Many moons ago, there was a legendary comedy film director called David Zucker. Zucker was one of the biggest names in comedy during the 1980’s and 1990’s. He is responsible for such greats as: “Airplane!” and “The Naked Gun”. Today, Zucker no longer feels either of these films could be made by Hollywood. Well they could, “just without the jokes.” he said. In a new interview (via Mediaite), Zucker said Hollywood is “destroying comedy” because they are being overly sensitive.
“We could be as offensive as we liked,” Zucker said about his directing career, which also included “Scary Movie 3” and “Scary Movie 4,” – both far cries, every pun intended, from his earlier masterpieces, and from the first two Wayans directed Scary Movies. “We went where the laughs were. We never thought that we were offending anyone, but if we were offending people we knew we were on the right track. As time went on, it got to be the ’90s and the 2000s and it did change… We never worried about any of this stuff with the ‘Naked Gun’ or ‘Scary Movie’ films.”
The director revealed to Variety that one film executive more recently scoffed at one of his unmade scripts because it includes a joke about a female character needing a breast reduction – as ridiculous as that sounds.
“My current writing partner and I wrote a parody of ‘James Bond’ and ‘Mission: Impossible,’” Zucker said. “One female executive said, ‘This joke is getting pretty risqué.’ It was a mild joke about the lead female character, because she had come up through the police department and FBI, she said she needed a breast reduction to fit into the kevlar vest.”
“It was pure oatmeal, so mild,” Zucker said of the joke. “Not one of our funniest things but this was too much. I thought, ‘If this was the criteria for it, we’re in big trouble.’ They’re destroying comedy because of nine percent of the people who don’t have a sense of humor.”
Zucker concluded, “When we do screenings of ‘Airplane!’ we get the question if we could do ‘Airplane!’ today. The first thing I could think of is sure, just without the jokes.”
Zucker has not released a film since 2008’s “An American Carol,” which is a satirical comedy that parodied documentarian Michael Moore. Zucker served as a writer for 2013’s “Scary Movie 5.” – another disastrous romp that led to the fizzle of the franchise. Zucker’s next writer-directorial effort, “The Star of Malta,” is a spoof that does not yet have a release date. And with the way things in cancel culture are going, will probably never happen.
“We could be as offensive as we liked,” Zucker said about his directing career, which also included “Scary Movie 3” and “Scary Movie 4,” – both far cries, every pun intended, from his earlier masterpieces, and from the first two Wayans directed Scary Movies. “We went where the laughs were. We never thought that we were offending anyone, but if we were offending people we knew we were on the right track. As time went on, it got to be the ’90s and the 2000s and it did change… We never worried about any of this stuff with the ‘Naked Gun’ or ‘Scary Movie’ films.”
The director revealed to Variety that one film executive more recently scoffed at one of his unmade scripts because it includes a joke about a female character needing a breast reduction – as ridiculous as that sounds.
“My current writing partner and I wrote a parody of ‘James Bond’ and ‘Mission: Impossible,’” Zucker said. “One female executive said, ‘This joke is getting pretty risqué.’ It was a mild joke about the lead female character, because she had come up through the police department and FBI, she said she needed a breast reduction to fit into the kevlar vest.”
“It was pure oatmeal, so mild,” Zucker said of the joke. “Not one of our funniest things but this was too much. I thought, ‘If this was the criteria for it, we’re in big trouble.’ They’re destroying comedy because of nine percent of the people who don’t have a sense of humor.”
Zucker concluded, “When we do screenings of ‘Airplane!’ we get the question if we could do ‘Airplane!’ today. The first thing I could think of is sure, just without the jokes.”
Zucker has not released a film since 2008’s “An American Carol,” which is a satirical comedy that parodied documentarian Michael Moore. Zucker served as a writer for 2013’s “Scary Movie 5.” – another disastrous romp that led to the fizzle of the franchise. Zucker’s next writer-directorial effort, “The Star of Malta,” is a spoof that does not yet have a release date. And with the way things in cancel culture are going, will probably never happen.
