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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, after briefly appearing to soften his stance following the premiere of the film's theatrical release.

Zucker's Critique of the Reboot's Comedy Approach

During a fresh discussion, Zucker expressed that Seth MacFarlane, the creative force behind the new Naked Gun and previously the filmmaker and script collaborator of the Ted movies, "totally missed" the parody genre approach that Zucker, together 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, began creating spoof comedies 50 years ago, and we developed a unique approach – and we executed it so effectively that it appears simple, evidently. 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. Consideration is involved."

The Irreplaceable Star

The director further stated that it was futile to produce the film without Leslie Nielsen, who played Frank Drebin and passed away in 2010, remarking: "They attempted to substitute Leslie Nielsen in the new Naked Gun, and you can't replace him. Nobody else is capable of that."

Earlier Objections and Changing Stance

The filmmaker had earlier expressed opposition to the decision to proceed with a Naked Gun reboot, remarking last year that he was "not enthusiastic regarding having the franchise given to other people". He continued: "I have not been approached to make a cameo or participate in scripting. Regardless of if 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 after its release in August, Zucker adopted a more agreeable stance, commenting: "I'm excited about it because it just demonstrates there's a healthy audience for comedy in cinemas, 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 recent reboot, you could see that they spent a lot of money 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 only reason why they wanted to do a new Naked Gun."