Dwayne Johnson Promises a ‘Far Dirtier’ ‘Baywatch’ Movie Than You’d Expect
What came first, the raunchy beach comedy or the Baywatch movie adaptation? Hollywood seems to have discovered in recent years that it can take an existing license — typically one associated with a semi-popular television series — and give it new life as a profane comedy for adults. Sure, there are probably a handful of Baywatch purists out there who have watched the sophomoric humor in the trailers with horror, but for everyone else? A vague recollection of the Baywatch brand and an appetite for 21 Jump Street-esque humor is all they need to be enticed.
And from the sound of it, the cast and crew of Baywatch are quite happy aiming for a hard R-rating. In a recent interview with The Sun (via Heroic Hollywood), Baywatch star Dwayne Johnson shocked absolutely none of us by admitting that his movie will be far dirtier than the television show ever was:
We are far dirtier than the show ever was — obviously the show was a family show on at family time of day — but in the movie we could have been dirtier… We worked hard to make sure the flesh quota was high, there’s more gratuitous boobs, bums, abs, whatever per minute than you can imagine. Plot was important, don’t get me wrong, but so was sorting out our slow motion runs.
I mean, is anyone actually surprised here? For one, family movies don’t typically release red band trailers, especially not red band trailers where Johnson’s character asks for a sand sculpture of himself to, uh, feature elements of his anatomy more prominently than others. For another, each of the trailers we’ve seen has suggested that Zac Efron’s character is — to borrow a term from 30 Rock — the film’s unapologetic ‘sex idiot,’ a role that Ephron has increasingly come to own in his movie career. This is a movie with filth on its mind, but filth with a beyond charismatic cast is far more interesting than a gritty reboot of the Baywatch brand. Yay, filth!
Here’s the full plot synopsis for Baywatch:
Baywatch follows devoted lifeguard Mitch Buchannon as he butts heads with a brash new recruit. Together, they uncover a local criminal plot that threatens the future of the Bay.
The film will run into theaters — in slow-motion, of course — on May 26, 2017.