Time and dwindling cable reruns have turned Baywatch into hazy memories of a cheesy show from the early '90s where David Hasselhoff (who, by the way, officially changed his name to just David Hoff) stood around with a bronzed chest, staring into the ocean while Pamela Anderson jogged on the beach in slow motion and various other super-attractive people in swimsuits stood around in gyms and beach huts dancing around the subject of how super attracted everyone was to each other. Oh, and occasionally they saved some kid from drowning.
Or maybe those memories aren't so hazy and that's pretty much exactly what Baywatch was like week in and week out for all 12 years (!) of its run. Either way, you can count on the movie having a bit more of a focused plot to it. Don't expect it to abandon all of the show's staples, though. It's at least going to keep the super-attractive lifeguards part, as they've just cast Alexandra Daddario (San Andreas, True Detective) as the lead female lifeguard opposite the ridiculously muscled duo of Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron.
The cast should give away that they're going a bit more comedic this time around. Johnson will play the leader of a hard-core team of lifeguards, including Daddario and Efron, who apparently go above and beyond to save a beach from the threat of an oil tycoon. That probably sounds super goofy, but so does the plot of the 21 Jump Street reboot, and that turned out just fine. Plus, the Rock has already called it "edgy, raunchy and hopefully funny as all hell," so we're weirdly optimistic about this whole thing.
Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses, Identity Thief) is directing, with a script most recently rewritten by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift (Friday the 13th). It currently does not have a release date, but should start filming in 2016, so expect even more casting in the coming weeks.
And just for old time's sake...
