‘Three Men and a Baby’ Remake Will Star Zac Efron (But Probably Not as the Baby)

Three Men and a Baby remake

In early 2018, we heard that a Three Men and a Baby remake was in the works at Disney+. Now that movie has found one of its lead actors in a former Disney star: Zac Efron, who broke out thanks to his work in the High School Musical movies, will play one of the titular men in the new version.

At least we think that’s who he’s playing. I mean, if they wanted to, the folks at Disney could do some sort of wild digital de-aging and have him play the baby instead. Would that be super weird and remind us of that fake movie within Funny People in which Adam Sandler’s full-sized adult head is on a child’s body? Yes. But would it make us more intrigued to watch this remake? Also yes. Your move, Disney.

The Hollywood Reporter brings word that Disney has cast Zac Efron in its Three Men and a Baby remake, bringing him back under the Disney umbrella for the first time in several years. Gordon Gray, the producer of sports films like Miracle, The Rookie, Invincible, The Game Plan, Secretariat, Million Dollar Arm, McFarland USA, and this year’s The Way Back, is producing.

Leonard Nimoy (yep, the man who played Mr. Spock on Star Trek) directed the 1987 version of Three Men and a Baby, which was itself a remake of a French film called Trois Hommes et un Couffin. Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg, and Ted Danson starred as three New York City bachelors who end up taking care of one of their infant children, all while a convoluted drug smuggling plot happens simultaneously. Nimoy’s version was a massive hit, outgrossing Fatal Attraction and Beverly Hills Cop II to become the biggest movie of that year. Nimoy did not return to direct the sequel, 1990’s Three Men and a Little Lady, but a decade ago, reports began circulating that Selleck, Danson, and Guttenberg were interested in reuniting for a third movie that would have been called Three Men and a Bride, with that script reportedly being close to finished at the time. That sequel never happened, and it’s unclear if the three actors will appear in cameo roles in this new version.

Will Reichel, who wrote a little-seen 2018 Steve Coogan film called Hot Air, wrote the screenplay, but the search for a director is still underway. Here’s the trailer for the 1987 version; here’s hoping they lose some of the outdated stereotypes in the new one and don’t depict men taking care of a child as some sort of radical act: