In the movie Batman Forever, Val Kilmer as Batman said "Chicks love the car." There he was talking about the Batmobile, but maybe he was being prophetic, too. Kilmer has just signed to replace Will Arnett as the voice of KITT in the forthcoming NBC Knight Rider telefilm/back-door pilot. I want you to note that in the original link, they've been very generous in picture selection for Mr. Kilmer, as his waist size and age have apparently been running neck and neck the last several years. This article chose a more recent picture, and right now we're all thankful he's only doing voice work on the film.Knight Rider premieres in 10 days (02-17-2008) and Arnett had completed all of the voice work already. Apparently, as our own Kristin witnessed first-hand, the new KITT is a Ford Mustang and Arnett had done some GM commercial work before so it would be blasphemy to let him voice a Ford car. BLASPHEMY!!
So he could either get in big trouble with GM or bow out and let someone else re-read all the same lines. Thank god it wasn't one of the live actors they had to yank or we'd be in for some awkward reshoots and camera shifts. Kilmer should be able to hurry up and get those lines recorded, so long as someone picks him up. I don't see him running there to get it done.
Kind of makes me wish William Daniels were still alive to solve this whole problem. He is? Well, why didn't he sign up, then? 80 years old! What's the problem there?
KITT: "Hurry up, Michael."Mike: "Actually, I go by Mike."
KITT: "That's fine Michael, but we really need to get going. I don't want to miss Matlock."
Mike: "Well could you hurry up, he's going to get away."
KITT: "The posted speed limit is 35, Michael."
Mike: "Yeah, but you're going 20, KITT."
KITT: "Better to be safe than sorry. (mutters) Damned kids always in such a damned hurry all the damned time!"
Mike: "What'd you say, KITT?"
KITT: "Nothing, Michael. When we get home I want you to sit in the garage with me for awhile ... to talk."
Yeah, maybe casting younger isn't such a bad idea.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-07-2008 @ 10:15AM
Usama said...
Arnett was a big reason why I was going to watch this. GM should lighten up? I don't know, I guess they're paying the guy and there's a whole conflict of interest thing going on here but it's not like I'm going to buy a car based on the voice actor (in either a commercial or a television show).
Not that I don't like Kilmer (although I don't like Batman Forever), I'll probably still watch this thing but a lot of the "fun" is gone. Still if this tv-movie-destined-to-be-a-tv-show fails then I'm happy Arnett isn't attached to it anymore. At that point my only concern would be Deanna Russo.
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2-07-2008 @ 10:58AM
dna said...
I really like Val Kilmer but my only reason to watch this was Will Arnett. Looks like KinghtRider's lost a viewer and both Ford and GM have lost my respect, over such a trivial, petty marketing 'catastrophe'.
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2-07-2008 @ 10:59AM
Boomstick said...
Arnett made the wise choice going with GM. I doubt the new Knight Rider will ever be as popular as the old version. The days of formulaic good guy versus bad guy shows with a sprinkling of hot female guest stars is over. Unless they are planning some unspoken love interest between KITT and Michael, like a mechanical version of Ross and Rachael, I don't see enough character interaction to hold an audience.
KITT: Do you like the massaging action of the chair Michael?
MIke: I do.
KITT: Good. Now, just sit back and relax. Let me do the driving.
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2-07-2008 @ 12:13PM
eugene said...
you just hit the nail on the head! Ross should be in the new knight ryder show as michael's son... that would be spectacular.
2-07-2008 @ 12:00PM
Curt said...
I'm kind of glad. I didn't want to watch this terribly, but I was going to strictly for the Arnett factor. But if they want to put douchebag Kilmer in instead, that saves me some time.
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2-07-2008 @ 12:19PM
Oreo said...
I wasn't going to watch this trash anyways, so I guess it doesn't matter.
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2-07-2008 @ 1:26PM
sitruc said...
I had wondered about that and even remembered him talking about the commercials on Conan or something, but this seems really dumb to come up this late in the game. GMC better give him a raise for this extra publicity. Kilmer looks more like Louie Anderson in that picture...
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2-07-2008 @ 1:26PM
Mike said...
Looks like I'm not watching this anymore. Bummer.
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2-07-2008 @ 3:15PM
Argus said...
This sucks... I already watched the commercial and I loved hearing Arnett go "Hello Michael."
He was the only reason I wanted to watch this. Now I won't.
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2-07-2008 @ 3:26PM
Nathaniel said...
Well... this is just... stupid.
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2-07-2008 @ 8:42PM
Karen said...
This is a particularly glaring example of the pitfalls of product placement. I can't believe the producers are letting the product placement sponsor dictate casting decisions. That is just...egregious abuse.
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2-07-2008 @ 10:44PM
Gerard said...
Isn't this the sort of thing actors have agents for? Aren't they supposed to negotiate these things BEFORE someone completes all of the work? "No, Will, you do GMC voice overs, so you can't be the voice of a Ford Mustang. Sorry."
Seems like somebody fell down on the job.
But Val Kilmer seems like a good choice as a replacement...for something I don't really want to watch. (I'm sorry, but "Battlestar Galactica" raised my hopes and "Bionic Woman" dashed them. I'm gunshy again about remakes of the crap I watched as a young 'un.)
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2-07-2008 @ 11:40PM
Steve said...
What I would like to know is how the original Pontiac Firebird KITT (a GM product) now becomes a Ford Mustang KITT (obviously a Ford product!) . I think they should have kept Arnett AND have KITT stay as a GM product (and for those who want to know , YES , I do work for GM) . I think KITT would have looked great as a new Camaro!
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2-07-2008 @ 11:45PM
mldnmn said...
Another thing that is annoying is that it is not being shown in HD - I've checked various sites as my Tivo does not note as such .... and can't find it anywhere online that is going to be... WTF? You'd think NBC would do all they can to get viewers !
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2-26-2008 @ 7:03AM
couger said...
Arnett made the knight rider series, iam watching the original series everynight. What would have been good was to have the original pontiac in the new movie and series and see how K.I.T.T can battle against enemy's in a new era, also K.I.T.T came back in knight rider 2000 with the same voice. Now Val kilmer as K.I.T.T!? he sucked as batman, well you have lost big fan of the orginial series.
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