Director Akiva Schaffer, 47, has revealed that he “threatened to quit” the “Naked Gun” reboot to save a scene that the movie’s other writers wanted to cut. Akiva Schaffer speaks onstage during the “Chip ‘N Dale: Rescue Rangers” premiere at El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California, on May 18, 2022. Getty Images for Disney

There’s probably nobody better to direct and write a movie like The Naked Gun reboot than Akiva Schaffer. He has a resume full of brilliant, dumb, joke-a-minute work. Together with Andy Samberg and Jorma Taccone he is a member of the comedy trio The Lonely Island.

The filmmaker tells IndieWire all about that brilliant and bonkers snowman, how he almost returned for more fun at the film's end, and why most reboots suffer from being "fan fiction" of the original.