Dwayne Johnson stands by Baywatch despite critical mauling

It was one of the 90s most iconic TV shows, making a star of Pamela Anderson and revitalising the flagging career of David Hasselhoff.

But 16 years after Baywatch filled our screens with slow-motion runs and jiggling flesh on white sandy beaches, it's getting a big screen makeover - and not everyone's a fan.

Critics have savaged the action-comedy but its star and producer Dwayne Johnson is standing by the film.

Johnson reprises Hasselhoff's veteran lifeguard Mitch Buchannon, while Zac Efron also dons those famous red trunks to play rookie lifeguard Matt Brody, originally played by David Charvet.

Zac Efron as Matt Brody and Dwayne Johnson as Mitch Buchannon in Baywatch.

Johnson's production company Seven Bucks produced the US$87 million (NZ$123m) movie, confident about the brand's enduring popularity. "What is fascinating about Baywatch was that it ranked as the most successful intellectual property in the world," he says. "People loved it. It reached 1.1 billion viewers each week in 142 countries [from 1989-2001]."

But this is not your 90s Baywatch. Amped-up and R-rated, Baywatch has generated some controversy due to its racy content. "The original was created as a drama," Johnson says. "It started to build from there in a lot of fun ways, but this Baywatch is an R-rated action comedy. And even though this is not a movie made for kids, they will sneak in the way we did when we were kids trying to see an R-rated movie."

Directed by Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses), the story is centred around the older and wiser Buchannon, who butts heads with the brash new recruit and ex-Olympian medallist, Brody. Their adversarial relationship is a tried-and-true cinematic formula.

Efron says: "At the beginning, Brody and Mitch do not get along. We looked at a lot of great action duos in the past like Lethal Weapon, which was one of our favourite references, and 48 Hours. Those guys started off really hating each other and then grew to earning each other's respect. That was how we saw this relationship coming along. Brody enters this movie extremely cocky. He's just won two gold medals at the Olympics and he's the world record holder in the 200m, so he's pretty high on himself. High and mighty."

With the assistance of their crew, including Alexandra Daddario, Kelly Rohrbach, Ilfenesh Hadera and Jon Bass, Johnson and Efron's characters uncover a criminal plot that threatens the safety of the bay. It also stars Indian-born former Miss World, Priyanka Chopra.

The 2017 version of Baywatch's infamous red swimsuit is less revealing than the original.

"Our No. 1 goal is to make sure that we are always serving the audience first," Johnson says. "And in that spirit, better decisions are made, which is why the cast is more diverse. When we are serving the audience first, we are taking a traditional model of making the main villain, originally written for a man, and flipping it, creating something new for Priyanka."

Naturally, the popularity of the TV show was due to the eye candy value. Efron concurs. "The essential spirit of Baywatch is that sexy vibe," he says. "In this movie, we definitely take it to an extreme."

Johnson smiles and says, "Listen, we littered the movie with a phenomenal cast. Everyone came in great shape. Just looking at them, from Ilfenesh to Priyanka to Alex Daddario and Kelly Rohrbach, they are really alien-level beautiful." He deadpans "Including Zac."
And, of course, Johnson doesn't look too shabby. He laughs, "Well, I am the Sexiest Man Alive," he jokes, referring to the 2016 title bestowed on him by People magazine.

The big screen version of Baywatch has ditched the drama in favour of action and comedy.

Between Efron and Johnson, there was an element of healthy competition on set. "I've been really lucky to have DJ as a guide on this movie, because I get to watch what he does and emulate it. Dwayne is a machine. He loves to work but he's also a great leader on set. He's always in a good mood and he's been a great team partner. But as far as getting in shape ... he eats extraordinary amounts of calories. I have no idea how he does it. I was on a much more restricted calorie diet. Dwayne was shovelling in huge steaks between takes." Efron shakes his head. "I've seriously never seen anything like it."

On a more serious note, the cast were taught lifesaving skills with real lifeguards.

"Lifeguarding is hard and I wanted to pay homage to them," Johnson says. "I have a tremendous about of respect for what they do, and I've learned a lot through the process of making the movie. It's a difficult job and they're working in an unforgiving ocean. They are the firefighters of the ocean. These guys are real heroes."

If all goes according to plan, the remarkably photogenic lifeguards will continue to save lives in a sequel. Says Johnson, "There was great chemistry between all of us - no egos - so of course we'll be back for round two. "