Last week, theTVaddict.com’s Special West Coast Correspondent Steve C. attended the KNIGHT RIDER Media event on the back-lot of NBC studios in Burbank. The following are Steve’s interviews with actors Bruce Davison, Deanna Russo and Sydney Poitier.
Bruce Davison (Charles Graiman)
Steve C: Hi Bruce…ok so to get started, it’s been revealed that your character is actually the genius who created KITT 25 years ago…but your character was never mentioned in the original series…
Bruce Davison: Yeah he was pretty hidden, I was sort of sequestered, but now I’ve been discovered!
So how do you play into the other characters that used to be connected to KITT in the original series like Devon Miles and Wilton Knight
Well I was part of the Foundation (of Law and Government) and was sequestered since the invention of it (KITT) and now the foundation has been resurrected
Now there have been other incarnations of this series like Knight Rider 2000 and Team Knight Rider, do those extended universes play any part of this movie?
We certainly acknowledge our birth and origins, and we’re advancing from the Trans-Am to the Shelby. It’s a new generation and a whole new show, it brings in a whole new perception, and the villains of the world have changed as well. But the same type of tongue in cheek feeling will continue…
Were you ever a fan of the original series?
Yeah I was actually working on the lot when David was doing the original and I’ve known him for 30 years…
What’s the inherent pressure and expectation to be the next generation of the original cult show?
Well everything is different, it’s like what’s happened to Batman and what’s happened to the Bionic Woman, things change and shift and they’ll either fit into a new generation or they wont…but we’ll see, I’ve got real strong feelings about this though and its real interesting because like I mentioned, the villains have changed a bit and the corporate specter and the military specter are much more of a bad guy but at the same time there is an irony and a tongue in cheek about the show and its about what it is…and w/ the special effects and the car, I think there’s a lot of room for lightness and adventure
By Steve C, theTVaddict.com Special West Coast Correspondent
It was a terribly cold California morning the day of the Knight Rider Press/Media event on the back-lot area of NBC studios just outside of the Jay Leno studios. All the outlets of TV, Print and Internet huddled together for warmth, steadily eating pastries for nourishment and chugging hot coffee to keep warm as we waited around. But it wasn’t long before an announcers voice prepared us for the event we’d all gathered to cover. And suddenly the cold was a thing of the past as our bodies filled with adrenaline and warmth as our blood was racing in anticipation, for we were about to get a look at the all new Knight Industries 3000 and meet the cast of this 2-hour movie event.
A roar of engines ignited behind a closed gate at the end of the lot as 3 versions of KITT prepared to roll out. Gone is the classic Pontiac T-Top Trans Am we fell in love with in 1982, this was the new Ford Mustang Shelby GT5500KR. The 1st to pull up was the “Remote KITT” a totally 2-person operated remote-controlled car, which until the show airs we won’t see what we’ve been told is a vehicle that can change shape and color. It roared out, no driver, pulled to a stop and the door opened up. Cool!!! Next was the “Stock KITT” car, the hero car in its natural state, it pulled up with bunch of passengers inside which a few minutes later we discovered was the cast of the show. Just as the hero car slowed to a halt the 3rd vehicle sped out, this was what was referred to as the “Attack KITT”, it quickly was enveloped in a cloud of smoke as it began burning rubber by spinning and doing donuts. Once it pulled ahead and parked, the on-lookers and fellow media attendees all applauded. The cast was then introduced, they exited the Hero KITT and the interviews began.
Now some devotees of the original super car crime fighting drama hold some hard-core attachments to a show that spanned over a good part of the 1980’s. There was a dynamic between the futuristic talking Knight 2000 and it’s Captain Kirk’ish debonair ladies man; Michael Knight that has yet to be matched between a human and a computerized counterpart. So how will this new 2-hour movie event with potential to be a whole new series take to a generation who may never have seen the original series in anything but occasional reruns, or to the generation who last saw KITT race across their TV screen in 1986? As a die-hard fan of the classic show I was honored to be present today to witness the re-birth of the franchise and do truly wish it can garner the speed and recognition it’s creators hope it to achieve. In this incarnation we’re apparently now flash-fowarding 20+ years and seeing a whole new generation of characters including Michael Knight’s son and a newly designed KITT. The cast seemed to be quite laid-back and excited to meet and greet the media, and I was bursting with anticipation to meet them, so began my interview…
Loading ...
