It seems like there’s no stopping Liam Neeson as Seth MacFarlane and Akiva Schaffer are reportedly courting the septuagenarian for Paramount’s “Naked Gun” remake.
The Taken actor is in talks to lead the modern version of the ’80s slapstick film, Variety reports.
Schaffer, the Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers filmmaker and Lonely Island member, will direct and executive produce the movie. Schaffer penned the screenplay with Chip ‘n Dale writers Dan Gregor and Doug Mand. MacFarlane and Erica Huggins are producing through their company Fuzzy Door.
Neeson sparked chatter online about reviving the ’80s comedy earlier this year, telling “People (The TV Show)” that McFarlane and Paramount had been pursuing him to resurrect the “Naked Gun” films. However, the actor has still yet to sign on the dotted line.
“It’ll either finish my career or bring it in another direction. I honestly don’t know,” Neeson told People (The TV Show).
Paramount’s original Naked Gun trilogy starred Leslie Nielsen as Franklin “Frank” Drebin, a good-hearted yet gullible detective at the centre of a police procedural parody. The 1988 movie The Naked Gun: From the Files of a Police Squad was a critical and commercial smash, earning positive reviews and $140 million at the box office to match. Given its popularity, the studio shepherded two sequels, 1991’s The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear and 1994’s Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult, to financial success.
Neeson has starred in a surprising number of action-thrillers during the pandemic alone, including Honest Thief, The Marksman, The Ice Road and Memory.
