'He's not stupid, but he has a naivete to him'

Seth MacFarlane, Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson talk about the upcoming fourth film in The Naked Gun franchise. The film arrives in UK cinemas this week.

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When you think of Liam Neeson's body of work, notably the Taken action films of the past few years, comedy is not the first thing that comes to mind.

The Northern Irish actor, 73, is known for playing a tough protagonist in crime thrillers, including in the three Taken movies as former CIA operative Bryan Mills, as well as Retribution and In The Land of Saints And Sinners, both released in 2023.

But for American actor and producer Seth MacFarlane, 51, the creator of adult animated sitcom Family Guy and American Dad!, who also starred in, directed and wrote the Ted films featuring Mark Wahlberg, Neeson was the perfect choice for his latest venture: a fourth film in The Naked Gun comedy franchise.

The pair had worked together previously on 2014's western comedy, A Million Ways To Die In the West, which saw Oscar-nominated Neeson playing a gunslinger and Neeson also had a small part in Ted 2.

"He was just so funny. Dead serious, with this ridiculous dialogue. I feel like that was the first time I thought there might be a version of a Leslie Nielsen-type comedy that Liam would be funny in," recalls MacFarlane.

Another feather in Neeson's comedy cap, which MacFarlane references, is a 2011 episode of Ricky Gervais's Life's Too Short which sees Neeson expressing his desire to be a comedy actor with a deadpan delivery.

Enter The Naked Gun film and Neeson's starring role as Lieutenant Frank Drebin Jr, who is proud to follow in the footsteps of his father (the character previously played by Leslie Nielsen) and protect the good people of Los Angeles from the many faces of crime.