Ed Helms gives ‘Naked Gun’ Remake Update – The Daily Double Talk

By Tommy McGrew

Ed Helms can’t seem to catch break these days. I bet a year ago when he began filming the recently released Vacation sequel or reboot or whatever—and he had the fact in the back of his mind of knowing that he was going to be the new Frank Drebin. Yep, in another remake of an 80’s comedy classic (and personal favorite of mine), Naked Gun. Helms has been pretty mum on the project as of late though and that got people a little curious as to the status of the remake. Helms recently sat down at the Yahoo Movies studio and was asked just that question:

“That’s a conversation that’s been happening, it’s kind of in the grinding gears of Hollywood. … You have to make something that a contemporary audience is going to like. We haven’t seen many of those slapstick movies in a while, so I’m not sure what the right angle is on it.”

The movie was originally announced way back in 2013 and not only had Helms as it’s star but also had Reno 911’s Thomas Lennon and R. Ben Garant on board as writers.

Now I grew up watching the Naked Gun movies with my dad, so I feel a personal stake in this whole thing (as if anyone gives a shit) so I’m already nervous about the fact they’re even attempting to remake something like Naked Gun. Helms is right there is a certain type of humor at play in those movies. Like most David Zucker comedies from the 80’s and early 90’s the movie had a broad, but funny, type of slapstick that, by today’s standards, would come off a little dumb and cheesy to modern audiences. Not to mention the fact that these type of slapstick spoofs haven’t faired so well as of late. We’ve seen the rise and much welcomed fall of Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer of Epic Movie, Disaster movie and Meet the Spartans fame (fuck every last one of those movie by the way) all but completely destroy the sub-genre. So they really do have to go back to the drawing board and not only try to make a funny Naked Gun movie but one that might even rejuvenate a dying comedy genre.

 

[Source: CinemaBlend.com]