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The original director of The Naked Gun, David Zucker, has reignited his criticism concerning the newly released revival featuring Liam Neeson, following a short period where he seemed to soften his stance in the aftermath of the film's cinema debut.

Director's Disapproval of the New Film's Style

During a fresh discussion, Zucker expressed that Seth MacFarlane, the creative force behind the new Naked Gun and formerly the director and co-writer of the Ted movies, "totally missed" the spoof-comedy style that Zucker, along with his partners Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams, made famous in Airplane! and the initial trilogy of Naked Gun films.

"Jerry, my sibling, and Jim Abrahams, our associate, started doing spoof comedies five decades in the past, and we developed a unique approach – and we did that so well that it appears simple, evidently. Others began imitating it, like the new film's producer for the recent reboot. He completely misunderstood it."

He added: "It can look like we're just randomly trying ideas to see what sticks, but we're not. Consideration is involved."

The Irreplaceable Star

The director further stated that it was pointless to produce the film without Leslie Nielsen, who portrayed the iconic character and who died in 2010, remarking: "They attempted to substitute Leslie Nielsen in the new Naked Gun, and you can't replace him. No one else can do that."

Previous Reservations and Changing Stance

The filmmaker had earlier expressed opposition 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". Adding: "They have not contacted me to appear briefly or be involved in the writing. Regardless of if they're going to do a good job with it, this style of parody, I mean it isn't overly complex, but it is challenging."

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

Renewed Disapproval Over Financial Aspects

However, Zucker returned to the attack in the recent discussion, criticising the amount of money involved. "Big budgets and comedy are opposites, and in the recent reboot, you could see that they invested heavily on scenes with impressive technical effects while trying to copy our style."

He added: "Everybody's in it for the money now, and that feels like the sole motivation why they wanted to do a new Naked Gun."