October 2025

"The Look Is Part of the Joke": Shooting The Naked Gun

MacGruber is a special movie to me. I credit that film — executive produced by The Naked Gun director Akiva Schaffer — with starting my career in shooting comedy. We wanted it to not look any different than the 1980s Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer movies it references, and since then, I’ve made many comedies that are designed to not look like comedies. The look is part of the joke. The Naked Gun is an evolution of that style. Akiva and I very much wanted The Naked Gun to feel like an analog 1990s action movie. One of our biggest creative touchstones was the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies, shot by Robert Elswit, ASC. We also referenced many films by Tony Scott, specifically his work from the ’80s; Beverly Hills Cop II (Jeffrey L....more