Ron Howard’s hit 1984 comedy Splash is being remade, because of course it is. However, unlike the Tom Hanks/Darryl Hannah original, there’s a twist — in this upcoming version, the mermaid is the man and the human is the woman.
Darryl Hannah in 1984’s Splash. Image: Touchstone
Deadline broke the news of the remake, which will be produced by Howard and his partner Brian Grazer. Channing Tatum will star as the mermaid, originally played by Darryl Hannah, and Jillian Bell is the human, originally played by Tom Hanks. Grazer had previously teased that a remake was coming with a different point-of-view; while many guessed it would be a gender swap, this is the first confirmation of it.
Bell, who starred with Tatum in 22 Jump Street, came up with this new version and writer Marja-Lewis Ryan is penning the script. Here are the stars together in a comedy music video.
On a list of ’80s classics ripe for a remake, Splash feels like an obvious addition. At least this version has a bit of a twist to differentiate it from the original movie.
[Deadline]