Paramount's Baywatch reboot is heating up. With Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson splashing around and waiting to everyone else to come play since last year, Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses) found himself diving in to direct last month and now they're got another companion to join them in the blue waters: Zac Efron.
THR reported on Efron joining the revamped property, permeating himself within the raunchy comedy genre once again. This is something he began with last year's That Awkward Moment and Neighbors and continues extenuating with Dirty Grandpa, Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising and Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates next year. He's in talks to play a hot-headed young lifeguard whom our serious lifeguard lead (Johnson) must team up with in order to save their beach from the environmental destruction of a nearby oil tycoon. Clearly borrowing a lot of 21 and 22 Jump Street, Gordon's comedy hopes to take advantage of playing with fans' nostalgia while presenting a tongue-in-cheek parody of the corny property.
Filming is planned for early 2016, likely beginning in February. The latest draft of the screenplay comes from Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, horror writers-turned-comedy pens behind upcoming films like the Bad Santa-esque, Peter Dinklage-starring leprechaun comedy O' Lucky Day and Disney's Aladdin prequel Genies. In the process of putting attempting to put this together these past 11 years, other writers like Robert Ben Grant (Reno 911) and Justin Malen also provided their talents to the comedy. Shannon and Swift were the first, however, to put it through pre-production.
Additionally, Johnson's Seven Bucks Productions are behind this new movie, just as partners Dany Garcia and Hiram Garcia back a number of the wrestler's recent (Ballers) and upcoming projects, including a Big Trouble in Little China remake and Rampage, based on the '80s video game and set to reunite the star with his San Andreas director Brad Peyton. Ivan Reitman and Beau Flynn also produce the new movie, the latter behind the aforementioned Peyton films as well as other recent Rock features, including Journey 2: The Mysterious Island and Hercules.
With Efron just recently finishing up filming on Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, the star continues fine-tuning his comedy skills with the Neighbors sequel's upcoming production, soon to begin in Atlanta, before his latest commitment at the beginning of the next year. He also stars in We Are Your Friends on the 28th.
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