Pamela Anderson and Liam Neeson to star in Naked Gun remake

Baywatch star will return to the big screen in the remake of the 80s and 90s crime spoof, directed by the Lonely Island’s Akiva Schaffer

Pamela Anderson is headed back to the big screen for a remake of the Naked Gun, opposite Liam Neeson.

The Lonely Island alum Akiva Schaffer will direct the as-yet-untitled remake, based on the series of crime spoof comedies released in the 1980s and 90s, for Paramount. Schaffer, Doug Mand and Dan Gregor – the trio behind the popular Emmy-winning Disney+ movie Chip ’n Dale: Rescue Rangers – will pen the script.

Plot details are being kept strict lock and key, according to the Hollywood Reporter, but Neeson will play Frank Drebin, an inept and aloof police detective originally played by Leslie Nielsen, who improbably stumbles into solving the crime of the day. Anderson will play his love interest, in a role mixing sexiness and goofiness similar to the one originated by Priscilla Presley.

Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane and Erica Huggins will produce under their banner Fuzzy Door. Schaffer, the executive producer of such comedy series as I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson and Pen15, will also executive produce.

The remake marks a return to film stardom for Anderson, a former Playboy model who achieved international fame on the TV series Baywatch. The 56-year-old actor made her big-screen debut as the lead of Barb Wire, an adaptation of a Dark Horse Comics title that was savaged by critics and bombed at the box office. She went on to star in the show VIP as well as Scary Movie 3, as well as appearing in several reality shows.

More recently, Anderson was back in the spotlight as the subject of the Hulu series Pam & Tommy, starring Lily James as Anderson and Sebastian Stan as her ex-husband Tommy Lee. The series covers their notorious 1990s sex scandal, when a disgruntled contractor stole their private sex tape, which was then marketed and sold to millions without their consent. Anderson publicly opposed the series for rehashing her trauma, and turned the spotlight on her career via a well-received run on Broadway as Chicago’s Roxie Hart and the Netflix documentary Pamela, A Love Story.

Anderson is also set to star in Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl, playing a Las Vegas dancer trying to rebuild her life in her 50s opposite Jamie Lee Curtis, Dave Bautista, Brenda Song, Kiernan Shipka and Billie Lourd. It will be her first film role since 2022’s Alone at Night.

While filming details for Naked Gun are still under wraps, Paramount is eyeing a July 2025 release.

Contributor

Adrian Horton

The GuardianTramp

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