You can’t wear a red Speedo in the rain. Fortunately for the 2,000 hopefuls who assembled at Marina del Rey after a series of torrential rainstorms drenched Los Angeles for days, the sun decided to make a cameo appearance for Fox‘s Baywatch reboot casting call.
Casting call turns wild as 2,000 audition in swimsuits
Fourteen thousand submissions whittled down to 2,000 hopefuls assembled outside a Marriott hotel, braving 50-degree temperatures to get a shot at a group photo opportunity to audition for a spot on the reboot alongside a series of actors, influencers, bodybuilders, moms, clowns… yes, a clown… to audition for a spot on the reboot. “How many of you know CPR?” a photographer yelled out to the assembled masses. Virtually all raised their hand. “It’s not normal,” reboot lead Stephen Amell observed as he worked his way through the assembled masses.
The series, ordered straight to series at Fox, hopes to be a revival of sorts, well over 25 years after the original made bronzed lifeguards into international icons. “We’re looking to cast broadly, so lifeguards, barflies, people from the neighborhood, even roles that haven’t been written yet,” says showrunner Matt Nix. McG, the director of the series, says that the show will not be campy. “It’s not going to be campy,” McG says. “It’s going to be earnest.”
For the city of Los Angeles, still trying to bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic, strikes, and devastating fires, this production is symbolic of sorts, especially since the show will be filming in Venice Beach, thanks to a $21.1 million California tax credit rather than overseas. “It’s like putting the paddles on the city,” says returning cast member David Chokachi, who played a lifeguard in the old series.
Inside the hotel, hopefuls were given 45 seconds to audition for a role in the series. Some left the hotel beaming with joy; others didn’t fare so well.
As the sun set over the marina, heartbreak and determination filled the lobby of the hotel where the auditions were being held. In a city where the horizon always beckons to be chased after in slow motion, even heartbreak looks like something out of a movie.
And somewhere in that crowd of hopefuls, chances are, a new lifeguard legend was born.
