NEED TO KNOW
Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson encounter several fun cameos in the new Naked Gun reboot.
As Lt. Frank Drebin Jr., Neeson, 73, brings the hilarity in a ridiculously random spoof of cop crime dramas. Anderson, 58, is along for the ride as his love interest, the femme-fatale crime novelist named Beth Davenport.
Late actor Leslie Nielsen first played Lt. Frank Drebin on the short-lived 1982 TV series Police Squad!, which led to the first of the films, The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!, in 1988. The sequels came in 1991 and 1994: The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear and Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult.
Keeping in line with the O.G. movies, The Naked Gun features several big cameos. Read on for a guide to the surprise appearances.
The Naked Gun is in theaters now. The original Naked Gun movies are currently streaming on Paramount+ and Pluto TV.
Priscilla Presley
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Priscilla Presley played bombshell Jane Spencer in the original entries, and in the new film, she reprises her role for a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo. When Lt. Frank Drebin Jr. (Neeson) has a mishap at the UFC-style event at the end of the film and his butt is put on display on live TV, the camera quickly cuts to Presley on a couch watching in shock. The star, now 80, doesn’t have any lines during the brief appearance.
Anderson recently told PEOPLE that Presley “reached out to me” about taking on the new romantic lead role: “She said, ‘Have fun with it. Don’t be afraid to be silly.’ It’s good advice.”
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Back in 2022, Presley told The London Standard she didn’t want to be involved in the new Naked Gun reboot.
“No, I won’t [be in it]. I wouldn’t do it, really, if I was asked because you don’t fix something that’s already fixed,” she said at the time. “That movie I don’t think can be rebooted in the way that Leslie Nielsen and I did it. It was just a great relationship and friendship and we got along great on the set, and that was just all fun and what a great experience.”
Dave Bautista
Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty
In a climactic scene, Dave Bautista subs in for Neeson to deliver lines as Lt. Frank Drebin Jr. in a meta gag about Neeson needing a potty break. Guardians of the Galaxy star Bautista, 56, shared the screen with Anderson in 2024’s The Last Showgirl, though they don’t interact onscreen in Naked Gun.
“Weird Al” Yankovic
Paramount/courtesy Everett Collection
Comedy music icon “Weird Al” Yankovic is a Naked Gun mainstay — he appeared in all three of the original installments. Like in the first and third films, the singer plays himself in this latest entry, as he’s hired to be the resident performer at the villain’s secret doomsday bunker for the elite.
“I’m very excited that there’s a real capital-C comedy movie coming out. I think the movie industry has been lacking in that for a while,” Yankovic, 65, told ScreenSlam on The Naked Gun red carpet. “Props to [director] Akiva Schaffer for bringing this Naked Gun reboot back into the zeitgeist.”
Busta Rhymes
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The famed rapper Busta Rhymes shows up as a bank robber who keeps a straight face as he is hilariously interrogated by Neeson’s Lt. Frank Drebin Jr.
“It says you serves 20 years for man’s laughter. Must’ve been quite the joke,” Drebin says to Rhymes’ character while reading his police file. Rhymes responds, “You mean manslaughter?”
At the New York premiere, Rhymes (born Trevor Smith) told Entertainment Tonight that the original Naked Gun movies had “been a part of raising me.” He added, “The Naked Gun franchise is just one of those impactful moments culturally that I feel was just something that was a part of a lot of our lives. It was always well put together.”
Cody Rhodes
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WWE star Cody Rhodes shares a scene with Neeson as a bartender at an exclusive lounge bar where Lt. Frank Drebin Jr. goes to investigate a suspicious death. At first not cooperative, the bartender finally gives up helpful information after Drebin slams his head into the bar several times.
“Liam Neeson’s probably a very good pro wrestler, if he ever wanted to be,” said Rhodes, 40, in a behind-the-scenes clip. “He’s as professional and gentle without looking gentle as you can possibly be. I’m very, very impressed. This is the perfect time to bring Naked Gun back. It’s just an absolute classic.”
Leslie Nielsen, O.J. Simpson and George Kennedy (sort of!)
Paramount Pictures/YouTube
Three of the late original cast members — Leslie Nielsen, O.J. Simpson and George Kennedy — are shown onscreen in the form of portraits hanging on the wall of the Police Squad’s station.
Nielsen, who played Lt. Frank Drebin, died in 2010 at age 84; Simpson, who played Nordberg, died in April 2024 at age 76; and Oscar winner Kennedy, who played Capt. Ed Hocken, died in 2016 at age 91.
In a moment shown in the trailers, the police-officer sons of the O.G. characters are shown speaking to the framed photos of their dads — and they make a nod to Simpson’s controversial history that happened after he starred in the Naked Gun movies. (Paul Walter Hauser stars as Hocken’s son, Ed Hocken Jr.)
