A new trailer for the Naked Gun reboot has featured a cameo from a top athlete that is so brief many fans have missed it.
The revived spoof-comedy franchise will see Liam Neeson play Frank Drebin Jr, the son of the lead character from the first three films and Police Squad TV show, played by Leslie Nielsen.
The new film stars Pamela Anderson, Kevin Durand and Paul Walter Hauser as well as cameos from rapper Busta Rhymes and former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping – but it also features a very brief cameo from WWE superstar Cody Rhodes.
The 39-year-old wrestler, who recently lost the WWE championship to John Cena at WrestleMania 41 in April, appears as a bartender who gets into a fight with Drebin.
In the Naked Gun’s typical slapstick style, Rhodes appears, after having his face slammed into the bar, with a cartoonishly flattened nosed and thickened eyebrow.
Although Rhodes is in disguise, some eagle-eyed fans picked up on the cameo. “I spy Cody Rhodes,” said one observant viewer.
“I’m definitely watching Naked Gun when it comes out just cause Cody Rhodes is in it,” wrote a second fan.
“Omg, at 1:22. That's Cody Rhodes,” exclaimed a third person.
Rhodes confirmed his role in the film in April. He said that, as a big Star Wars fan, he was excited to star alongside Neeson.
Speaking to the Pardon My Take podcast Rhodes said: “Yeah, I have a little cameo. I feel a little weird because they keep promoting me – You know what, I’m happy they’re promoting me, it’s pretty cool. I got to do a scene with Liam Neeson. There’s so many different things you can say, Liam Neeson this movie, Liam Neeson that movie, I’m a diehard Star Wars fan so this is Qui-Gon Jinn, this is Liam Neeson.
“He was the coolest guy. The way he was doing every scene, he’d take it a little differently. It was cool to chop up with him and learn from him in that moment, it was very fun.”
The Lonely Island alum Akiva Schaffer is set to direct the film, which is set for release on 18 July 2025. The script is by Dan Gregor, Doug Man and Schaffer, who collaborated on 2022’s popular Emmy-winning Chip ‘N Dale: Rescue Rangers.
The original film was written and directed by Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and David Zucker, and based on their television series Police Squad!. The show parodied the genre of police procedurals that were popular in the day. The original Naked Gun trilogy was hugely successful, making over $216m at the box office.
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