‘Baywatch’ Film Gets A Director: ‘Reno 911’ Co-Creator Robert Ben Garant

Though some films are unfortunately losing their directors, the Baywatch film has finally gotten itself one: Reno 911‘s Robert Ben Garant.

Garant is best known as the co-creator of the Comedy Central cop show/mockumentary Reno 911 and scripting the Ben Stiller Night At The Museum film franchise. According to Vulture, he’ll soon be able to add the development hell-challenged film version of the popular television show Baywatch to his resume.

The current script was penned by Peter Tolan, who also wrote Analyze This, Analyze That, and Bedazzled who said at the time that “…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,” so it might be something of a tongue-in-cheek spoof a la The Brady Bunch or Addams Family films.

According to Empire Online, the current theory is that the Baywatch film will be more like Stripes, in that it will be an “out-an-out comedy, but not in a campy way.” It is unknown what Garant will bring to the table, but given his role with 911, it’s hard to imagine the film being bereft of tongue-in-cheek pop culture satire. A cameo for The Hoff wouldn’t exactly be off the table either, given that his career has become one of self-parody over the past decade.

Casting information for the Baywatch film is not yet available, but there is a “Hoff” role present in the script, under the name Mitch Buchannon.