying it, like Seth MacFarlane for the recent reboot. He totally missed it."

Zucker continued: "It might appear that we're just randomly trying ideas to see what sticks, but we're not. There's thought behind it."

The Irreplaceable Star

The director further stated that it was futile to make the movie without Leslie Nielsen, who played Frank Drebin and passed away in 2010, remarking: "They tried to replace Leslie Nielsen in the recent revival, and he cannot be replaced. Nobody else is capable of that."

Earlier Objections and Shifting Tone

Zucker had previously objected to plans to go ahead with a Naked Gun reboot, remarking last year that he was "not enthusiastic regarding having the series handed over to different individuals". He continued: "I have not been approached to appear briefly or participate in scripting. Whether or not they're going to do a good job with it, this style of parody, I mean it's not rocket science, but it's not easy."

However, after a series of favorable critiques and impressive financial performance following its launch in August, Zucker struck a more conciliatory tone, saying: "I'm excited about it because it just demonstrates there's a strong market for comedy in movie theatres, and spoof in particular."

Return to Criticism Over Budget Concerns

Yet, Zucker resumed his criticism in the new interview, criticising the amount of money involved. "Large financial outlays and humor are incompatible, and in the new Naked Gun, you could see that they invested heavily on scenes full of technical pizzazz while trying to copy our style."

He added: "Everybody's in it for the money now, and that seems to be the sole motivation why they decided to produce a new Naked Gun."