The original 1988 Naked Gun movie had comedy, action and a climactic steamroller-based death scene. But there wasn’t a whole lot of singing. None of the characters got their musical numbers, unless, of course, you count the scene in which Frank Drebin/Enrico Pallazzo butchered the national anthem.
But the upcoming reboot, starring Liam Neeson, does reportedly include a scene in which one of the stars shows off their musical talents. And, thankfully, it isn’t Neeson.
According to Entertainment Weekly, in the new Naked Gun movie, Pamela Anderson’s femme fatale character, Beth Davenport, sings at a nightclub owned by the film’s tech billionaire villain, played by Danny Huston. But instead of performing a sultry tune as one might expect, she launches into a “crazy” jazz scat titled “Sassafras Chicken in D.”
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“I was like, ‘How am I going to remember this? It’s an absolutely nutty scat solo,’” Anderson recalled. “But I did, and I sing it all the time, just walking around the house. I can’t get it out of my head.”
The scene, which took around 12 hours to film, was nerve-racking for Anderson. “You have to have courage. You have to have courage to be an actor at all. But that’s my happy place is when I’m terrified,” the Barb Wire star told EW. “I actually really enjoy singing. I love being on stage. The feeling is so rewarding because I feel like we repress so much of ourselves. All the words to that song, I’m thinking of personal experiences in my life, and so I’m able to get it out even in a crazy scene like that. So it’s not just spitting out the words, it’s performing some of your innermost thoughts.”
And at least some of the scat’s lyrics have a distinctly personal connection to Anderson. The extended version of the song, written by frequent Seth Macfarlane collaborators Elizabeth Gillies and John McNeely, includes a meta-ference to Anderson’s life in the form of lyrics to “Bawitdaba,” a song by Anderson’s ex-husband, Kid Rock.
That’s right Priscilla Presley isn’t the only Naked Gun actress who was once married to a celebrity famous for music. Although, to be honest, “music” feels like the wrong word.
Anderson and Kid Rock famously divorced after just four months of marriage thanks, in large part, to a screening of Borat. Hopefully just using some of his lyrics in the Naked Gun scat won’t entitle Rock to any big royalty checks.
EW also noted that the song originally featured an “iconic theme song” from a famous video game, but the video game company wouldn’t approve its use — meaning that we may have been robbed of the chance to see Pamela Anderson scat the Super Mario Bros. theme or, perhaps, scream “Mortal Kombat!” at the top of her lungs.
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