Knight Rider Stars Share What Drives Them
SCI FI Wire recently interviewed Justin Bruening and Deanna Russo who star in NBC's upcoming Knight Rider Movie. The two reveal what drives their characters and other elements of the show.
In NBC's upcoming movie Knight Rider Justin Bruening is Mike Tracer and his character is described as "a former Army Ranger and Iraq War vet who has fallen on hard times when he's called to help out Sarah Graiman (Deanna Russo), the daughter of Charles Graiman (Bruce Davison), inventor of K.I.T.T., who has gone missing."
Recently talking to SCI FI Wire Bruenin describes Knight Rider's Transformer vibe when it comes to the new K.I.T.T. car; "The Transformers aspect is that the car actually morphs into different colors and actually morphs into an attack mode," Bruening said and he added; "It grows a spoiler and becomes more aerodynamic than a stock Shelby Cobra."
In this new movie K.I.T.T., or Knight Industries Three Thousand, is a computer-enhanced, the car used is a 540-horsepower black Mustang Shelby GT 500 KR.
When in "attack mode" K.I.T.T. has "armored louvers over the grill, a large spoiler on the back deck, black rims on the wheels and other enhancements."
Bruening talks about working with David Hasselhoff; "..."The Hoff" was amazing, actually," Bruening said. He added: "I watched the original show, and I was a huge fan when I was a kid. And that was the first day of filming, and standing there, you know, I was already nervous just filming in general, and here comes this 6-foot-4 giant that I used to idolize as a kid. And ... it was just surreal, and getting to work with him was just so much fun. It's one of those moments that you get to tell your grandkids, I guess."
Actress Dena Russo stars along with Bruening. She recently told SCI FI Wire about her role as the "smart girl" who gets things moving.
"I play Sarah Graiman," Russo said in an interview on Jan. 14. She added: "The guy that plays my father, Bruce Davison, he invented K.I.T.T., so I kind of helped with algorithms with K.I.T.T."
Russo further describes the show mixing action with comedy like the original series from the 1980's. "There are comedic elements, but it's multilayered," Russo said, adding with tongue in cheek: "It's layered like a fine Swiss watch. ... The depth and complexity, it'll blow your mind."
Spending time inside K.I.T.T. is part of Russo job; "The stunts that I work on are the driving stunts," she said. "I get to sit in a remote-control car, ... essentially a Mustang covered with a dune buggy [in which a stunt driver sits], ... [on] mountain roads and [doing] quick turns between large cement pillars in an underground garage. It's neverending. It's awesome."
But the truth is that Russo doesn't actually do the driving around. "Dude, no!" she exclaimed. "That's a really good point. I don't drive K.I.T.T. That's not fair. In fact, as soon as the character Mike gets in on this, all of a sudden, he sits in the driver's seat. I'm like, 'Yo, my dad built this car, hello?' Yeah, the passenger seat."
Knight Rider is set to airs as a two-hour movie on Feb. 17 at 9 p.m. and actress Sydney Tamiia Poitier (GRINDHOUSE) also stars as an FBI agent.