The Naked Gun Reboot

[Cool King]

Ed Helms Firing Up ‘The Naked Gun’ Reboot for Paramount (EXCLUSIVE)

http://pmcvariety.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/ed-helms.jpg?w=490&h=276&crop=1

Detective Frank Drebin is coming back with Ed Helms on board to portray Leslie Nielsen’s character in Paramount’s reboot of “The Naked Gun” comedy franchise.

The studio has tapped the scripting team of Thomas Lennon and R. Ben Garant — best known for the “Night at the Museum” and “Reno 911″ franchises, to write the screenplay as a new spin on the Drebin character.

Helms starred in “The Hangover” trilogy and “We’re the Millers” and recently recently wrapped “Stretch” opposite Chris Pine and Patrick Wilson. He stars in the romcom parody “They Came Together,” which will premiere at Sundance, opposite Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler.

Paramount released “The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!” in 1988 with Nielsen battling Ricardo Montalban’s character plotting to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II at a baseball game in Los Angeles. Sequels “The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear” and “Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult” followed in 1991 and 1994; the three films cumed $275 million.

George Kennedy, Priscilla Presley and O.J. Simpson co-starred in all three films.

The films were based on the 1982 ABC spoof series “Police Squad!,” which was cancelled after six episodes. Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker created the series, which also starred Nielsen as Drebin in a similar deadpan vein as his Dr. Rumack character in 1980′s “Airplane!”

“It’s true what they say: Cops and women don’t mix,” Drebin said in the first film. “It’s like eating a spoonful of Drano; sure, it’ll clean you out, but it’ll leave you hollow inside.”

Lennon and Garant recently wrote “Baywatch” for Paramount and “Rent a Ghost” for Fox and just sold “Guinea Pigging” to Fox 2000 for Mitch Hurwitz to direct. They wrote and directed “Hell Baby,” which debuted at Sundance this year” and Garant wrote the Lionsgate horror/thriller “Jessabelle” for Blumhouse and Principato-Young with an Aug. 29 release date.

Helms is repped by CAA, Principato-Young and attorney Ira Schreck. Lennon and Garant are repped by CAA, Principato-Young and attorney Karl Austen.

http://variety.com/2013/film/news/ed-helms-firing-up-the-naked-gun-reboot-for-paramount-exclusive-1200950237/

[Nowhere Man]

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9ffnrV95U1r1vzzeo2_500.jpg

[Arashi Kage]

http://www.thexquorum.com/vb/images/smilies/yeahthat.gif

I guess that I shouldn't be surprised. Hollywood seems hellbent on remaking or "rebooting" every successful film from the last 30 years.

:'(

[ClockShot]

I'd like to know what our own Frank Drebin's thoughts on this are?

[Lock Jaw]

Pretty sure Ed Helms cannot pull this off. Or modern day comedy writers.

[JimmyMess]

nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope

[Blitz]

The franchise is funny. Helms is funny. The writers have written funny stuff. I might wait till I actually see some footage to declare anything regarding its quality, but I really don't see any reason to be brutally pessimistic like everyone else has decided to be.

Even if it is terrible, it doesn't diminish the original franchise. Why is there always this knee-jerk reaction that rebooting/remaking anything is absolutely the worst possible thing that could happen?

[Frank Drebin]

I'd like to know what our own Frank Drebin's thoughts on this are?

http://nerdsdoitbetter.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/the-critic-it-stinks-hainan-airlines-630-620x413.jpg

[Frank Drebin]

Its going to be exactly as crappy as this:

http://www.dvdsreleasedates.com/posters/800/G/Get-Smart-movie-poster.jpg

[Tom Guycott]

The franchise is funny. Helms is funny. The writers have written funny stuff. I might wait till I actually see some footage to declare anything regarding its quality, but I really don't see any reason to be brutally pessimistic like everyone else has decided to be.

Even if it is terrible, it doesn't diminish the original franchise. Why is there always this knee-jerk reaction that rebooting/remaking anything is absolutely the worst possible thing that could happen?




Because it is absolutely the worst possible thing that could happen until the time it works.

[JimmyMess]

I'll pull a wrestling quote "never say never"

but there will never be another leslie nielsen. Nothing about a new film would be remotely close other than the title and the names of the characters. It must not happen!

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!

[Lock Jaw]

I enjoyed the Get Smart movie

[Lock Jaw]

Steve Carrell would make a better Frank Drebin than Ed Helms. Carrell can do the deadpan straight face comedy.

[Frank Drebin]

First of all, no one does a better Frank Drebin than me.

Second, in all seriousness, I just can't see that type of comedy work nowadays. So many ways to attempt an imitation and fail doing it. Airplane! is in a similar vein. Not even the sequels could hold a candle to the original, so how could a reboot? Best chance to pull it off would be to have a young director and writing team that is itching to get a shot, hasn't used their best material on previous projects, and will throw more caution into the wind than a group of movie veterans who would just try to play it safe and turn out a mediocre movie.

[Lock Jaw]

I played Frank Drebin in an audio reconstruction of this scene:

<object width="420" height="315"><param name="movie" value="//www.youtube.com/v/het1kl-A8qw?hl=en_US&amp;version=3"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="//www.youtube.com/v/het1kl-A8qw?hl=en_US&amp;version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="420" height="315" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>

I did pretty badly

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

I won't rest until this movie is stopped. Now let's go get something to eat.

[El Vaquero de Infierno]

:nono:

[Blonde Moment]

Dear god no.

[Optimus Bone 69]

Will Ferrell?

[Cool King]

Maybe it's the pessimist in me but I'm expecting it to contain at least one of these things, such as make frequent use of the words "fuck/fucking" and "shit", or contain a lot of pop culture references or the nudity and sex references to be pretty blatant and somewhat tasteless, unlike the original where it was all "cheeky" and lighthearted and nothing too "extreme".

Basically, your generic post-2006 comedy movie.

[Cool King]

If you're not sure what I'm talking about, movies like Superbad, The Hangover Series, 21 Jump Street, Pineapple Express, stuff like that.

I get a feeling it'll be kind of like those movies in order to attract the 18-25 demographic.

[alvarado52]

aww fuck this shit

[Blitz]

Maybe it's the pessimist in me but I'm expecting it to contain at least one of these things, such as make frequent use of the words "fuck/fucking" and "shit", or contain a lot of pop culture references or the nudity and sex references to be pretty blatant and somewhat tasteless, unlike the original where it was all "cheeky" and lighthearted and nothing too "extreme".

Basically, your generic post-2006 comedy movie.
Yes, I don't doubt that Frank Drebin will be walking around saying fuck this or fuck that. Sounds exactly right.

Come on.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/5NNOrp_83RU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Cool King]

Yes, I don't doubt that Frank Drebin will be walking around saying fuck this or fuck that. Sounds exactly right.

Come on.

It's the way things seem to be these days.

Compared to the time of the original The Naked Gun movies, music, video games, comedians and in some cases, even books use a lot more profanity these days.

[Nervous Ferret]

You are all a bunch of sorry sacks

[Blitz]

It's the way things seem to be these days.

Compared to the time of the original The Naked Gun movies, music, video games, comedians and in some cases, even books use a lot more profanity these days.
I'm about to shock the hell out of you here, but the bottom line of Hollywood is profit. Profit from a remake comes from putting a new spin on existing material, not changing every single core component. Putting out a Naked Gun movie that had the same type of humour as Superbad would be the same as putting out a Naked Gun that struck the same tone as Law and Order.

Look at the Get Smart remake, mentioned in this very thread. Was made in 2008, arguably the height of the Superbad style of comedy, and it was a PG film that relied on gags, one liners, and situational comedy, not dick and fart jokes. And it was, incidentally, a very funny film.

[Triple A]

You guys remember that scene where they are about to have sex and he says "Do you mind if I slip into something more comfortable?" and comes out wearing a suit... really funny... keep thinking of it and "chuckling"... can't find clip on the internet

After Frank Drebin arrives home late at night, he finds Jane. After some suggestive dialog, Frank, who is wearing a collared shirt, slacks, and a tie, says that he will go slip into something more comfortable. He emerges wearing a suit.

[Bad News Gertner]

Helms is great, but he doesn't have Neilsen's deadpan and charm.

[#1-norm-fan]

Naked Gun is probably the funniest movie ever.

I can't imaging a "new school" version of it being good though.

[#1-norm-fan]

Helms is great, but he doesn't have Neilsen's deadpan and charm.

Also, this. I love Ed Helms but I can't imagine him as Frank Drebin. Leslie Nielsen was perfect. I'm trying to think of someone who could even come close to pulling it off and I'm drawing a blank.

[Fignuts]

I think Lock Jaw had it right Carell is the only one that comes to mind, that might be able to pull it off. Helms is funny, but I can't for the life of me picture him as Drebin. Maybe he'll surprise me.

[Bad News Gertner]

Also, this. I love Ed Helms but I can't imagine him as Frank Drebin. Leslie Nielsen was perfect. I'm trying to think of someone who could even come close to pulling it off and I'm drawing a blank.

Bill Murray could put a good spin. He played the clueless guy in a great under-rated comedy "The Man Who Knew Too Little". Love that movie.

[Heisenberg]

I hope Police Academy and Hot Shots are safe from remake

[JimmyMess]

Nielsen was so unique in that his character was so dead-straight that when I watch a movie or show he's in that was actually serious, I start laughing because he's exactly the same.

I don't see Helm's being able to pull it off like Nielsen

[Emperor Smeat]

I liked the Get Smart remake.


Helms is great, but he doesn't have Neilsen's deadpan and charm.

:-\ Won't be good unless Helms can pull that off.

[Swiss Ultimate]

People who watch movies out of some sense that they should give them a chance have a lot of spare money laying around.

Which is why you should steal all your bad movies instead of seeing them in the theater.

[Tom Guycott]

Again, I say wait until there's evidence of it being bad and THEN shit on it instead of marching in expecting it to be bad. Yes, it's easy to be jaded by the Hollywood cash grab, but there's still the chance the dominoes will fall the right way.

Spider-Man/X-Men was going to be dumb because most comic book movies not named Batman don't become blockbusters. Nobody will EVER be able to make a live action Lord of the Rings work. I mean, nobody expected Die Hard or The Bourne Identity to be good, because the lead just "wasn't right" for an action lead. Until it worked. Ed Helms may make an excellent Frank Drebin. They won't be able to drop the Phil Donahue joke, though... anyway, even if it does turn out to be a shitty film, Ed still might do a good job at pulling the character off. You know, like Brandon Routh in Superman Returns. He did an awesome job being Christopher Reeves in a film full of piss-poor writing fail.

It's not so much having spare money laying around, its more the idea of "EVERYTHING IS ALWAYS GOING TO BE A BAD IDEA SO WHY DO IT?!?!" is too prevalent on the internet. People are too eager to hop on the "I told you so" bandwagon even before it's finished being built. Yes, it is highly likely it will be churned out crap to make a quick buck off of nostalgic name recognition, fail miserably by box severely inflated office standards, and fade into obscurity to eventually be dumped into the $3 DVD bin at Wal-Mart. I will admit that. But to automatically assume that is its destiny sight unseen is going overboard.

All we got is "Ed Helms as Frank Drebin? It can't work because he's not Leslie Neilson, therefore, this is going to be the most shitty film of all time!!" We have collectively come to that conclusion even before the goddamn script has even been written.

[mhirn3]

Good to see that Hollywood refuses to cultivate their own ideas.......why not reboot ET?
<input id="mac_address" value="" type="hidden">

[Swiss Ultimate]

90% of everything coming out of Hollywood is bad. It's safe to assume that things that sound bad are going to be bad.

That's the real reason people dread reboots. The odds are not in your favor when a beloved classic gets chosen to be reprocessed like expired bologna. This will suck just as 9/10 films released in 2013 sucked.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

One good reboot spawns 50+ bad ones. JJ's Trek huge success is bad for all of us.

[#1-norm-fan]

I think Lock Jaw had it right Carell is the only one that comes to mind, that might be able to pull it off. Helms is funny, but I can't for the life of me picture him as Drebin. Maybe he'll surprise me.

Carrell doesn't have the subtlety and charm of Nielsen. It's like JimmyMess said. Nielsen had the ability to almost make it seem like he was clueless that he was in a comedy and it was awesome. Carrell doesn't quite have that. Even when he's deadpanning, he's doing it in a clearly comedic manner.

[Frank Drebin]

Because ET went home and isn't available. Duh.

[Heisenberg]

Robocop is looking more and more un-violent by the day, unless they are saving all of that for the film itself.