Liam Neeson hopes Naked Gun reboot will start shooting in summer

Liam Neeson is hopeful the ‘Naked Gun’ reboot will start shooting this summer.

The 70-year-old actor is to take on the leading role in the movie as Frank Drebin, Jr., the son of Leslie Nielsen’s character Detective Frank Drebin – the main character of the original film, ‘The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!’ – and the cast and crew are hoping the movie will “happen this year”.

He said: “We’re waiting on a script. Yeah, we’re hoping it’ll happen this year, maybe in the summertime.”

Neeson admitted Seth MacFarlane and his team are currently working on the script for the movie.

Asked if the film is a priority for everyone involved, he told Collider: “Yeah, Paramount Studios, I think. I approached Seth MacFarlane, he and his team are working on it, the scripts.

“So, we’re hoping to go in the summertime, you know?”

The original movie – based on the 1982 TV series ‘Police Squad!’, which had been axed after six episodes – starred Nielsen as Drebin, a detective with plenty of fight but lacking in common sense.

Over the course of three movies, he turned the loveable character into a comic icon.

The franchise also starred Priscilla Presley and Ricardo Montalban and proved to be a huge hit.

But in October, Presley admitted she doesn’t want to feature in the reboot.

She said: “No, I won’t (be in it)! I wouldn’t do it really if I was asked because you don’t fix something that’s already fixed.

“That movie I don’t think can be rebooted in the way that Leslie Nielsen and I did it. It was just a great relationship and friendship and we got along great on the set and that was just all fun and what a great experience.

“Now, in this one, gosh, the actors who are playing the characters, I can’t see it visually. Maybe it will come across as great, but I wouldn’t be a part of it.”