Alexandra Daddario is returning to the silver screen with her San Andreas co-star Dwayne Johnson. The actress has been cast as Summer in the Baywatch movie, Johnson announced on Instagram today. She’s the first of the female leads to be cast so far, but The Rock shared that more announcements are coming soon.
As Summer, Daddario will fill a role originally played by Nicole Eggert in the ’90s TV series. The character appeared on the show in seasons three and four, serving as a love interest for Matt (David Charvet). Summer also had a lot of personal drama going on; she arrived in California to escape her mother’s abusive ex-boyfriend and also dealt with an eating disorder.
Daddario was among the actresses rumored to be in consideration last week. The list also included Pretty Little Liars star Ashley Benson, former Vampire Diaries leading lady Nina Dobrev, Teen Wolf‘s Shelley Hennig, and more. Johnson and Zac Efron are currently set as the male leads.
Daddario responded to a welcome tweet from Johnson, assuring him that she’s already practicing the slow motion running the female Baywatch lifeguards were so famous for.
Thank you! Extremely excited. Been practicing my slow-mo run all morning. https://t.co/3E2S2SlMHM
— Alexandra Daddario (@AADaddario) November 18, 2015
In addition to San Andreas, Daddario has also appeared in the first season of HBO’s True Detective, and guest starred on the TV series White Collar and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, among others. She most recently filmed the movie The Layover and will next be seen in The Choice.
The Baywatch movie will be directed by Seth Gordon, with Johnson and Dany Garcia producing through Seven Buck Productions. Beau Flynn and Montecito Pictures are also producing, with Michael Berk, Douglas Schwarts, and Greg Bonnan serving as executive producers.
The Baywatch movie is expected to begin filming in early 2016.
