‘Baywatch’ Cast, Updates: New Details on Zac Efron’s Character Emerge; Original Television Series Star Pamela Anderson Slams Pornography

‘Baywatch’ lead actor Zac Efron is reportedly playing a character based on the real-life controversial Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte. He is set to play Matt Brody in the upcoming big-screen adaptation of the hit television series from the 1990s. Meanwhile, original star Pamela Anderson slammed pornography in a new piece for the Wall Street Journal.

According to The Wrap, a source revealed that Efron’s character Matt Brody is a former award-winning U.S. Olympic swimmer who becomes entangled in a controversy after being involved in a crime. He eventually joins a lifeguard squad headed by Mitch Buchannon as part of his community service in hopes of rehabilitating his tarnished reputation. However, Matt and Mitch will continually be at odds with one another.

Although director Seth Gordon wrapped production last June, new reports suggested that Efron’s character may have been based on real-life controversial Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte. According to Insider, Lochte fell out of grace after he and some of his teammates were caught in a robbery scandal during the 2016 Olympic Games held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The disgraced Olympian lied about being robbed at gunpoint during the games. However, Brazilian police discovered that he and his team mates vandalized a gas station restroom. The four were stopped by armed security guards and were forced to hand over money to cover costs of the damages.

Lochte finally admitted during an interview, “I left details out. That’s why I’m in this mess. I left certain things out. I over-exaggerated some parts of the story.” He was then forced to apologize and donate hefty amounts of money to a Brazilian charity. Since then, Lochte lost several endorsement deals for companies such as Speedo and Ralph Lauren.

Efron’s Matt was previously thought to be a re-imagined version of David Charvet’s character from the original hit television series of the same name. Charvet’s version of Matt was a lifeguard forced to resign after being accused of sexual harassment. Matt was later reinstated before heading off to France.

Meanwhile, one of the show’s original television stars publicly slammed pornography. Former Playboy Playmate Pamela Anderson, who played the iconic C.J. Parker in the series, denounced smut in a new opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal entitled “Take the Pledge: No More Indulging Porn” that she co-penned with self-appointed rabbi to the stars Shmuley Boteach.

According to Times of Israel, Anderson hit out against former New York congressman Anthony Weiner’s latest sexting scandal writing, “If anyone still had doubts about the addictive dangers of pornography, Anthony Weiner should have put paid to them with his repeated, self-sabotaging sexting.”

The op-ed piece continued, “This is a public hazard of unprecedented seriousness given how freely available, anonymously accessible and easily disseminated pornography is nowadays.” It concluded, “[W]e must educate ourselves and our children to understand that porn is for losers — a boring, wasteful and dead-end outlet for people too lazy to reap the ample rewards of healthy sexuality.”

‘Baywatch’ is an upcoming comedy film scheduled to be released in the U.S. on May 19, 2017. It is based on the 1990s television series of the same name and is directed by Seth Gordon and written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift.

It is produced under Cold Spring Pictures, Contrafilm, The Montecito Picture Company, Paramount Pictures, and Seven Bucks Productions.