Dwayne Johnson’s ‘Baywatch’ Movie Hires ‘Horrible Bosses’ Director

It’s a big week for Dwayne Johnson’s upcoming projects, as two have now secured directors. The other day we learned that Johnson will reunite with his San Andreas director for Rampage (based on the classic arcade game), and now another Johnson project based on a classic property has snagged a director, too.

Per THR, Horrible Bosses director Seth Gordon will helm the Baywatch movie starring Johnson, which is being billed as an action-comedy take on the ‘90s TV series — clearly capitalizing on the success of the Jump Street franchise, no doubt. Gordon replaces Horrible Bosses 2 director Sean Anders on the film, which has been in development for over 10 years.

In the film, Johnson plays a straight-laced lifeguard who is paired up mismatched-buddy cop-style with a rebellious newcomer to prevent a nefarious oil baron from interloping on their beloved beach.

The most recent draft of the Baywatch script was written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, the guys behind Freddy vs. Jason, the Friday the 13th remake, and the upcoming dark comedy O’Lucky Day, starring Peter Dinklage. Those names may not give you ton of optimism, but Freddy vs. Jason had some decent satirical, self-aware comedy, which is kind of what the Baywatch movie needs.

Baywatch will likely begin filming in early 2016 — Johnson has a busy filming schedule next year between that, Fast and Furious 8, and Rampage, which means we may very well end up with three Johnson action flicks in 2017.