First proposed by David Zucker in a dead-on parody of a filmmaker who’s long since lost any sense of shame, a reboot of The Naked Gun has—like so many latter-day Zucker jokes—gone on way too long, until it finally became a reality. Variety reports that Paramount has attached Ed Helms to wrest the role of Detective Frank Drebin from the late Leslie Nielsen, as a sort of consolation for Helms’ previous, aborted attempt to remake the ’80s by starring in a new Vacation movie. Meanwhile, it’s also hired Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant to pen the script, with the Night At The Museum duo having already proved it knows from police spoofs with Reno 911 (and proved it knows how to just take the check and do a studio’s bidding with almost every other movie they’ve ever done).
No director is currently attached and no one from the original Naked Gun is involved, seeing as many of them are dead or in jail. But, regardless of how fans may feel about yet another remake—not to mention one that tries to recapture the magic of a movie that relied so heavily on Nielsen’s particular talents—surely we can give Ed Helms and his team the benefit of handling this situation maturely, just like the responsible adults we are. Isn’t that right, Mr. Poopy Pants?