Yup. It did not work...
You just can’t replace Leslie Neilsen as Frank Drebin no more than replacing Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau. Some things you just leave alone.
Great analogy. Some characters are so well defined by a specific actor, trying to remake them is just a set up for failure.
He will hunt you down and release the Kraken on you!!!!!!!!!!............
Or Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes.
You can still watch the 1982 short lived 6 episode series Police Squad with Leslie Neilsen as Frank Drebin on YouTube. They’re hilarious!
I tend to agree. Nielsen created the whole Drebin character to fit his persona. Someone else trying to do it would be like someone else trying to play Jim Carey’s Ace Ventura character. Also, the guys who wrote Police Story were brilliant. I believe they also wrote the movie Airplane. It’s very difficult to recapture lightning in a bottle.
If someone as talented as Steve Martin couldn't pull it off, no one could. Casting other actors into truly iconic characters associated with another actor should not be done.
Yup. It did not work...
You just can’t replace Leslie Neilsen as Frank Drebin no more than replacing Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau