David Hasselhoff To Join Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson In ‘Baywatch’ Movie

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has been cast to play the role of Mitch Buchannan in the upcoming film adaptation of popular TV series Baywatch, but that doesn’t mean that the original Mitch, David Hasselhoff, won’t play a part in it. Johnson, 38, took to Instagram Wednesday night to announce Hasselhoff’s involvement in the movie, and he did it with the same flair that earned him repute as “the most electrifying man in sports entertainment.”

The Instagram video Dwayne Johnson posted showed the former WWE wrestler Facetiming David Hasselhoff, in which he wrote the following caption:

“I WAS BORN READY!” Pleasure to officially welcome the original#BAYWATCH gangsta himself David Hasselhoff to our movie! #BAYWATCH is the most successful TV show of all time and from the day we announced we were turning it into a movie, ‘The Hoff; has been our greatest supporter. Especially once he knew our RATED R movie was going to be a combination of AVENGERS meets ANCHORMAN…”

Hoff’s a cool dude who’s down to have fun and here’s the best part.. He’s been training his a*s off and gotten in the best shape he’s been in in years! (cue slo-mo running and glistening chest hair.. wait, why the f**k am I even thinking about Hoff’s chest hair!?) World get ready.. #RockAndHoff #ThereAintNoBay #WithoutTheHoff

“I don’t know if the world is ready for both of us,” The Rock tells David during their FaceTime conversation.. “Are you ready?”

“C’mon man, Rock and The Hoff, I was born ready!” Hasselhoff responds.

“There ain’t no ‘Bay’ without The Hoff,” Johnson says in his usual The Rock swagger. “Baywatch. Get ready world.”

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was all too thrilled to tell ET about the amount of support he has received from David since the day he was cast to take over the role the Knight Rider star played for over a decade.

“I got to tell you, The Hoff has been amazing!” Johnson said. “From day one, he’s been so supportive. He’s like, ‘If there’s one guy who could play me, it’s The Rock.'”

There’s no official word yet on what role David will be playing in the Baywatch movie. The Rock did mention in his Instagram caption that ‘The Hoff’ has been “training his a*s off and gotten in the best shape he’s been in in years,” which could only mean that the original Mitch will play a prominent role in the film.

“Hoff’s a cool dude who’s down to have fun and here’s the best part.. He’s been training his ass off and gotten in the best shape he’s been in in years! (cue slo-mo running and glistening chest hair.. wait, why the f**k am I even thinking about Hoff’s chest hair!?),” Johnson added in his Instagram post. “World get ready..#RockAndHoff #ThereAintNoBay #WithoutTheHoff.”

As everyone can recall, David Hasselhoff played the role of LA County lifeguard Mitch Buchannon along with stars Pamela Anderson in the Baywatch television series, which ran from 1989 to 2001. David is set to join co-stars Dwayne Johnson, Zac Efron, Alexandra Daddario, Priyanka Chopra, Kelly Rohrbach, and Hannibal Buress.

The Baywatch movie follows the story of veteran lifeguard Mitch Buchannon (Dwayne Johnson) who is forced to team up with a younger lifeguard (Zac Efron) in the hopes of uncovering and stopping a criminal plot that threatens the future of the Bay.

Damian Shannon and Mark Swift already wrote a draft of the screenplay, with Beau Flynn and Ivan Reitman doing production. Seth Gordon signed on to direct the movie. Producers are set to start filming in early 2016.

Baywatch is set for cinematic release on May 19, 2017.

[Photos by Larry Marano and All American TV, Inc./Getty Images]