Akiva Schaffer attends the “Self Reliance” premiere at SWSW 2023 at The Paramount Theatre on March 11, 2023 in Austin, Texas.
Marcus Ingram/Getty Images North America
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Marcus Ingram/Getty Images North America
The Naked Gun reboot, like its predecessors, is a very dumb movie. In the best way possible. The spoof stars Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson. It’s directed by our guest this week Akiva Schaffer.
There’s probably nobody better to direct and write a movie like The Naked Gun than Akiva.
He has a resume full of brilliant, dumb, joke a minute work: he directed the 2020 Chip N’ Dale Rescue Rangers movie, and the cult-comedy Popstar: Never Stop Never Stoppin’.
Together with Andy Samberg and Jorma Taccone he is a member of the comedy trio The Lonely Island. The group responsible for the classic SNL songs sketches “I’m On A Boat” and “Lazy Sunday.”
Akiva wasn’t sure he wanted to direct The Naked Gun at first, he gets into why. Plus, we get into why Popstar didn’t click with audiences and his very funny work with The Lonely Island.