While “Baywatch” seemed to come naturally after the success Alexandra Daddario achieved with “True Detective,” the film itself was a critical failure and a commercial disappointment. Unsurprisingly, “Baywatch” garnered accusations of sexism and objectification similar to those directed at “True Detective,” with Rolling Stone writing in their two-star review that the film’s female actors, including Daddario, “are left trying to fight their way out of various babe stereotypes.”
Daddario also found herself falling into a pattern of projects that required her to flaunt her body. Also in 2017, Daddario co-starred with Kate Upton in “The Layover,” in which they play roommates vying for the attention of an attractive seatmate after their vacation flight is rerouted due to a hurricane. At the time, Daddario spoke highly of the film’s female-centric story, and also felt like she was getting used to being considered sexy, telling Collider, “It wasn’t something that I tried to do, so I embrace it, to a certain extent.”
Years later, Daddario reflected on this era in her career, and while she appreciated the rise in her public profile, she wondered if her choice of projects had maybe led her astray. By the time the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Daddario started to feel like her career had hit a wall and found herself dissatisfied with the projects she was offered, which included several direct-to-video-on-demand releases such as “Can You Keep a Secret?” and “We Summon the Darkness” in 2019.
