It was 1994. Anna Nicole Smith was everywhere. You couldn't pass a newsstand without seeing those Guess? jeans ads or her Playboy cover. She was the "it" girl, the bombshell for a new generation. Naturally, Hollywood came knocking. But instead of a gritty drama or a high-fashion romance, she ended up in a movie about a retired cop who accidentally sticks his hand into a bowl of cheese dip.
That movie was Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult.
Honestly, it was a weird time for movies. This was the third and final installment of the legendary ZAZ (Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker) spoof series. Leslie Nielsen was already a comedy god by then. Adding Anna Nicole Smith to the mix was either a stroke of marketing genius or a total wild card. Looking back, it was a bit of both.
The Role You Might Have Forgotten
In the film, Anna Nicole Smith plays Tanya Peters. She’s the quintessential "femme fatale," but this is a Naked Gun movie, so nothing is played straight. Tanya is the girlfriend of the main villain, Rocco Dillon (played by Fred Ward).
She’s basically a nurse at a fertility clinic who is also helping a group of terrorists blow up the Academy Awards. Only in this franchise does that sentence make sense.
If you watch it now, her performance is... well, it’s Anna. She doesn't have a ton of lines. She mostly exists to be a visual gag or a parody of the "dangerous blonde." The camera treats her exactly how you’d expect: slow pans up her legs, lingering shots on her face. It was the peak of the "male gaze" era, and the movie leans into it hard—until the very end.
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That Infamous "Crying Game" Spoof
The climax of the film involves a massive spoof of the 1992 hit The Crying Game. If you haven't seen that movie, the big twist is that the female lead is actually a trans woman.
In Naked Gun 33 1/3, Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen) confronts Tanya in her dressing room. As she undresses, her "secret" is revealed through a shadow on the wall. It’s a joke that has aged like milk in the sun, frankly.
But here’s a fun fact most people miss: Anna Nicole actually insisted on doing the scene herself. The production had a body double ready to go for the shadow reveal. Smith reportedly told them, "My body is my career and she’s not playing me." She was 26 years old and fiercely protective of her image, even when that image was being used for a slapstick gag about genitals.
Working with Leslie Nielsen and the Whoopee Cushion
Imagine being a young model on your first major film set. You're nervous. You're surrounded by comedy legends. And then Leslie Nielsen walks up to you.
Did he give her acting tips? No. He sat on a whoopee cushion.
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Nielsen was famous for carrying a small, hand-controlled flatulence machine everywhere. He used it on Anna Nicole immediately to break the ice. She later said in interviews that it worked. It "loosened her up" because she realized the set wasn't this serious, intimidating place. It was a playground.
The production wasn't all laughs, though. They shot between August and November of 1993 around Los Angeles. Anna wasn't the first choice for the role of Tanya, either. Believe it or not, the producers originally offered the part to Pamela Anderson. Anderson turned it down because of scheduling conflicts with Baywatch.
Can you imagine the "What If" scenario there? If Pam had taken it, Anna Nicole might have stayed a model much longer.
Why the Movie is Eerie to Watch Now
There is a weird, dark cloud over this film that has nothing to do with Anna Nicole Smith. This was O.J. Simpson’s final feature film before his arrest for the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.
In fact, the movie was still in some theaters when the infamous "White Bronco" chase happened in June 1994.
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Watching the film now, you see Anna Nicole—who would eventually meet her own tragic end in 2007—sharing scenes with Leslie Nielsen (now gone) and O.J. Simpson. It’s a time capsule of 90s pop culture that feels a little heavy, despite the fart jokes.
Was She Actually Good?
Critics weren't exactly kind. The movie holds a 54% on Rotten Tomatoes. Roger Ebert actually liked it, giving it three stars, but he didn't spend much time talking about Anna's acting.
Most reviews called her "impressive" or "breathtaking," which were just polite 1994 ways of saying she looked great in a dress. But honestly? She had decent comedic timing. She knew how to play the "straight man" to Nielsen’s lunacy.
She wasn't trying to be Meryl Streep. She was trying to be Anna Nicole Smith, and in that regard, she nailed it.
Actionable Takeaways for Movie Buffs
If you’re going back to revisit Anna Nicole Smith in Naked Gun, keep these things in mind to actually appreciate what you’re seeing:
- Watch the background: The ZAZ style of comedy means there are jokes happening in the background of almost every shot involving Anna.
- The Untouchables Parody: The opening train station scene is widely considered the best part of the movie. It has nothing to do with Anna, but it’s a masterclass in spoof.
- The Shadow Scene: Pay attention to the lighting. Smith mentioned they did countless reshoots just to get the shadow "perfect" for that Crying Game parody.
- Check the cameos: The Academy Awards sequence features a ton of 90s C-list celebrities like Mary Lou Retton and Florence Henderson. It’s a "who’s who" of people your parents probably remember.
At the end of the day, Naked Gun 33 1/3 didn't make Anna Nicole Smith a "serious" actress, but it solidified her as a cultural icon. She was game for the jokes, she stood her ground on set, and she held her own next to a comedy giant.
To get the most out of your rewatch, try to find the "Director’s Cut" or behind-the-scenes features on the older DVD releases. They offer a much clearer picture of how she navigated the transition from the runway to the big screen during one of the most chaotic years of her life.