I know. I'm just saying, from my own personal experience, he might as well have been a comedian all along, which isn't the case with Neeson, who on the far end of the spectrum first came to my attention with Schindler's List.
The Naked Gun (2025) Teaser trailer
- Thread starter Amasov
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Only maybe because Leslie Neilsen ended up having a long career. I'm likely not much older than you, so much of what I grew up with was his comedy, but I still recognize what he did before. It's funny because I think Neeson is mostly known for his action movies now, and with him only getting older, if this is successful, then it could send him down a different trajectory, much like what happened with Leslie Nelsen.
I'm rather hoping the movie will lean into that.
It's funny watching YouTube reaction videos of Leslie Neilsen in dramatic roles like the Captain in the Poseidon Adventure or Forbidden Planet, when the viewer has first been exposed to him via Airplane! or the Naked Gun movies. They're always bemused by it.
I think with Airplane they deliberately used actors like Nielsen, Stack or Lloyd Bridges who’d been around for a while and appeared in strait laced dramas and disaster movies. I imagine that Nielsen in particular was cast because of Poseidon.
With the possible exception of Bridges, none were really leading men, certainly not by 1981 anyway, and not really on the same level of fame as Neeson. Even if he’s not at the level of a Harrison Ford or Tom Cruise, Neeson has had an Oscar nomination, been in Star Wars and there is a sort of subgenre of “Liam Neeson movie.” So he probably has a bit more baggage and recognition than Leslie did, certainly at the time he was cast in Airplane.
With the possible exception of Bridges, none were really leading men, certainly not by 1981 anyway, and not really on the same level of fame as Neeson. Even if he’s not at the level of a Harrison Ford or Tom Cruise, Neeson has had an Oscar nomination, been in Star Wars and there is a sort of subgenre of “Liam Neeson movie.” So he probably has a bit more baggage and recognition than Leslie did, certainly at the time he was cast in Airplane.
That's pretty much exactly what they did, which is why casting Liam Neeson is an interesting idea in terms of parallel. It subverts expectations in the same manner.
But good point on the baggage. That could be one point where it ends up being a little more distracting.
Could be, of course, that they’re deliberately leaning in on the baggage. The trailers definitely suggest that this Frank is much more in the high body count school of Liam’s action heroes than was the previous version. The other LN’s Frank was mentioned as having shot plenty of people but that was generally put down to incompetence that his being bloodthirsty!
That reminds me - Airplane! (The Director's Cut) is touring the United States with David Zucker and Robert Hayes.
They do an MST3K commentary, then a Q&A after the movie.
It's playing October 3rd at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle.
Check your local listings.
They do an MST3K commentary, then a Q&A after the movie.
It's playing October 3rd at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle.
Check your local listings.
Yeah, I could expect at least one joke geared at the Taken series. "Oh no, I won't be taken. You can rest easy, I'm a professional." Meanwhile, everything disintegrates around him, as hinted in the trailer.
And meanwhile, he probably gets told he's worse than his father was with disaster trailing in his wake. "Dude, the bodycount! What's up with you?"
All of these gags,and the OJ one and the coffee cup being handed over in the dramatically lit driving down the street bit.
The first trailer had me, ehhh. But this new one sold me. Now, watch, it'll be one of those movies where all of the funny ones are in the trailers.
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