Dwayne Johnson and director Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses) got a new buddy diving into their raunchy, R-rated Baywatch reboot. Zac Efron has agreed to take his shirt off repetitively and play second-fiddle to his straight-man co-star The Rock in Paramount‘s latest attempt to capitalize on nostalgia, adapted from the 1989 beach soap opera television series.
The movie follows a by-the-books supervisor (Johnson) teaming up with his young, hot-heated co-worker (Efron) as they try to save their beach from a nearby oil tycoon, dead-set to wreck havoc on their workspace for financial gain. It’s an intentionally overused plot made to become ironic in the vein of recent hits 21 and 22 Jump Street and with just a touch of The Brady Bunch Movie for extra seasoning. The Rock has been attached since Uncharted adaptation failed to come together the project is finally heating up and, with the cast now coming together, production is expected to begin this February.
Damian Shannon and Mark Swift‘s screenplay is the first to go through pre-production since Paramount’s first tried bringing this revitalized re-imagining to the screen guaranteed success, that’s not stopping the company from moving forward and, knowing full well how much people like these two leads, it’s very possible for this one to become a financial success. Mimicking the exact action/comedy beats of another movie isn’t necessarily encouraging, though.
In addition to starring, Johnson also brings his Seven Bucks Productions into the upcoming comedy as well, just as he did for HBO‘s “Ballers” and continues to do for his upcoming Rampage. Beau Flynn, the producer behind the two aforementioned Peyton movies as well as previous Rock features Journey 2: The Mysterious Island and Hercules, also shepherds this Baywatch alongside Ivan Reitman.
With That Awkward Moment and Neighbors last year, Efron found a mini career reawakening in the raunchy comedy genre. With Dirty Grandpa, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising and now this, it appears the actor wants to keep a good thing going for as long as he can. I mean, it’s not as though the charismatic and handsome Efron needs too much help getting attention but, when it comes between picking projects like these or We Are Your Friends later this month, I’d rather he go into the yuk department personally. Although his new one could be a hoot, if for all the wrong reasons. [THR]
