A long report about the NBC press event from ComingSoon.net ...
Knight Rider is Back! Steven Chupnick (Dec 12, 2007)
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It was my first introduction to Hasselhoff yes, the David
Hasselhoff. I sat down in my living room at 5 years old and
watched "Knight Rider." Now, I have to tell you, I didn't
understand a single thing about the show, other than there
was a really kick-ass car that talked. Oh, and David
Hasselhoff was the star.
Fast forward 25 years and we've got a brand new KITT car
and a brand new television series on NBC. "Knight Rider"
is back, and on February 17, 2008 the new series will
kick-off with a 2-hour movie event.
Today, we got the first look at the three KITT cars
they'll be using for the flick (and hopefully series one
day if the writers strike doesn't continue sorry,
different topic.) In the original series, it was the T-Top
Pontiac Trans Am. In 2007, it's an updated Ford Mustang
Shelby GT500KR. And not only that, there's three different
cars playing the part.
Today, at the NBC Studios in Burbank -- between the studio
for "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "Access Hollywood"
-- the new cars were unveiled with a pseudo demonstration
with one of the stunt cars. They even gave KITT his own
parking spot next to Jay Leno I guess he won't be using
that for a while.
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SPOILER SPACE
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The first car shown was a remote car no driver! Some
really cool stuff! There are two people who control it by
a remote control; the thing just moves on its own, opens
the doors on its own, drives from side to side. See, as a
kid, you always wonder about how the car drove by itself
now I know.
A "true fan" who knows all the details of the original show?? Nope,
just a typical "journalist" who knows nothing about what they reporting
on. :-\
Anyway, the other two cars aren't by remote; they're real
cars, including the stunt car. The last car had the cast
of the movie there Justin Bruening (Mike Traceur),
Deanna Russo (Sarah Graiman), Bruce Davison (Charles
Graiman), and Sydney Tamiia Poitier (Carrie Ruvai).
This "Knight Rider" is a sequel to the original series,
which Justin says is definitely a plus for the storyline.
"Being a fan of the show, I was very excited about;
I didn't want them to mess with [it] you don't mess
with 'the original' anything, it's never really as good.
I love the fact that it just continues the story, and
there's a huge gap, so within this show, we can go
backwards, forwards. We can do anything because there
are huge gaps in there to fill in."
Justin's character of Mike Traceur is the son of Michael
Knight, but "I clearly don't know that right away," he
says. "He's the reluctant hero, an ex-Army Ranger that
obviously in the end becomes a hero even though he
doesn't want to be. With the writers strike, I haven't
gotten a new episode so I don't know if he likes being a
hero, but whatever, we'll find out."
Deanna plays the daughter of Charles Graiman, the
inventor of KITT. She told ComingSoon.net about the
bonding time she had getting to know how the real KITT
moves. "We were doing some pretty crazy stunts up in
Newhall on this crazy, windy mountain road; it was pretty
exciting. I was actually in the passenger seat, and
nobody was behind the wheel. They have this amazing rig,
a stunt driver locked down to the top of the car on the
roof. He's a very talented because at no point did I feel
that my life was in danger. Well, ok, I gotta say, I'll
be honest with you, the very, very first time I rode in
KITT as a passenger, even though I was in the driver's
seat, I wasn't in control of the car, it was a little
scary. It kind of felt like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, but
real. After that first exciting thing, now it just feels
like a roller coaster; it's a really cool job. I'm so
glad you guys got to check out some of these things
because we've been really excited to share it and talk
about it."
It was Sydney who just put it bluntly of how awesome
this show is really going to be. "It's cool, I think
it's a real true kind of staying true to the original
idea of the show. There's just cooler stuff we can do,
and it's even more kind of weirdly relevant today,
because it's actually believable that you can have a car
that talks and does all this stuff and that it actually
happens. The car itself is super cool and you guys saw
the attack mode version, when it came in and popped
those crazy 360s or whatever. Just the car itself is
really the coolest thing I've seen so far. Certainly
there's going to be some interesting stuff that the car
does in the movie. And now I think it's even more, for
the kids that didn't grow up in the '80s and didn't see
[the original] 'Knight Rider,' I think it's something
they can totally identify with and it's not so foreign."
The Hoff makes a small cameo in this movie to pass the
torch to Justin. It was a surreal experience for him
getting on set and seeing the real Michael Knight. "It's
definitely one of the highlights of my life, something I
can tell my grandkids. It's a lot to process all at once
I have to say. It still hasn't sunk that I don't even
tell people what I do because it sounds ridiculous. When
I told my friends when I found out, I didn't tell them.
They would call and say, 'What have you been up to? You
been filming anything?' 'Yeah, I got a job. I'm Knight
Rider!?' (in a questioning manner). I don't know any
other way to say it than that. And obviously, they're
all really excited 'cause we watched it growing up."
The question you're all wondering who is voicing
KITT? The answer: Will Arnett! Sorry all you William
Daniels fans out there, he's not back.
But with Will Arnett as the voice, you know there's
going to be some of that good humor thrown in. "We all
joke around on set with funny things that KITT might
say," noted Deanna. "Will Arnett is a brand-new addition
to the show, and we're so excited to have him on board.
When I first heard talks of him being on it, I was just
clamoring with joy. I'm a huge fan of 'Arrested
Development'! His voice alone is very memorable, so I
think he's a perfect fit for KITT. I'm just really
excited to hear what he does with it; there are so many
choice one could make."
One thing's for sure, "Knight Rider" is back and better
than ever! Stay tuned for more from the cast of the NBC
movie when it premieres February 17th.
There's also some images with this news story at
http://www.comingsoon.net/news/tvnews.php?id=40185
One image shows what appears to be the new KITT in "attack" mode, with
big, ugly spoilers on the back.
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