First there was the hoopla surrounding recent gender swaps in Ghostbusters and the upcoming all female Ocean’s Eleven, now Hollywood has gone the other way, with Disney casting Channing Tatum as a mermaid (or is that merman?) in the upcoming reboot of Splash.
As baffling as this casting decision sounds at first, the image of Tatum (or Chay Tots to his friends) as a graceful fish of the sea is an inherently funny one. Daryl Hannah of course played the role in the 1984 original with Tom Hanks as her besotted love interest, a role which in this new version will be played by Tatum’s 22 Jump Street alumni Jillian Bell.
There is of course a perfectly valid argument here that Disney has given a perfectly good role away to a man, but for me the more important question we should be asking is does the world need another remake of a perfectly fine eighties film? Are Channing Tatum and Jillian Bell not talented enough to carry an original concept based on their chemistry alone? Apprentely not according to Disney, and I’m sure they’re hoping the casting of Magic Mike will enable them to attract the all important younger female audience not familiar with the original film.
Splash is yet to receive an official release date