Paramount has been struggling to turn the ’90s TV series Baywatch into a movie since 2004, and the project has finally found solid ground tonight with word that Horrible Bosses director Seth Gordon is in negotiations to helm.
Dwayne Johnson is attached to topline the pic, which will update the beloved show for modern times. David Hasselhoff, Pam Anderson, Yasmin Bleeth, Carmen Electra and David Chokach were among those who starred in the slo-mo-happy series, which always had a light and silly vibe.
The movie take is said to find Johnson playing a by-the-book lifeguard who is forced to team up with a young, carefree daredevil in order to save their beach from an oil tycoon primed to destroy the environment.
Nailing the tone for a Baywatch movie has proven exceptionally difficult for Paramount, which has sent over a dozen writers packing over the years. Now, though, the studio and producer Beau Flynn (a frequent collaborator of Johnson’s) believe that they’ve finally got it right. Word has it that the project is emulating the 21 Jump Street movies, hoping to marry reverence for the original with an action-comedy bent and lots of silly humor.
Gordon has proven himself a highly capable comedy helmer who can handle high-octane thrills. In addition to helming Horrible Bosses and documentary The King of Kong, he’s also behind Melissa McCarthy-Jason Bateman comedy Identity Thief. A bigger studio production like Baywatch feels like a natural progression.
Paramount is hoping to get Gordon on board and well-versed in the story so that production on Baywatch can get rolling early in 2016, keeping it on track to accommodate The Rock’s busy schedule.
