Liam Neeson has revealed he made a conscious effort not to imitate the late Leslie Nielsen while stepping into the role of Frank Drebin Jr. in the upcoming The Naked Gun reboot.
The 73-year-old actor, best known for his intense action roles, told Empire magazine that while he admired Nielsen’s original portrayal of the bumbling detective, he didn’t want to replicate it.
“I did not want to emulate the wonderful Leslie Nielsen,” Neeson explained. “The only thing I grabbed from him was, ‘Be serious. Don’t try to be funny. Just stick to being a serious cop who is a bit of a doofus.’”
Neeson plays the son of Nielsen’s legendary character, Detective Frank Drebin, in the reimagined version of the beloved slapstick comedy, which is directed by Popstar: Never Stop Never Stoppingfilmmaker Akiva Schaffer.
Schaffer backed Neeson’s approach, noting that trying to mimic Nielsen would have been unfair and ultimately unfunny.
“Liam’s got his own things, but they’re not Leslie Nielsen’s things,” Schaffer said. “He’d be spending the whole movie trying to match something that is another human being with a whole different — forgive me — set of skills.”
Despite his reputation for brooding action roles, Neeson reportedly embraced the silliness of the film with open arms. According to Schaffer, the Taken star even contributed his own goofy ideas to the set.
“He was actually the most game for the most silly stuff,” the director recalled. “He’d be on set adding fart jokes, and I’d have to be like, ‘Remember, three scenes earlier we have that fart joke. So if you do it here, it might be too early.’”
This marks Neeson’s first leading role in a full-blown comedy — and according to Schaffer, that made him perfect for the part. The director credited producer Seth MacFarlane for suggesting Neeson in the first place.
“That changed the entire equation for me,” he said. “Liam is one of the best ‘gravitas’ leading men, and one of the only ones who hasn’t already used it for comedy.”
Schaffer drew inspiration for the film’s absurd tone not just from the original Naked Gun films, but also from decades of over-the-top action franchises and police procedurals.
“There are 30 years of Law & Orders and CSIs, and the John Wicks, Mission: Impossibles, and James Bonds that have all become more serious. That gives us so much to parody.”
The Naked Gun reboot — starring Neeson in his most unexpectedly funny role to date — hits cinemas next month.
