David Samuel Zucker (born October 16, 1947) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Associated mostly with parody comedies, Zucker is recognized for collaborating with Jim Abrahams and his brother Jerry as part of Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker, with whom he wrote and directed the 1980 film Airplane! and created The Naked Gun franchise. As a solo filmmaker, Zucker has also directed Scary Movie 3 (2003) and Scary Movie 4 (2006).
David Zucker | |
|---|---|
 Zucker in 2016 | |
| Born | David Samuel Zucker October 16, 1947 Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Film director, film producer, screenwriter |
| Years active | 1976–present |
| Spouse |
Danielle Ardolino
(m. 1997; div. 2019) |
| Children | 2 |
| Family | Jerry Zucker (brother) |
Career
editZucker's movies include The Kentucky Fried Movie in 1977, Ruthless People in 1986, The Naked Gun in 1988, The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear in 1991, BASEketball in 1998, Scary Movie 3 in 2003, and its sequel Scary Movie 4 in 2006. Of 18 works with which he is associated, Phone Booth, which he produced in 2002 is the only non-comedic film.
He co-directed several films including Airplane! in 1980 and Top Secret! in 1984; along with his brother, Jerry, and Jim Abrahams, the trio make up the ZAZ team of directors. He has worked with Pat Proft (with whom he first teamed up on the Naked Gun show Police Squad!) and Craig Mazin (writer of three of the five Scary Movies). In 1987, both David and Jerry Zucker through Zucker Brothers Productions signed an agreement with Paramount Pictures for a two-year non-exclusive production agreement and development deal with the studio, and the brothers had anticipated on making four comedies for Paramount Pictures during the life of the pact. The first film was a feature film version of the early 1980s television show Police Squad!, which was originally cancelled after six episodes on the air.[1]
ZAZ and Proft helped develop the parody genre of films, in which jokes are spit out with rapid-fire, using puns, physical humor, wit, and double entendres. Some of the veteran actors of ZAZ's vision of parody include Leslie Nielsen, Lloyd Bridges, Charlie Sheen, Julie Hagerty, and Anna Faris (Faris starred in four of the Scary Movie series).
Looking back on his career in 2009, Leslie Nielsen said the best film he appeared in was The Naked Gun, and that David was his favorite director to work with. Nielsen said of him, "He came to me one time and said, 'Leslie, I'll never make you do anything that is not funny.' ... he kept his word."[2] Most consider his greatest work to be Airplane!, which has brought on many accolades (including preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress).
In his movies, his mother, Charlotte was often cast in a small bit part (like the lady trying to put on make-up in Airplane! and Vincent Ludwig's secretary, Dominique, in The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!).
David Zucker is an aficionado of Davy Crockett and collects memorabilia. He has said that his dream project is to make a biographical film, which he has spent time developing.[3][4] During the 1990s he regularly hosted a Davy Crockett Rifle Frolic at his ranch in Ojai, California.[5][4] Zucker wrote 11 updated verses to the song "The Ballad of Davy Crockett", which he claimed in 1992 that he had worked harder on those than on any of his scripts.[5] He made a cameo appearance in The Naked Gun 2½ dressed as Crockett.[3]
Zucker began to focus more on politics starting in 2004 when he began working on political ads for the Republican Party.[6] In 2008, he made the political parody movie An American Carol.[7] In 2015, he made a video he called Side Effects attacking President Barack Obama for the Iran nuclear deal in the form of a parody prescription drug ad.[8] In 2017, Zucker said that he was working on a script for a fourth Naked Gun film with Pat Proft. In 2018 he made a cameo appearance on the hidden camera TV series Impractical Jokers, where he was on FaceTime with cast member James Murray in a sketch trying to make the other person laugh.[9]
In 2021, Zucker announced his return to filmmaking with a new spoof film titled The Star of Malta.[10]
Personal life
editZucker was born to a Jewish family[11] in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the son of Charlotte Zucker and Burton C. Zucker, who was a real estate developer.[12][13] He graduated from Shorewood High School.[14] In 1997, David married Danielle Zucker, with whom he has two children, Charles and Sarah.[15] He and Danielle were divorced in 2019, although they had been separated for ten years before that.[16] His younger brother, Jerry, is his filmmaking partner. The Zucker brothers have a sister, Susan Breslau. When asked in a September 2014 interview by the BBC if he believes in God, David replied:
Oh yeah, I believe in God. I think there's much more evidence that there is a God than that there isn't. I don't believe that Mother Teresa and Hitler go to the same place. I believe in justice, maybe not in this life, but there has to be justice. And if there isn't a God, I think it would be very depressing. I'd prefer to believe there is.[17]
Environmentalism
editDavid Zucker has been an active supporter of TreePeople since 1988 and is now the longest continuously serving board member (1990) in the organization's history.[18]
He has been an advocate of solar-powered and electric cars since the '90s. "I can't complain about the smog in Los Angeles if I'm contributing to it," Zucker said to the Sun Sentinel in 1990.[19]
Recurring cast members
editAmong all of his directed and/or produced parody films, Zucker had frequently cast the late Leslie Nielsen.
Filmography
editFilms
edit| Year | Title | Functioned as | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Director | Writer | Producer | |||
| 1977 | The Kentucky Fried Movie | No | Yes | No | with Jim Abrahams & Jerry Zucker |
| 1980 | Airplane! | Yes | Yes | Executive | |
| 1984 | Top Secret! | Yes | Yes | Executive | |
| 1986 | Ruthless People | Yes | No | No | |
| 1988 | The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! | Yes | Yes | Executive | |
| 1991 | The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear | Yes | Yes | No | |
| 1992 | Brain Donors | No | No | Executive | |
| 1993 | For Goodness Sake | Yes | Yes | Yes | Short film |
| 1994 | Naked Gun 33+1⁄3: The Final Insult | No | Yes | Yes | |
| 1995 | A Walk in the Clouds | No | No | Yes | |
| 1996 | High School High | No | Yes | Yes | |
| For Goodness Sake II | No | No | Executive | Short film | |
| 1998 | BASEketball | Yes | Yes | Yes | Also executive music producer |
| 2002 | Phone Booth | No | No | Yes | |
| 2003 | My Boss's Daughter | Yes | No | No | Also wrote early draft screenplay |
| Scary Movie 3 | Yes | No | No | ||
| 2006 | Scary Movie 4 | Yes | No | No | |
| 2008 | An American Carol | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| The Onion Movie | No | No | Yes | ||
| Superhero Movie | No | No | Yes | ||
| 2013 | Scary Movie 5 | No | Yes | Yes | Also directed additional scenes |
| TBA | The Star of Malta[20] | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
Acting roles
edit| Year | Title | Role | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | The Kentucky Fried Movie | Man / Technician #2 / Grunwald | |
| 1980 | Airplane! | Ground Crewman #2 | |
| 1984 | Top Secret! | German Soldier in Prop Room | |
| 1991 | The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear | Davy Crockett | |
| 1994 | Naked Gun 33+1⁄3: The Final Insult | Teleprompter Guy | |
| 1995 | Your Studio and You | Himself | Short film |
| 1998 | BASEketball | Man with Shooting Hot Dog | |
| 2006 | Scary Movie 4 | Zoltar | Voice role |
| 2013 | Scary Movie 5 | Packer Fan |
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | MOSSAD! | Creative consultant |
Television
editTV series
edit| Year | Title | Functioned as | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Creator | Producer | Writer | |||
| 1976 | Big John, Little John | No | No | Yes | writer of episode "Abracadabra" with Jim Abrahams & Jerry Zucker |
| 1982 | Police Squad! | Yes | Executive | Yes | director and writer of episode "A Substantial Gift (The Broken Promise)" with Jim Abrahams & Jerry Zucker |
Other work
edit| Year | Title | Functioned as | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Director | Writer | Producer | |||
| 1987 | Our Planet Tonight | No | No | Executive | TV movie |
| 2000 | H.U.D. | Yes | Yes | Executive | Unaired TV series pilot |
| Absolutely True | No | No | Executive | ||
| 2019 | Late Night Berlin | No | No | Creative | Episode "Folge 42" |
Acting roles
edit| Year | Title | Role | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson | Performer | Part as Kentucky Fried Theater in one episode |
| 1974 | The Midnight Special | ||
| 2018 | Impractical Jokers | Himself | Episode: "Out of Left Field" |
| 2020 | Impractical Jokers: Dinner Party | Episode: "The Soup's On Episode" |
Songwriter
edit- "Spend This Night With Me" (performed by Val Kilmer in Top Secret!, 1984)
- "I Guess I'm Just Screwed" (performed by Colleen Fitzpatrick in The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear, 1991)
- "It's Your Birthday" (performed by more actors in High School High, 1996)
References
edit- ^ "Zucker Bros. Sign A 2-Year Par Pact". Variety. October 7, 1987. pp. 4, 119.
- ^ McEvoy, Colin (March 28, 2009). "Leslie Nielsen here? Surely you jest! MOVIE STAR SITS DOWN with students to kick off DeSales festival. And don't call him Shirley". The Express-Times. p. A1.
- ^ a b Marx, Andy (November 17, 1991). "You Mean Leslie Nielsen Won't Play Davy Crockett?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
- ^ a b Holley, Joe (April 28, 2017). "Lighter side of Davy Crockett a serious pursuit to movie producer". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
- ^ a b Marx, Andy (December 3, 1992). "Dressing up, getting down at Davy Crockett Rifle Frolic". Daily Variety. p. 19.
- ^ Ballon, Marc (October 5, 2006). "Comedy director David Zucker goes to GOP? You can't be serious!". Jewish Journal. Retrieved September 1, 2017.
- ^ Corliss, Richard (December 22, 2008). "Top 10 Worst Christmas Movies". Time – via entertainment.time.com.
- ^ "Airplane! Director's Attempt to Satirize Iran Deal Is Laughably Bad". www.mediaite.com. September 15, 2015.
- ^ Skubish, Jake (March 30, 2017). "Director David Zucker talks "Airplane!", comedy, getting his start on campus". Daily Cardinal. Retrieved June 12, 2017.
- ^ Kit, Borys (November 11, 2021). "'Naked Gun' Co-Creator David Zucker to Spoof Noir Movies With 'Star of Malta' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
- ^ Desser, David; Friedman, Lester D. (2004). American Jewish Filmmakers. University of Illinois Press. p. 166. ISBN 9780252071539.
- ^ "David Zucker Biography (1947-)". www.filmreference.com.
- ^ "Charlotte A. Zucker's Obituary on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
- ^ "25 years and still laughing: 'Airplane!' maintains its cruising altitude with a non-stop zany attitude" Archived April 30, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, June 11, 2005. Accessed September 17, 2007. "The event is in honor of the volunteer service and philanthropy of Louise Abrahams Yaffe and her son Jim Abrahams, who wrote and directed "Airplane!" with fellow Shorewood High School and University of Wisconsin–Madison graduates David and Jerry Zucker."
- ^ Stein, Jeannine (August 27, 1997). "Home Weddings Add a Touch of the Heart". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ "Director David Zucker's divorce petition at risk of dismissal". hollywood.com. March 26, 2019.
- ^ Hennigan, Adam. "Calling the Shots: No.11: David Zucker". BBC. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
- ^ "Board of Directors". treepeople.org. Archived from the original on April 9, 2020. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
- ^ "INTEREST IN ELECTRIC CARS SURGES SPIRALING GAS PRICES, AIR POLLUTION SPARK PRODUCTION, PROTOTYPES". sunsentinel.com. October 7, 1990. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
- ^ "'Naked Gun' Creator David Zucker to Spoof Noir Movies Next With 'The Star of Malta'". Collider. November 12, 2021. Retrieved November 24, 2021.
External links
edit- David Zucker at IMDb
- David Zucker at Discogs
- GreenCine interview
- Jewish Journal interview Archived July 13, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
- Weekly Standard interview