A look inside Hollywood and the movies. : CROSS DRESSING : Well, It’s a Good Thing for Leslie That the No. 1 Movie Isn’t ‘101 Dalmatians’

The Terminator may be virtually indestructible but thanks to the creators behind “Naked Gun 2 1/2,” he isn’t spoof-proof. In a trailer that appeared Wednesday, the intrepid and insipid Lt. Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen) sheds the romantic image of earlier “Naked Gun” spots in which he and co-star Priscilla Presley made an erotic mess over a pottery wheel in parodying “Ghost.”

In one of the new trailers, the camera pans up a motorcycle boot to a rough character astride a Harley-Davidson motorcycle cradling a sawed-off shotgun. The announcer declares, “Same make, same model, better hair.” Nielsen whips off his sunglasses to reveal his techno-red eyes and declares, “Trust me.” Cut to a logo reminiscent of the “T2” logo. This one, however, reads “2 1/2” Cut back to Nielsen who warns, “Hasta la vista, baby.”

According to producer Bob Weiss, the idea originated with associate producer Bob Locash, when they were sitting around chewing the fat with writer-director David Zucker. That was July 11, a Thursday. “By Friday, we had planned it all out and managed to locate a motorcycle, a studio, a hairdresser, some props and, luckily, found that Leslie had some free time on Saturday.”

The three spots were shot in a single day, with the trio writing the script as they went along. By Monday, they were huddled in the editing room and managed to finish all three at the stroke of midnight. The spots certainly won’t hurt “2 1/2”--after three weeks in release the police parody has grossed nearly $58 million. Weiss is certain that the public’s response to their “Terminator” parody will give their own film “a good goose.”

A spokesman for Tri-Star Pictures, distributor of “Terminator 2,” said, “We’re flattered by the imitation. Audiences, of course, should accept no substitutes.”

And how did Nielsen feel about being co-opted into yet another parody? “He loves it,” says Weiss. “And besides, I think his hair looks better this way.”