David Zucker (filmmaker)

David S. Zucker (born October 16, 1947) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Associated mostly with parody comedies, Zucker is mostly recognized as the director and writer of the critically successful 1980 film Airplane! as well as being the creator of the The Naked Gun franchise.

Personal life

Zucker was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the son of Charlotte A. (Lefstein) and Burton C. Zucker, who was a real estate developer.^[1][2] He graduated from Shorewood High School.^[3] Zucker is married to Dr. Danielle (Ardolino) Zucker, with whom he has two children, Charles and Sarah. David was raised Jewish from both parents. David and Danielle married in May 1997.^[4] His younger brother, Jerry, is his filmmaking partner. The Zucker brothers have a sister, Susan Breslau.

Career

Zucker's movies include The Kentucky Fried Movie in 1977, 1986's Ruthless People, The Naked Gun in 1988, The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear in 1991, BASEketball in 1998, Scary Movie 3 in 2003, its sequel Scary Movie 4 in 2006. Out of 18 works he is associated with, 2002's Phone Booth, which he produced, 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 also 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).

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 Zucker 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.' And he kept his word."^[5] 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 (March 10, 1921 - September 5, 2007) was often cast in a small bit part (like the lady trying to put on make-up in Airplane!, one of the Lucille Ball impersonators in Rat Race, and Vincent Ludwig's secretary, Dominique, in The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!).

Zucker has stated that his dream project is a Davy Crockett biopic. He mentioned his enthusiasm for the Davy Crockett project during an interview in 2006 for the feature-length documentary, That Guy: The Legacy of Dub Taylor,^[6] on the life of Dub Taylor, which has received support from the Taylor Family and many of Dub's previous co-workers, including Bill Cosby, Peter Fonda, Dixie Carter, Don Collier, Cheryl Rogers-Barnett, as well as many others. The project had its World Premiere at Taylor's Childhood Hometown of Augusta, Georgia on April 14, 2007. The project is from Executive Producers Stokes and James Kicklighter from JamesWorks Entertainment and Professor Pauper Productions. Part of his interview is on YouTube.^[7]

Zucker began to focus more on politics starting in 2004 when he began working on political ads for the Republican Party.^[8] In 2008, he made the political parody movie An American Carol.^[9] In 2015, he made a video he called Side Effects attacking President Barack Obama for his Iran nuclear deal in the form of a parody prescription drug ad.^[10][11]

Recurring cast members

Among all of his directed and/or produced parody films, Zucker had frequently cast the late Leslie Nielsen.

Actor	Airplane!	Ruthless People	Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!	The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear	BASEketball	My Boss' Daughter	Scary Movie 3	Scary Movie 4	An American Carol
Anthony Anderson							N	N
Carmen Electra						N		N
Anna Faris							N	N
Regina Hall							N	N
Kevin Hart							N	N
George Kennedy			N	N
Michael Madsen						N		N
Jenny McCarthy					N		N
Edward Moss			N				N	N
Leslie Nielsen	N		N	N			N	N	N
Priscilla Presley			N	N
Bill Pullman		N						N
Simon Rex							N	N	N
Molly Shannon						N		N
Charlie Sheen							N	N
O. J. Simpson			N	N
Ed Williams			N	N

Filmography

References

External links

• David Zucker at the Internet Movie Database
• David Zucker at Discogs
• GreenCine interview
• Jewish Journal interview
• Weekly Standard interview