Liam Neeson’s new role as Lieutenant Frank Drebin in a remake of Naked Gun has divided the internet
Liam Neeson will star as Lieutenant Frank Drebin in a remake of Naked Gun. The 71-year-old Irish actor will play the clumsy police detective originally played by Leslie Nielson in the reboot which will air in July 2025.
The Naked Gun films, which started as the TV show Police Squad!, were slapstick comedy gold and ran over six years. Neeson will inhabit the deadpan character of Drebin in the film, produced by Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane.
The internet has not reacted well to the casting, though, with many fans unsure how the Hollywood actor will fare with the puns and jokes. One X user said: “Did Liam Neeson have a funny line in the A Team movie?
“Going back through his movies here, don’t think he has ever delivered a funny line or quip. Picking him for the new Naked Gun reboot is bizarre. I think I must have fallen down a spiral towards insanity.”
Another scribed: “Liam Neeson isn’t funny, though, so who thought this was a good idea?” while a third chimed in: “Genuinely the worst idea I’ve heard this week.” Despite being involved in many emotion flicks, including Love Actually and Schindler’s List, the A-lister has clocked some comical moments throughout his time in the limelight.
Last year, Liam Neeson was a guest on the popular podcast Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend, where the TV personality and comedian chats to celebrities about their lives, and he told a hilarious story about his childhood in Co Antrim.
Neeson discussed a time when he went to confession, but made the mistake of confessing to something that he actually did, and the priest in the church responded terribly.
“I had learned how to pleasure myself at home, onto the sheets… I’d looked up the appropriate word. I remember that… ‘Masturbate’? ‘Masturbation’? Okay. That seems harmless enough,” Neeson recalled.
The priest went on to embarrass a young Neeson in front of the entire church. “The priest said, ”You what?!’… He almost said things like, ‘The grass will grow over the palm of your hand before you’re 21! Stop that evil practice!'”
Thinking of all the old women outside who no doubt heard the entire ordeal, Neeson says he left immediately, and, “That was the last time I ever went.”
Liam Neeson also made The Office stars Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant laugh on BBC’s Life Too Short, a fake documentary starring Warwick David, in 2011. Neeson meets with the men as he’s thinking of going into comedy.
If you cannot see the video, click here.
“I’m a funny guy, aren’t I?”, he asks the duo, who can’t keep a straight face about his proposition to go into, aptly, slapstick comedy. Neeson even challenges Gervais and Merchant to some improv, which becomes an epic fail.
Referencing the skit online, the other half of the internet backed Neeson’s casting. One wrote: “Posting this for anyone that might have doubts about Liam Neeson Naked Gun. He’s perfect for it.”
A second said: “This
… makes me think Liam Neeson can pull off Naked Gun.” Movie fans also referenced Neeson’s appearance in Ted 2 where the serious personality engages in an amusing conversation with the bear.
