Bill Hader will star in Paramount’s film reboot of “Baywatch,” the 1990s TV show starring David Hasselhoff as the leader of a team of lifeguards.
Robert Ben Garant, who co-created “Reno 911!" and is directing “Baywatch,” told TheWrap that Hader will play the Hasselhoff character but cautioned that the contract is not signed. Hader's spokesman Matt Labov denied that Hader had signed on for the part.
Hasselhoff will make a cameo in the film, which like “Reno 911!” will take a faux serious tone to an absurd subject. Just as “Reno” parodied the over-dramatization of shows like “Cops,” this will parody the 1990s hit TV show set on the beach.
Yes, Pamela Anderson also will have a cameo.
The plot follows lifeguards exploring an oil rig of the Malibu coast that turns out to be a meth lab. Jeremy Garelick and Peter Tolan both wrote drafts of the script, which Ben Garant has revisited.
"They're so excited they made us shoot a trailer and the script isn't even done,” Ben Garant said.
Ben Garant said they are aiming for an April start date.
The director is at Sundance for “Hell Baby,” a mock horror film he co-wrote and co-directed with “Reno 911!" co-creator Thomas Lennon, who stars alongside Leslie Bibb and Rob Corddry. He and Lennon also have written the “Night at the Museum” films together.
Hader is in his eighth season on "Saturday Night Live" and has a number of movies primed for 2013 release. He plays a supporting role in "The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: His" and "Hers," a two film-project about a troubled marriage where one film is told from each person's perspective. He also has a supporting role in CBS Films' "The Do List," due for a summer release, and he has lent his voice to a a trio of animated films — "Turbo," "Cloudy 2: Revenge of the Leftovers" and "Me and My Shadow."
He is also starring in "The Skeleton Twins" with former "SNL" castmate Kristin Wiig, a project shooting now in New York.
Sharon Waxman contributed to this report.
