Actor Justin Bruening has a new job – and, as a result, a new
car. Or, if one wants to get technical about it, two new cars.
But only one is garnering all of the attention these days –
even more attention than Bruening, in fact.
That’s
par for the course when you’re the tough guy behind the wheel
in the new incarnation of the ’80s cult hit TV series “Knight
Rider.” In which case, the wheels are the star of the show,
and the driver is pretty much a sidekick. Not that Bruening
has problems with that arrangement, he just wishes his cohort
were a bit more, say, magnanimous.
“He’s
a little standoff-ish,” jokes Bruening about his vehicular
pal, the KITT 3000. “You have to coax him into opening up and
talking.”
Actually,
the 29-year-old Bruening is having a blast continuing the
legacy of the original Knight Rider’s star David Hasselhoff
and his souped-up Pontiac Trans Am. Bruening plays the
estranged son of Hasselhoff’s Michael Knight, so this version
is as much sequel as it is remake. n That said, Bruening notes
that this is not your older brother’s “Knight Rider.”
“When
I watched the show in ’83, it was great. But when I went back
and watched ‘Knight Rider’ reruns, that show would never hold
up today,” says the Nebraska-born actor. “It was such an
amazing show with such a great premise of a talking car.
Nobody’s car talked. So that was the coolest thing on TV. And
now we’re drenched in reality, so we need realistic
storylines.
“We
have a talking car, so obviously we have something that’s a
little absurd,” says Bruening. “But our episodes are based on
realistic stories and KITT has just become another actor on
our show. It’s like a buddy-cop film.”
More
has changed. Whereas the urbane William Daniels (also of St.
Elsewhere fame) supplied the voice of the KITT 2000 back in
the day, today the calm tones of Val Kilmer give the 3000 its
personality. The biggest switch, though, is KITT’s physical
presence.
Modern
times call for a modern ride – in this case, a Shelby Cobra GT
500 KR version of the Ford Mustang, fully loaded with all of
the fixings, including a few that aren’t offered to the usual
consumer, such as turbo-boosting and a “transformer” mode.
“That’s pretty neat,” says a beaming Bruening. “He transforms
not onto tall robots, but into other cars. It’s a form of
camouflage, a tactical advantage. He can transform into any
other car, which is a neat aspect of the mission. Sometimes my
character doesn’t even know it’s him.”
Bruening
knew who KITT was the first time he saw him last year before
production began on the two-hour “Knight Rider” film that
would spawn the new series – because he already had his eye on
the Shelby. After several years of living in car-unfriendly
New York City, where he had a regular role on the daytime
drama “All My Children,” Bruening and his wife, actress Alexa
Havins, returned last year to Hollywood, where the car is
king. And Bruening knew just what car he
wanted.
“I
wanted a Shelby Cobra when I moved back to L.A. and I thought
that Lexi would buy me one for Christmas,” he says. It worked
out conveniently that I got a job where I get to drive one
every day, so now she doesn’t have to buy me
one.”
Instead,
Bruening stayed within his new vehicular family, obtaining a
2008 Ford Mustang Bullitt after filming on the “Knight Rider”
movie wrapped. He admits that appearances did play a role in
his choice. “Driving a Camaro around probably wouldn’t be that
good,” he says, even though he has an uncle who exclusively
drives the Chevy-made muscle car. Bruening considered
buying a standard Mustang GT and fixing it up to his
specifications, “but I looked at what I wanted to do with the
car, I basically had just designed the Bullitt. It was already
made, and it was perfect.”
Well,
almost perfect. Bruening did some of his own modifications,
but tried hard not to to muck up the Bullitt’s “unassuming”
quality.
“I didn’t get fuzzy
dice or a TV that comes out of the rear-view mirror,” he says.
Instead, he focused on the sound system, installing a large
subwoofer in the trunk; and he had a Hurst shifter installed
for aesthetics as much as anything else, though he does note
that it’s “sacrilege” to drive a Bullitt with an automatic
transmission. (By the way, his wife can’t drive a stick, a
situation Bruening doesn’t seem terribly displeased
about.)
And
there’s an extra advantage to Bruening owning a Bullitt. He
actually has bragging rights within the motorized “Knight
Rider” family. In the universe of the show, KITT can go up to
300 miles per hour. But in the real world, in a road race
between the Bullitt and the Shelby Cobra KR, it’s another
story. “My car would actually beat the car that we have on the
show,” Bruening says with pride. “I believe so, anyway – I
haven’t tested this out yet.” Sounds like a very special
episode in the making.
By
Dave Waldon
© CTW
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