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Hasselhoff originally wanted to produce the movie, but abandoned the idea when he had to star in it. “That kind of broke my heart, but as long as it got done, that was the most important thing.” Alan J. Levi was called in to direct the movie as he was under contract at the time to Universal. Right from the start, Universal hired Rob
Hedden to write a script for the movie with
the intended idea of focusing the story on
Michael, K.I.T.T., and Devon, and setting it
in the future. K.I.T.T. was to go as hightech as possible and Levi looked at a number of production automobiles and decided that the highest tech-looking one was the Dodge Stealth. Alan J. Levi adds, “The body was short and that’s what we wanted. We didn’t have to beef-up the car that much.”
NBC made it clear that the show would be
going in a new direction and the 1982 Trans
Am that fans had loved would not make an
appearance.
However, the ideals of the original Knight
Rider were incorporated and expanded for the
Construction of the Knight
reunion movie.
4000 [Photos Courtesy P. Sher
We also learn in Knight Rider 2000 that
Jr./Code 1 Auto]
Michael Knight did burn out eventually, something that “The Scent of Roses” in season four of the original series had touched on. Levi did follow the themes of the original show—the dramatic irony of Michael possibly quitting and then getting back on track. With that, Hasselhoff indicated that he was going for a more adult-type theme for his character in the movie. “I knew I had to play Michael the same way, including the banter that goes on between him and K.I.T.T.”
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With the script set, Levi went down to Houston for two to three weeks of preparation before actually filming the movie. Unfortunately, the location quickly became problematic. Levi comments that, “We originally planned to shoot the movie in Houston and met with the police and fire department, but the people there were so uncooperative (concerning where we could shoot) that we packed up and moved to San Antonio, where the people were unbelievably cooperative.” Shooting went well once the move was made and the principle photography was completed within the month. One of the benefits of the move to San Antonio is the scene in the movie where K.I.T.T. rides on water. Levi quickly took advantage of the opportunity to film K.I.T.T. riding on water. He adds that, “Since we had full access to the riverwalk, we wrote the scene where K.I.T.T. rides on water.” Getting K.I.T.T. to float, on the other hand, was one of the most difficult scenes to shoot.
With shooting set to start the next day to film K.I.T.T.’s ride on water, the car did a nose dive and sunk in the river during a test. There were reporters near the set that day
taking pictures of the submerged car. The
next day, the local newspaper came out with
a front page story that read “K.I.T.T. the
Submarine.” Levi solved the sinking problem by rebalancing the car and adding weights to it. “We had to speed up the river
scenes as the boat that the car’s shell was on could only go 5 mph, and we wanted them to appear at 50-60 mph,” says Levi. “We went out on a regular boat and shot the river, then used a blue screen to add in the Knight 4000 cockpit.”
The scene itself is one of the best in the movie.
One of the earliest stunts in the movie
involves Michael driving K.I.T.T. off a dock at
full speed. Because they did not want to ruin a “The Knight 4000. Sinks!” pristine 1957 Chevy, the crew was on the look [Courtesy P. Sher Jr./Code out for a duplicate Chevy to send careening off
One Auto]
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the dock. Levi comments that, “My son drove the car off the dock. He was equipped with an oxygen tank. We found a rusted out Chevy and bought it for $500. We then took it to an overnight paint shop and had them pound out the dents and do a $100 paint job on it. Since the car didn’t have an engine, we pushed the car to speed and off the dock.”
NBC aired Knight Rider 2000 during the 1991 May sweeps and it finished as the highest rated movie of the week that Sunday night. According to Hasselhoff, NBC was so pleased by the ratings, they planned to do the series without him as he was not available due to his commitment on the revived version of Baywatch. The deal, however, fell through for the 199192 season and plans were scrapped to have Susan Norman head the new franchise. Glen Larson summed up most fan’s thoughts when he commented on why he did not like Knight Rider 2000 by saying that, “They missed the point. I don’t think they understood the series or what made it work in the first place. They went off in the wrong direction. The audience was there, but the movie didn’t appeal to them.”
Script-to-Screen Analysis:
Michael’s 1957 Chevy was originally a black 1991 Volvo sedan. Many of K.I.T.T.’s lines when he was in the Chevy (“I may not catch every criminal, but I’ll sure look good at the drive-in”) were different when he was conceived as a Volvo (“I may not catch every criminal now but I’ll sure be able to carry a lot of groceries”). One of Shawn’s lines is also changed (“Hang a pair of fuzzy dice on the mirror and we’ll be ready to go” from “Put a couple of baby seats in the back and we’ll be ready to go”).
Brian Bozworth, not James Doohan, was originally slated to make a cameo as the man mistaken for criminal Tod Mullen. Bozworth is the former star linebacker of the Seattle Seahawks.
The description of Michael’s first appearance: “We haven’t seen him in many years…and time, maybe more than time, has collected its tariff. Unshaven. Dark circles. A lonely man.”
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Immediately after Maddock justifies his decision to dismantle K.I.T.T., Devon responds by saying, “If not for Michael and K.I.T.T., the Knight Foundation would’ve died long before you came aboard.”
The description of K.I.T.T.’s state-of-being when we first see him again: “Tracking past a pile of components on a workbench, some very familiar: K.I.T.T.’s front grille chaser light. Part of his dash containing the Turbo Boost toggles. The LED voice modulator which lighted in sync with K.I.T.T.’S voice. All of them dormant now.”
K.I.T.T. describes himself as being “originally designed with Series 2000 circuitry then boosted with a Westgate memory expander and additional 64 bit buss.”
The script has a scene in which the Knight 4000 dives off the same dock that the Chevy went over in order to hydrofoil to the mall to stop Watts.
K.I.T.T. shows his anger towards being neglected: “First you take my body away, then my memory…and to top if off you park me next to an unquestionably superior vehicle every night. You may think I’m just a machine, but I do have a feelings chip.”
Original Series Observations:
The movie has striking resemblance to the original series’ pilot: Both Michael and Shawn were originally shot in the head, followed by a gunshot in the right arm near the end of the movie.
Hasselhoff attributes the lack of aging to the extensive plastic surgery the character underwent in the pilot episode nine years earlier. During the series, the Knight Foundation symbol was a single gold chess piece on a black background. Now, it is a silhouetted Knight chess piece head in a yin/yang format.
The movie’s introduction features the old K.I.T.T. racing through the desert much like the original series’ opening, but at a different angle. Levi says that was stock footage from 1982. Many scenes were 308
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shot for the original series’ introduction that were not used (called
“B-negative”), and they dug through the archives to find that clip. The NBC trailer: “For four years they rode together—a man who did not exist, and a car unlike any other. Now, in the year 2000, they are together again.” The NBC introduction borrows from the Super Pursuit Mode promotional commercial fr
om 1985, including some unused footage.
K.I.T.T. makes a reference to “Pac-Man” after being reactivated, the same type of game that Michael and K.I.T.T. always played in the original series. Devon receives that very same game in “Nobody Does It Better,” and Michael can be seen playing it in “Soul Survivor.”
Devon’s death sequence reuses scenes from the pilot episode, including the closing monologue (“Michael Knight, a lone crusader in a dangerous world. The world of the Knight Rider”), Wilton Knight saying, “One man can make a difference,” the toast (“And to our future—no matter who it may take us up against, or where”), and a driving scene from “Deadly Maneuvers.”
Alan J. Levi on Edward Mulhare: “He was a very sweet, nice man. He had problems with the dialogue at his age, so we had to be patient. He was open to his character dying as he was not interested in doing a weekly series. Edward was very thankful for the work. He and David had a great relationship.”
Alan J. Levi on why Patricia McPherson and Peter Parros were not asked back: “The network wanted to take the series in a different direction and focus it on Michael, Devon and K.I.T.T.”
Trivia:
It was so hot in San Antonio, they lost a bunch of the crew to heat exhaustion the day of the big police chase.
The movie was overshot by about 8-12 minutes and then trimmed to fit. The cut scenes were all dramatic scenes and not action ones
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since this was an action movie and the studio wanted as much action as possible.
The producers wanted to establish new characters and new relationships. Both K.I.T.T. and the Knight 4000 had shortcomings so there were not two invincible cars constantly battling each other. The only relationship carried over from the original series was the one between Michael and K.I.T.T.
Carmen Argenziano [Photo Courtesy Carmen Argenziano] Carmen Argenziano on Edward Mulhare: “I did get a chance to hang out with Edward, he was a very nice man. One day, we were on lunch walking through the park and we saw something scoot buy. Edward commented that they were ‘rats in drag’.”
Both Mitch Pileggi and Carmen Argenziano auditioned for the same role a few years later on The X-Files. Pileggi won the role. 310
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During filming, David handed out a 1982 press photo of himself with the original K.I.T.T. car. Levi says they ribbed him about how young he looked in the pictures and how old he was now.
Jan Hammer was hired to do the score for the movie by Fred Lyle, who knew of his work when he was an associate producer on Miami Vice. At the time, Fred was the Vice President of music for Universal Television (who produced the show). The theme was just part of the overall package. Jan comments, “They wanted a hip piece of music that was different from anything that was currently on TV and I went for it.” Universal and NBC had hoped it would turn into a series, so the theme was important to them. Jan came up with the idea for the theme and sketched it out in about 20 minutes. The entire score for the movie had about a two-week turn around time from start to finish.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
KNIGHT RIDER 2010
Knight Rider 2010 Technical Credits
Music By: Tim Truman
Director of Photography: James Bartle
Production Designer: Robb Wilson King
Edited By: Skip Schoolnik
Produced By: Alex Beaton
Executive Producers: John Leekley, Rob Cohen
Unit Production Manager: Les Berke
First Assistant Director: Michael Waxman
Second Assistant Director: Nancy Green
Casting By: Ellen Lubin Sanitsky C.S.A. (Los Angeles) and Darlene Wyatt C.S.A. (Phoenix)
Set Decorator: Lance Lombardo
Sound Mixer: Ron Collins
Sound Editor: Dave West
Music Editor: Chris Ledesma
Stunt Coordinator: Dan Bradley
Panaflex camera lenses by Panavision
Costume Designer: Jessica Fasman
Costume Supervisor: Mary Anne Aston
Make-up: Nadia Zogbi
Hairstylist: Curtis Taber
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Design Consultant: Dean Robinson
Technical Advisor: Jim Stilson / Sunrise Sets & Effects MCA
A Rob Cohen Production
John Leekley Productions
Knight Rider 2010
PROD. #89328
Original Airdate: February 13, 1994
Writer: John Leekley
Director: Sam Pillsbury
Cast: Richard Joseph Paul (Jake McQueen), Hudson Leick (Hannah), Michael Beach (Will McQueen), Don McManus (Dean), Nicky Katt (Robert Lee), Badja Djola (Maria), Mark Pellegrino (Zeke McQueen), Una Damon (Kibuki), Kimberly Norris (Jonny), Brion James (Jared), Jim Cody Williams (Hillbilly), Betty Matwick (Pregnant Woman), Joseph Redondo (Cholo), Wanda Dittman (Professor’s Wife), Ramon Chavez (Professor), Manny Simo-Maceo (Briefcase), Shane McCabe (Jailer), Scott Johnson (INS Agent #1), Gary Kirk (INS Agent #2), Miguel Ortega (Bandit #1), Ken Arqulio (Bandit #2), Samuel Hernandez (Bandit #3), Louis E. Zadro (Street Peddler)
In this science fiction action thriller set in the Southern California of the 21st Century, Jake McQueen, a fugitive smuggler is on the run from his own brother and Jared, an internal organ thief. Jared is the chief of the Chrysalis Corporation, an organization that specializes in human rejuvenation. One of his victims is Jake’s father Dean. Jake is out on a deadly mission to find his killer, reestablish his good name with his family, and to finally put an end to the Chrysalis Corporation.
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Commentary:
If you think this is going to be an even higher-tech version of the original Knight Rider series, don’t hold your breath. It still has the young loner on a crusade; but it’s not Hasselhoff, and our hero doesn’t even own a car until the middle of the movie. It turns out the car is a junked-out Ford Mustang instead of the sleek Pontiac Trans Am viewers would expect. Script-to-Screen Analysis
The central character of Hannah was originally named Cat. Presumably this was changed due to its similarity to the previous Knight Rider car, K.I.T.T.
Notes:
Produced under Universal’s “Action Pack” banner by respected filmmaker Rob Cohen, this movie took the unprecedented move of doing away with all the original cast, in an attempt to “reinvent” the series. The result is something different, yet strangely familiar—a science fiction story with hints of Knight Rider, but still not Knight Rider.
We have a talking car that thinks for itself and drives under its own volition; its designed to be impervious to most forms of attack and is driven by a young man who realizes he can make a difference. It has the requisite Knight Rider motif (vehicle speeding across the desert landscape—an image common to all Knight Rider series and spin offs) and, like Knight Rider 2000, reuses plot elements from the original Knight Rider’s pilot.
The WB Action Pack premiere of Knight Rider 2010 came on the heels of Universal’s attempts to revive Knight Rider in some form or another. It would be three years before Universal would attempt another spin off, this time with five super cars in Team Knight Rider.
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Highlights:
The only real Knight Rider reference comes from Jake when he says,
“I’m no knight in shining armor,” a nod to the original series episode “A Knight in Shining Armor.”
Trivia:
The movie out-performed all other Universal Action Pack titles in households and male demos, including Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, which became a weekly adventure series.
The trailer for this movie read, “To know what is human in us—
that is the deepest mystery. In the year 2010, that mystery is confronted. In a time when the human is hardware, and the hardware is human. In that place where machine meets flesh. That
is where the truth will lie. Welcome to California as you could never imagine it.”
Hyped by the Action Pack network, most reviews of the movie were extremely negative, citing the confusing plot line and unrealistic character development.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
GET READY TO RIDE
Rick Copp and David A. Goodman, the team behind the 1996 television movie The Adventures of Captain Zoom, were presented with a unique challenge. In late December 1996, Universal Studios wanted to launch a new Knight Rider series, but this time without Michael and K.I.T.T. as the main characters. Copp and Goodman described it as, “a one hour action adventure series that follows the fast-driving, daredevil exploits of an elite group of specially-trained operatives working for the Foundation for Law and Government.” Their mission was to take on any task the police or military could not handle with the help of five artificially intelligent vehicles. The show was conceived by Dan Filie at Universal Studios, who was also responsible for such shows as Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess. He came up with the title and told Copp and Goodman to create a show around it with talking cars and a lot of action. They were able to sell the show simply on the idea because the Knight Rider franchise was so big, especially overseas. Since they were told that David Hasselhoff would not be involved in the new series, they had to come up with a new angle on the franchise and ended up blending elements of James Bond and The Man From U.N.C.L.E., among others. Sterling Pacific Films was in charge of production and each episode had to be shot in only five days, not eight to nine days as most series are. As a result of the fast production, Goodman admits they had trouble communicating with Sterling Pacific. 315
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When they approached Glen A. Larson for approval, Larson looked at the pilot script, and that was about it. During Knight Rider’s original run, he made a deal with the studio that any future Knight Rider sequel would have his name attached as Executive Producer. He later filed a grievance saying that he should receive “Created By” credit as well, and won. Copp and Goodman were given a tight budget of $940,000 per episode and were not able to hire any famous actors for the series. For the part of Kyle Hennessy (later to be renamed Kyle Stewart), several people auditioned, including Corbin Bernson’s brother and Goodman’s friend Richard Kuhlman (who would later guest star in “The Return of Megaman”). Goodman adds that, “We decided not to go with Kuhlman because he looked too old for the part. Our first choice was Brixton Karnes.” Rick Copp knew Karnes, as well as Christine Steel (Jenny). Steel was very inexperienced, but grew a lot as the season progressed. Goodman adds that, “I had worked with Duane Davis on The Adventures of Captain Zoom and really liked his style of acting. He was by far the most experienced of the five. The role of Duke DePalma was conceived as a