Liam Neeson, Lonely Island's Akiva Schaffer Team On Naked Gun Reboot For Paramount - Report

The classic '80s and '90s slapstick comedy movie franchise The Naked Gun is reportedly getting new life at Paramount with a revival film directed by The Lonely Island's Akiva Schaffer and starring Liam Neeson. Deadline was first to report.

Seth MacFarlane--who in 2021 was rumored to be developing a The Naked Gun sequel--will executive produce the film alongside Erica Huggins via their company Fuzzy Door. MacFarlane has reportedly have co-written a script with David Zucker and Pat Proft, based on a story by Zucker, Profit, and Thomas Lennon and R. Ben Garant both of Reno 911! and The State fame.

No plot details are yet known, but one rumored detail is that Neeson may be playing the son of Det. Sgt. Frank Derbin, rather than stepping into the role made famous by Leslie Nielsen.

The Naked Gun movies were spiritual spin-offs from the 1982 crime-comedy series Police Squad! Leslie Nielsen starred as Derbin in the series, and then a trilogy of films. Like Neeson, Nielsen at that time was best known for his dramatic roles. In the previous The Naked Gun films, Nielsen's deadpan delivery and sincere performances set against madcap action and screwball jokes made for a winning and pleasantly weird formula. Neeson recently has made comedic cameos in both FX's Atlanta and Netflix's Derry Girls.

Another recent surprise '80s revival was the recent announcement that a Ferris Bueller's Day Off spin-off centered on the valets who recklessly drive Cameron's Ferrari is in the works, also at Paramount.