Baywatch movie still happening, now from the creator of Rescue Me

For some reason I can’t quite wrap my head around, a feature-length BAYWATCH movie has been in the works since 2004 when DreamWorks first optioned the rights. A number of people have been involved in the development (including Eli Roth and Ivan Reitman) but the film has never gotten past that ever-so-important (?) script stage. But not willing to give up some seven years later, a new draft has been handed in and might be the one that finally kickstarts the production.

Peter Tolan, who just wrapped up a successful run on his FX series “Rescue Me” (the series finale aired earlier this month), revealed he just turned in a BAYWATCH script to Paramount. The director was a guest on the Matthew Aaron Show podcast and revealed that his approach to the material was a non-campy comedy in the spirit of STRIPES. And, perhaps most interestingly, it won’t be based on the show.

Says Tolan, “It’s not based on the show in any way, though there are a couple of winks at the show…I don’t know anything about the show. I didn’t watch it in preparation for writing this.”

He went on to add that there are roles written in for both David Hasselhoff and Pam Anderson but they wouldn’t be the characters they played in the series.

So what do you think about the BAYWATCH movie? Does it sound like a stupid idea no matter how they do it, or does this sound like a novel approach?