Jim Abrahams, director of Hot Shots and Is There a Pilot in a Plane, has died

American director, screenwriter and producer Jim Abrahams, the king of comedy and parody with his sidekicks “ZAZ”, died this Tuesday at the age of 80. His son Joseph said about it. The Hollywood Reporter. Along with his sidekicks David and Jerry Zucker, Abrahams was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Writing for a Police Series for Police Squad.

• Everything you need to know about ZAZ

Author of the book “Is there a pilot in the plane?”

Born in Wisconsin in 1944, Jim Abrahams began his career writing the uncredited sketch film Hamburger Movie Sandwich (1977) with his brothers David Zucker and Jerry Zucker, directed by John Landis. They started the film and soon they signed their first “solo” film (as a trio): Is there a pilot in the plane? (1980), which was a huge success.

Their absurdist humor, sense of parody and craziness captivated audiences, and they quickly found a place in American comedy, which at the time was rarely parodied.

They went on to put Leslie Nielsen at the helm of the series’ police squad! (1982) followed by the feature film The Secret (1984), a parody of the spy films, and Is Somebody Going to Kill My Wife? in 1986, which they directed but did not write.

Solo career “Hot Shots!”

But Jim Abrahams dreams of following his path. If he’s still involved in writing the ZAZ movies, now only David Zucker directs them (Is It A Cop To Save The Queen? Is It A Cop To Save The President?), and Abrahams goes it alone with When the Twins Get Tangled (1988), Roxy (1990) And above all, in his favorite register, Hot Shots!, a parody. The Stuff of Heroes, then Hot Shots! 2, a parody of war movies and 80s cinema in general.

After a TV movie with Meryl Streep (At the Risk of Losing You), he signed his last film, The Prince of Sicily (1998), a parody of The Godfather, with the slogan on the poster: “Finally a good movie”Signed by Don Corleone. He only returned to writing the horror film 4 in 2006, directed by his collaborator David Zucker.

Producing most of his films, he also co-produced Cry-Baby with a very young Johnny Depp.

Note that a remake of Was There a Cop to Save the Queen has been announced for next year, with Liam Neeson.