Pamela Anderson had “a lot of fun” on Is There a Cop…? with Liam Neeson

How was the actress able to “keep a straight face” surrounded by SNL comedians? She confides in Seth Meyers.

What if Pamela Anderson was the surprise of the next Oscars? The star ofBaywatch received excellent reviews for her role as an aging dancer in Las Vegas in The Last Showgirl by Gia Coppola. After this dramatic performance, she will return to comedy by sharing the spotlight with Liam Neeson reboot of the franchise from the 1980s and 1990s Is there a cop… ? by Paramount. This new The Naked Gun is directed by Akiva Schaffer (Hot Rod, Neighbors of the Third Kind, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping And Tic et Tac, the risk rangers) and produced by Seth MacFarlane (Ted). The experience was obviously as funny as it was complicated for the actress, who explains that she had a hard time maintaining her seriousness during the takes.

Because with ZAZ humor, for it to work, you have to participate without bursting out laughing in the most absurd situations. What is “very funny, recognizes Pamela Anderson during a recent Late Night hosted by Seth Meyers. I mean it's so different from The Last Showgirl. It's a real comedy. I'm literally hitting walls, which is what I've always wanted to do in cinema. And Liam is such a gentleman. It's a love. We had a really good connection. And Akiva is a wonderful director. But what's the difference going from an independent film to a Naked Gun from Paramount!”

By accepting this project, Neeson also admitted to having “laughed heartily” upon reading the script, while promising not to copy and paste Leslie Nielsen's performance:

“When Seth MacFarlane approached me to talk about The Naked Gun -this was two years ago already- I said to myself: 'Yeah, I think I could play that, as long as I do it terribly seriously and don't try to imitate Mr. Leslie Nielsen.' This actor was wonderful. Akiva Schaffer is going to direct the new movie, he's a guy from the SNL world. I can't wait to get started, we have a good script, there are several moments where we laugh heartily.”

If she does not spoil any particular jokes, the actress specifies that the team was able, at the director's request, to try lots of things, multiplying takes by changing lines. A common practice on sitcoms and variety shows like Saturday Night Live, which kept Anderson in suspense throughout filming.

“That's when you know a movie had a good budget, laughs the host. Qhen you have time to reshoot scenes to test jokes.”

“Exactly, adds Anderson. All of Akiva's SNL friends were there and they were throwing jokes. Some were funny, others not (laughs). No, most were. Liam is really excellent in this register. You won't see it coming. That's how good he is. But for me it was so difficult. It's so hard to play it all seriously. I had to keep a stony face. On this kind of film, you know you can ruin everything (laughing)I couldn't afford it. But I had a lot of fun, it was really fun. A complete break from the drama I had just shot… I was a little afraid to shoot with Liam at first, but he was wonderful, very generous with me. It was an honor to be part of this film.”

Paul Walter Hauser, Kevin Durand, Liza Koshy, Danny Huston and Busta Rhymes are also in the cast of this new version of Is there a cop, who will be released in France in cinemas on July 16. While waiting to discover his first images, here are those of The Last Showgirl :