Baywatch Movie On The Way – And It’s A Comedy

With The A-Team movie firmly on its way, a recently announced new T.J Hooker movie being made, and a host of other projects making the jump from old TV show, toy, video and board games to the big-screen, why not keep going?

Well, Hollywood is doing just that as Variety is reporting that Baywatch, the ’80s TV show about buff dudes and gorgeous babes running along the beach in slow-motion, is being developed into a movie with a writer/director already pegged.

Jeremy Garelick (The Break Up) has been signed on by Paramount Pictures to re-write and direct a big-screen adaptation of Baywatch. The remake rights were bought back in 2005 and a script was written by Jay Sherick and David Ronn that was, apparently, “heavy on action.” Garelick was then sent the script to do a rewrite on it, and although admitting he’s never watched the show before (seems like an odd choice to write the movie, then), he saw an opportunity to turn the adaptation into a broad comedy. Just as an FYI, Garelick also did an uncredited rewrite with Todd Phillips of this summer’s smash comedy hit, The Hangover.

Here’s what Garelick had to say about the type of movie he’s penned for Baywatch, and how he presented his take on it to the studio:

“It felt like the template to do a movie that was similar to ‘Stripes’ and ‘Police Academy,’ the comedies I loved growing up… Rather than trying to pitch the tone, I figured it would be easier to write the first act to convey who these characters were.”

Variety is reporting that Garelick landed the Baywatch writing job pretty quickly, and that the script now focuses on, “two unlikely lifeguard candidates trying to catch on alongside the buff bodies that will be as abundant in the film as they were in the TV series.”

If you stare long enough, you can notice they're actually standing in front of a yellow truck...

The original Baywatch TV show creators are on-board to produce, something that any Baywatch purists out there (if there is such a thing) can take some comfort in. Although there most likely will be some definitive nods to the TV show, I don’t imagine this “broad comedy” version will take the form of an actual spoof (you may remember a spoof TV show by the name of Son of a Beach from back in 2000). I imagine it’s probably just a straight comedy version – beautiful people dressed as lifeguards running in slow-motion patrolling the beach.

However, is there really a point to making a Baywatch movie in this day and age? It was a successful TV show, particularly in the ’80s, that helped to launch the careers of many-a-beautiful-person. But beyond the obvious visual appeal (some may argue that’s a reason right there) is there anything left that’s worth making an adaptation of? I really don’t think there’s very much.

Of course, the reason the studio want to make a Baywatch movie is for money (as is almost always the case with any movie), and it can’t be denied that Baywatch is known worldwide. Perhaps just the mere mention of the name Baywatch in the title of this new comedy version will be enough to draw crowds – according to the Guinness Book of World Records, it’s the most watched TV of all time with approximately 1.1 billion people having seen it (that’s A LOT of ogling!). But in spite of the potential it has to be a hit at the box office, something about this project smells really iffy to me.

Maybe it’s the lack of mention of The Hoff’s name that doesn’t sit quite right with me… Could be it…

What do you think of a big-screen “broad comedy” adaptation of Baywatch? Do you think there is any point in doing one at this point?

Baywatch is currently in the development stages and doesn’t have a release date as of yet.

Sources: Variety and Empire