During the pandemic, The Naked Gun director Akiva Schaffer watched a lot of action movies with his friend Matt Bettinelli-Olpin (Ready or Not), including a rewatch of the entire James Bond franchise. In a recent episode of The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers podcast, Schaffer explained that one Bond movie in particular helped shape the visual style of his Naked Gun movie.
“You know what movie I kind of — not discovered, but that I realized was like the perfect sweet spot — was Tomorrow Never Dies,” Schaffer said. “Me and Matt watched every James Bond movie in order, and when it got to Tomorrow Never Dies, it was like the old way jumped forward — it became a modern movie. Like even the surround sound on my TV came alive. And all those movies were shot on 35 millimeter, but before you could color time them in a computer and crush all the blacks, so the atmosphere is still there, but they’re gorgeously shot. They look amazing by today’s standards, but they also give you a hint of nostalgia.“
Schaffer didn’t want to go with the look of more recent action movies, such as the John Wick franchise, but he also didn’t want The Naked Gun “to look like some sh**y over-lit comedy that has no point of view.“
The Naked Gun reboot is now playing in theaters, earning rave reviews and a decent debut at the box office. Although David Zucker, director of the original film, still doesn’t plan on watching it. Could this success pave the way for the return of the spoof comedy? I hope so. Our own Chris Bumbray said he had more fun watching The Naked Gun than anything in a long time. “Some might say The Naked Gun is stupid — and that’s exactly the point,” he wrote. “It’s stupid like a fox, and also really funny. It’s probably the best movie of its kind since Hot Shots: Part Deux, and honestly, I think I laughed more at this than I did watching The Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult.” You can check out the rest of his review right here.
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