David Zucker
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| - | + | '''David Samuel Zucker''' (born October 16, 1947) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Associated mostly with parody comedies, Zucker is recognized as the director and writer of the critically successful 1980 film ''[[Airplane!]]'' as well as being the creator of ''[[The Naked Gun]]'' franchise and for directing ''[[Scary Movie 3]]'' and ''[[Scary Movie 4]]''. | |
| - | '''Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker''' ('''ZAZ''') is a [[Emmy Award]]-nominated and [[BAFTA Award]]-nominated [[comedy film|comedy]] [[film]]making trio consisting of [[David Zucker]], [[Jim Abrahams]] and [[Jerry Zucker (film director)|Jerry Zucker]]. The three knew one another during childhood - growing up in [[Shorewood, Wisconsin]], and attending Shorewood High School (which is sometimes referenced in their work). While attending the [[University of Wisconsin-Madison]] the trio formed a [[theater]] group called "Kentucky Fried Theater". This led to a sketch film, ''[[The Kentucky Fried Movie]]'' (1977), which was written by the group and [[film director|directed]] by [[John Landis]]. | + | |
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| - | This was followed in [[1980]] by their breakout hit, ''[[Airplane!]]'', which remains a revered comedic milestone. Other ZAZ collaborations included the [[television]] series ''[[Police Squad!]]'' ([[1982]]), the features ''[[Top Secret!]]'' and ''[[Ruthless People]]'' and the feature film spinoffs of ''Police Squad!'', [[The Naked Gun (film series)|the three ''Naked Gun'' films]]. All of these projects relied heavily on parodies, visual gags and breaking of the [[Fourth Wall]], and established a strong cult following. | + | |
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| - | Prominent ZAZ players include [[Leslie Nielsen]], [[Lloyd Bridges]], [[Robert Stack]], [[Rowan Atkinson]], [[Charlie Sheen]], and [[Anna Faris]]. | + | |
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| - | Each member of the group has also had individual success: | + | |
| - | *Jerry Zucker with the blockbuster ''[[Ghost (film)|Ghost]]'', which grossed over $500 million, and the comedy ''[[Rat Race (film)|Rat Race]]''. | + | |
| - | *David Zucker with the hits ''[[Scary Movie 3]]'' and ''[[Scary Movie 4]]'' as well as ''[[BASEketball]]''. | + | |
| - | *Jim Abrahams with hits ''[[Hot Shots!]]'' and ''[[Hot Shots! Part Deux]]'', as well as ''[[Jane Austen's Mafia!]]''. | + | |
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| - | It is possible that arranging their names "Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker" is an homage to "[[The Three Stooges|Howard, Fine, and Howard]]". A sound clip of the end of the "Three Stooges" theme music plays at the end of each of the [[Naked Gun]] films. | + | |
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| - | ==Trivia== | + | |
| - | *The parody musician [["Weird Al" Yankovic]] is a noted fan of ZAZ, especially [[Top Secret!]] for which he based some microphone gags off of in his music video "[[One More Minute]]", according to his website. Also he had a cameo appearance in all three [[Naked Gun]] movies. | + | |
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David Samuel Zucker (born October 16, 1947) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Associated mostly with parody comedies, Zucker is recognized as the director and writer of the critically successful 1980 film Airplane! as well as being the creator of The Naked Gun franchise and for directing Scary Movie 3 and Scary Movie 4.
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "David Zucker" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
