Let’s get one thing absolutely straight: Leslie Nielsen was The Naked Gun. He wasn’t just the star—he was the franchise. The reason it worked. The reason we still talk about it. Take him out, and the whole thing collapses into another forgettable spoof movie. And believe me, we had plenty of those in the '90s and early 2000s. You just don’t remember them, because they didn’t have Nielsen at the center, deadpanning his way through absurdity like a seasoned Shakespearean actor who accidentally walked into a Looney Tunes short.
Leslie Nielsen wasn’t a comedy actor. That’s the secret sauce. He was a serious dramatic actor with a deep, almost scientific understanding of how comedy actually works. He never played the joke. He was the joke—without ever knowing it. His gift was that he could be the only straight-faced, rational person in a world gone completely insane, delivering absolutely absurd lines while looking like he has no idea how absurd they actually are. You can’t teach that. You can’t bottle it. And you certainly can’t recreate it with a strawberry-printed pair of underwear.
Yes, that’s a real still from the new trailer: Liam Neeson standing in a schoolgirl’s outfit, one leg cocked up, smiling and proudly showing off his novelty underpants. And that single image tells me everything I need to know. The filmmakers don’t get it. I’m not saying Leslie Nielsen wouldn’t wear a schoolgirl outfit (honestly, he probably did at some point). I’m saying he wouldn’t pose for the camera and wink at the joke. He’d wear it like it was a military uniform and then deliver a line about nuclear disarmament with a straight face. That’s the difference.
And look, this isn’t a “they’re ruining my childhood” rant. I’m not precious about reboots. Let them try. Let them experiment. But let’s be honest—without Nielsen, this isn’t The Naked Gun. It might be a goofy cop spoof. It might even get a few laughs. But it won’t be that brand of laugh. That specific absurd, elevated, deadpan magic that made Police Squad! and The Naked Gun movies legendary.
Leslie Nielsen was more than an actor—he was a genre. At one point, you couldn’t even make a spoof movie without him. Studios wouldn’t greenlight it unless his name was on the poster. And bless his soul, he cashed those checks. Some of the movies were... well, less than stellar (Spy Hard, anyone?), but even when the scripts failed, he never did. He always showed up. He always delivered. Because he knew exactly what his job was—to treat nonsense with Shakespearean sincerity.
Liam Neeson, for all his particular sets of skills, just isn’t built for that kind of role. Not because he’s not funny (he actually is—his cameo in Life’s Too Short and in TED 2 is legendary), but because The Naked Gun doesn’t need a guy doing comedy. It needs a guy who has no idea he’s in a comedy. A guy who allows the joke to happen around him instead of through him. That’s what Leslie brought to the table. That’s why we still quote him. That’s why we still laugh.
So best of luck to the creative team. I genuinely hope it’s good. I hope it finds its own tone and doesn’t try to cosplay as something it isn’t. But I’m sorry—this is just the truth:
No Leslie? No Naked Gun.
