Cast and crew of ‘The Naked Gun’ attend New York premiere

NEW YORK (CBS, KYMA/KECY) - The cast and crew of Paramount Pictures' "The Naked Gun" attended the U.S. premiere at the SVA Theater in New York City earlier this week.

The film stars Liam Neeson as Lt. Frank Drebin Jr. He is joined by Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, CCH Pounder, Kevin Durand, Cody Rhodes and Danny Huston.

Neeson and Anderson shared what they are most excited about, and working together on set.

"There's so many. There's so many," Anderson expressed.

"That's a tough one. It's great to go to work with her every day. Really terrific," Neeson added.

Huston shared what is unique about this reboot, while also staying true to the original movies.

"They obey not only the laws of Naked Gun, but also the laws of the film noir. The detective, the hard-boiled detective, and the femme fatale played beautifully by you shall see...it obeys a certain film structure that is reincarnated in Naked Gun," Huston shared.

Pounder shared what she is most excited for audiences to see.

"Just that it's funny and people are having a great time and, you know, the popcorn is really going into your mouth and maybe over your shoulder because it's good," Pounder said.

Rapper Busta Rhymes, who also appears in the reboot, said he was a fan of the original series and therefore and wanted to be in the film.

"I think a lot of us, you know, have have been impacted in some kind of way throughout our lives because the franchise kind of contributed to the way we was raised; the kind of sense of humor that we had, what was funny at the time, what was cool at the time, what was corny at the time, so it helped shape a lot of us, you know what I'm saying? And I think for me, even more importantly, I'm a fan of a lot of the folks in this particular chapter of the franchise and I think that what really was impressive was I love the spin they put on this franchise like...I like action in films. So you know they brought a lot more action to the comedy and balanced it out in a new way and just made it like super dope for right now, you know what I'm saying? And I just think it was a great way to evolve the franchise to just make it more exciting. And I'm just glad that they made the choice to to to to throw me in a blender because it's just incredible to be amongst these just brilliant actors and artists and I learned a lot. I was motivated by the collaborative support of the whole cast and I've grown significantly from it."

Busta Rhymes

Akiva Schaffer, director of Popstar: Never Stop Believing and Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers, directed the film, with Seth MacFarlane, creator of Family Guy, serving as producer.

When asked why he wanted Neeson for the role of Frank Drebin Jr. in the reboot, MacFarlane said:

"Because he's the only actor alive who in 2025, who I think is capable of it. When the Zucker brothers did Airplane in 1980, you know, they cast Robert Stack and Peter Graves, Leslie Nielsen, and these actors who were of a very specific point in time which they could be deadly serious, and yet it was sincere. It didn't feel cartoonish. It didn't feel silly. And Liam Neeson is kind of the only remaining performer who walks that line. So much gravitas that from anyone else would feel like satire, but from Liam it feels sincere because he's just that great an actor."

MacFarlane also gave praise to Schaffer saying, "[Me] and a few of my writer friends took a stab at this, and the best we could come up with was kind of a cover band version of the original, and Akiva and his team cracked the nut. He managed to create a Naked Gun for 2025, and his script was fantastic. He directed it beautifully. He's a fantastic talent and all the credit goes to him."

Screenwriters Dan Gregor and Doug Mand shared why they wanted to make a reboot of this franchise, and why Liam Neeson was the actor for the role.

"All we're doing is trying to honor that DNA with Liam and hopefully they'll feel the kind of joy they felt watching those movies as we felt watching movies, which are the most important movies to us," Mand spoke.

When asked what they think fans of the original will be excited about, and what they hope they take away from it, Gregor said, "There's a beaver cameo and they should all get ready for our little friend to return."

"The Naked Gun" premieres in theaters this Friday.