The studio is rebooting Splash and it’s with a marvellous twist… They’re gender swapping the roles!
1984 cult classic originally starred Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah, catapulting them both into international stardom.
Remind yourself of the magic and check out the original trailer… Post continues after!
Magic Mike himself will be stepping in Daryl’s beloved role of Madison the mermaid (or is it merman now!?)
Joining him will be Hollywood’s rising comedienne Jillian Bell, with the 32-year-old portraying Tom’s iconic role of Allen. According to Deadline, the whole concept was her idea!
While some fans haven’t been completely on board with gender-reversed reboots (ahem, look how well it worked in Ghostbusters), Twitter has spoken… And everyone is raising their tails for Channing the merman.
Jillian with Channing’s wife Jenna.
The duo have become fast friends and have even performed a rap battle together! Watch it below…
“Things to make your Monday more OK: Channing Tatum is playing a mermaid That’s all you need,” on user tweeted.
Channing, 36, is no stranger to remakes, bedazzling us with his re-imagining of TV’s 21 Jump Street. The former stripper transformed the show into two hit flicks, which coincidentally is where he met Jillian.
Daryl, now 55, and Tom, now 60, starred in the fantasy over 20 years ago.
Late last year, Tom recalled the nerve-wracking audition during a chat with BuzzFeed.
“We had a read-through of it and I was very nervous. I was trying to score with all my lines and trying to get a big reaction or a laugh because that’s all I had done on TV is sell a script on Mondays and shoot it on Thursdays.”
“And afterward, Ron took me to the side and he said, ‘I know what you’re doing. You’re trying to get laughs, but your job is not to get laughs. Your job is to love that girl.’”
If making the girl fall for you is the task at hand, Channing is your man! Watch his tap his heart out in the player below! Post continues…*
Splash is a modern take on Hans Christian Anderson’s fairy tale The Little Mermaid, in which a young man falls in love with a mermaid who has temporarily lost her fish tail to walk on dry land.
No doubt the magic will be recreated, thanks to classic’s original director Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer both reportedly on-board for the remake.
Channing, who recently player a sailor in Hail, Caesar!, will have one fan in three-year-old daughter Everly.
Everly surely has given her dad the seal of approval!
We think Channing can get some mermaid tips from another ridiculously good looking person, Derek Zoolander.
Plus Channing already knows how to roll… surely that is an advantage when under the water?
No word on when the film will splash onto the big screen.
But if Magic Mike taught us anything, we know Channing can shake his tail feather… And now he’s gonna splash it.
We’re loving how much women are smashing Hollywood’s glass ceiling! Check out Melissa McCarthy slay it at her Ghostbuster’s reboot premiere in the gallery below!
