Over the past few months,Dwayne Johnsonhas been taking to hisInstagramaccount to confirm new cast members for his highly-anticipatedBaywatchadaptation. Last week, the actor revealed thatQuanticostarPriyanka Choprahas signed on to join the cast, while announcing that production would begin this week. True to form, the actor signaled the start of principal photography yesterday, debuting the first photo from the set alongsideZac Efron, who also released another photo through his Twitter account. Here’s whatDwayne Johnsonhad to say below, where he confirmedZac Efron’s character.
“My character “Mitch Buchannon” just gaveZac Efron’s character “Matt Brody” the all important beach speech about what it means to have manly “Alpha balls”. Zac’s ad-libbed responses were brilliant! Talented and great dude. World get ready to have some fun, ‘cause the beach will never be the same again.”
Ever sinceZac Efronsigned on in August, it wasn’t clear who exactly he’d be playing, but it seems that, like many of his other co-stars, he’s portraying a character from the originalBaywatchTV series. Matt Brody was portrayed by David Charvet on the series, appearing in 72 episodes between 1992 and 1996.Dwayne Johnsonis taking overDavid Hoff’s Mitch Buchannon role, whileAlexandra Daddariois playing Summer Quinn, originally played by Nicole Eggert,Kelly Rohrbachis taking overPamela Anderson’s iconic C.J. Parker role andIlfenesh Haderais playing Mitch’s love interest Stef, originally played by Alexandra Paul.
Priyanka Chopra’s character appears to be the only one that isn’t based on the original series, with the movie’s IMDB page revealing her name is Victoria Leeds. The story follows a “by-the-book and very serious lifeguard,” played byDwayne Johnsonwho joins forces with a “young rule-flouting hothead” (Zac Efron) to try and save their beach from environmental destruction by an oil tycoon. While we don’t have specific details aboutPriyanka Chopra’s character yet, it seems likely she’s playing the oil tycoon.
Seth Gordon(Horrible Bosses) is directing from a screenplay most recently written byDamian ShannonandMark Swift(Friday the 13th). Justin Malen (Bad Teacher 2) wrote the original draft of the script, with Dwayne Johnson also producing alongsideBeau FlynnandIvan Reitman. Take a look at the firstBaywatchset photos, and stay tuned for more images from the set.
