The Naked Gun's Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson lift lid on long-awaited reboot: ‘Outrageous'
The stars of The Naked Gun reboot have hit the red carpet for the London premiere ahead of its highly-anticipated release.
In the follow-up to the cult comedy classic, Liam Neeson takes over the iconic role of Detective Frank Drebin (albeit Jr.) made famous by Leslie Nielsen in the 80s and 90s. He was joined by co-star Pamela Anderson, aka his love interest and investigative partner Beth Davenport, in Leicester Square on Tuesday night.
The new instalment of the beloved franchise sees Drebin Jr. caught up in a murder case, part of a broader sinister plot for mass destruction, which he must solve in order to prevent the police department from shutting down.
Just like those in the original franchise, the latest Naked Gun movie leans in to the most bonkers humour – and even co-writer Doug Mand admitted to news.com.au that he was shocked they got most of the jokes over the line.
'I can't believe this movie got made,' he revealed ahead of the UK screening.
'You dream about writing something that's silly and fun and joyful and they're not making a lot of movies like this anymore. Every joke that's on screen [in The Naked Gun ], I can't believe they shot it, and I can't believe they spent money on shooting it.'
Neeson revealed to news.com.au that he'd needed to be 'convinced' to go through with some of the movie's more 'outrageous' scenes.
'There were a couple of apprehensions, mainly to do with the script,' the Taken actor, 73, said.
'There were certain scenes that were too outrageous.'
After voicing his concerns, however, he was eventually thoroughly 'convinced they would work' by the production team.
The Naked Gun certainly shows off a whole new side of the actor, who's known for his intimidating and stoic on-screen presence.
But his latest role is actually more aligned with his sense of humour, as Anderson, 58, told news.com.au, joking that he was inherently 'a silly little boy'.
'He's very funny. I think with most people, there are so many sides to them, and that's what makes them interesting.'
She added: 'Playing it straight was very important to make this film work – we had to make sure we weren't trying to be funny. That we were in the relationship, and in the situation, and then the comedy came from the circumstances.'
With so much slapstick comedy, deadpan one-liners and an extraordinarily lengthy and a surreal romantic scene involving a snowman, most actors' ability to keep a straight face would be put to the test.
'We tried to get the laughs out in rehearsals … but the snowman. The snowman!' Anderson laughed.
'There were so many things that happened that were just so ridiculous, and we'd be like, 'What are we doing?' But those were where the most fun parts were.'
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