Atlanta actor Wilbur Fitzgerald is by no means a household name, but odds are good you’ve seen him in a TV show or movie over the past four decades, possibly as a judge.
In fact, he’s cast as a judge so often (e.g. “Dallas,” “NCIS: New Orleans,” “Baby Driver”), he has a special demo reel focused on that role alone.
But Fitzgerald has a soft spot for comedy and decided to audition for a minor role in the “Naked Gun” reboot starring Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson, out in theaters Friday. The movie was filmed in metro Atlanta last year out of Electric Owl Studios.
What happened next has never happened to Fitzgerald before over his long career: “Naked Gun” producers were so taken by his comedic chops, they created a role just for him.
“I think they saw my personal sense of humor,” Fitzgerald told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I do stuff more or less dry. They recognized that fit the tone of the movie.”
Fitzgerald plays commentator Dan Daly, a long retired MMA fighter who is “totally out of it.”
“He’s been hit a few too many times so he is constantly saying inappropriate things,” Fitzgerald said. “My character’s nickname is The Bloody Widowmaker because he killed four opponents in the ring.”
Credit: RODNEY HO/AJC
Credit: RODNEY HO/AJC
Fitzgerald’s character sat next to actual mixed martial art commentators Michael Bisping and Jon Anik while shooting at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.
“I’ve never had that much fun or been given that much freedom to do things and come up with my own stuff,” he said.
Fitzgerald impressed the producers so much, they flew him to Los Angeles after the film wrapped to beef up his scene and read even more wackadoodle lines.
“They really raunched it up,” he said, as his character describes Det. Frank Drebin Jr.’s privates in absurd fashion to a TV audience after Drebin rips his pants.
That “The Naked Gun” is entering movie theaters at all is unusual since this genre has been largely going straight to streaming in recent years. Examples include the recently released Adam Sandler sequel “Happy Gilmore 2″ on Netflix and Eddie Murphy’s 2021 release “Coming 2 America” on Amazon. (Paramount even had Neeson create a mock PSA on the subject.)
“Maybe this will help turn the tide,” Fitzgerald said. “I think the movie is going to be a big relief for people, to just go into a theater and laugh with an audience with no distractions. It’s definitely the same ridiculous silly tone, very dry. And Liam and Pam have great chemistry.” (People magazine reported Tuesday that they are dating.)
Before its release, critics are giving the mid-budget film (with a budget of $42 million, according to Variety) huzzahs. Rotten Tomatoes, which compiles reviews, has “The Naked Gun” at an encouraging 90% positive rating from 99 critics.
Credit: COURTESY
Credit: COURTESY
Fitzgerald, a 76-year-old Atlanta native, was inspired to get into acting and law by the 1960s NBC show “Run For Your Life,” where Ben Gazzara played a terminally ill lawyer. For years, he was both a practicing lawyer and actor in Atlanta in TV and radio commercials and industrial training movies.
In the mid-1980s, he quit law to focus on acting, landing roles in movies and TV shows such as “In the Heat of the Night,” “Robocop 3″ and “Matlock.” For 10 years, he split time between Atlanta and New York but decided to return to Atlanta full-time in 2007.
The timing was good. He joined a tight coterie of Atlanta entertainers who successfully lobbied the Georgia legislature to pass the 2008 tax credit system that helped turn the state for a time into one of the most coveted places for producers to shoot films and TV shows.
In the 1970s, Fitzgerald had been general counsel for the Georgia Municipal Association. “That’s where I learned to write legislation and lobby,” he said. “When I started working on the tax incentives, those particular skills and experience kicked back in.”
He has been chagrined to see the business slow down the past two years in Georgia but has no easy answer to solve the state’s struggle to compete with other locales, especially Europe.
“I think our politics have dampened some of the enthusiasm for shooting in Georgia,” Fitzgerald said.
Ric Reitz, a longtime friend and fellow actor who helped shape the 2008 film tax credit, said Fitzgerald earned this break on “The Naked Gun.”
“Lightning can strike at any time in this business,” Reitz said. “But it strikes more often and with more power when you’re prepared, you’re confident and you have a body of work that pulls the electricity toward you. That is what happened to Wilbur.”
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Before “The Naked Gun,” Fitzgerald had only dabbled in comedy a few times including a small role as an opthalmologist in “Anchorman 2,” which was shot in metro Atlanta more than a decade ago.
“This will hopefully burnish my reputation doing comedy,” he said.
Paramount flew Fitzgerald to the frenetic New York City screening of “The Naked Gun” Monday. On the red carpet, the media crush was so heavy around big stars like Neeson and Anderson, he was unable to get close to them. But he was able to hype the movie to journalists from Rolling Stone, Variety and “Entertainment Tonight.”
Credit: COURTESY
Credit: COURTESY
His friend, Atlanta actor Steve Coulter, said Fitzgerald has consistently found work over the years for a reason.
“He has a very young spirit,” Coulter said. “He has always carried himself like he really enjoys life. He’s always excited about something. In this business, you take your punches and keep getting back up. He takes his work seriously but not himself seriously.”
Fitzgerald has no plans to retire any time soon.
“I’m fortunate,” he said. “I still love what I do. I go at it as hard as I can.”
If you go
“The Naked Gun,” in theaters Aug. 1
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