The Ford Mustang stars in NBC's amped-up reboot of an '80s classic
Even in tough times, a feel-good movie can always cheer up a person -- or an automaker.
It happened to General Motors last summer when the hit flick "Transformers" put the spotlight on the company's hot vehicles, not its economic challenges.
Now it's Ford's turn to bask in a similar glow with a TV movie. Tonight's revival of "Knight Rider" on NBC stars a Mustang -- a Ford Shelby GT500KR -- as KITT, the famous talking supercar.
In marketing terms, it's a major coup for Ford. There aren't too many roles for cars bigger or better than KITT, which was played by a Pontiac Trans Am in the original 1982-86 series.
And there aren't too many TV shows with more guy appeal than "Knight Rider," the action-adventure romp that starred David Hasselhoff as Michael Knight, a justice fighter whose incredibly cool set of wheels had artificial intelligence.
Although the storylines sometimes bordered on the ridiculous, "Knight Rider" was a favorite of the young male demographic so beloved by advertisers, largely thanks to KITT.
"You always wanted to see more of the car, but you never really wanted to see Hasselhoff get out of the car," says Brian Kelly, owner of Detroit Comics in Ferndale. He remembers watching the show and describes its tone as " 'T.J. Hooker' serious."
The 2008 rebooting of "Knight Rider" has some impressive credentials. It was overseen by executive producers Doug Liman, the director who reinvented the 1980 spy novel "The Bourne Identity" as a slick hit for the new millennium, and David Bartis, his producing partner.
With the success of revamped '80s icons like "Transformers" and NBC's "American Gladiators," Hollywood is enamored of projects with a beloved place in pop-culture history.
But it's also the relationship between men and cars that resonated with Bartis, who feels there's a vacuum right now in the "cool guy, cool car franchise" that previously reigned on shows like "Dukes of Hazzard," "Magnum P.I." and "Miami Vice."
In "Knight Rider" 2.0, the cool guy is Justin Bruening, formerly of "All My Children," who plays Mike Tracer, an Iraq war vet who joins forces with an old friend (Deanna Russo), the daughter of KITT's inventor (Bruce Davison), to do battle with nefarious forces.
According to Bartis, the new version is different, but stays true to the original's spirit.
Audiences have grown to expect more character development in their TV dramas and a more sophisticated level of special effects, which dictated some of the changes. But unlike the recent "Bionic Woman" reinvention on NBC, which has a darker edge, "Knight Rider" will have a tone that's "lighter, more blue sky, action-y, maybe more escapist," Bartis says.
And this time out, the cool car is the GT500KR (the "KR" is for "king of the road," not "Knight Rider," although the people at Ford admit the letters are a nice coincidence).
'The golden apple'
The real-life version of the car was revealed at the New York auto show last year and celebrates the 40th anniversary of the 1968 Shelby Cobra GT500KR, says Alan Hall, global product and technology communications manager for Ford. It's expected to be available in the spring in a limited edition of 1,000 units. It will be produced at the AutoAlliance plant in Flat Rock and final assembly will occur at the Shelby Automobiles factory in Las Vegas. The vehicle is priced at $79,995.
The Mustang's starring role in "Knight Rider" gives Ford an opportunity for big-time brand integration, the industry term for the process of linking products to entertainment and creating a connection that goes beyond merely borrowing a car for a scene. In connection with the movie, Ford is also doing a sweepstakes where viewers will have a chance to win four Ford cars.
There's an emotional aspect to product placement that's hard to duplicate through advertisements, as anyone who remembers Reese's Pieces from "E.T." or Ray-Ban aviator sunglasses from "Top Gun" realizes.
"From where I sit at Ford, a project like 'Knight Rider' is the golden apple," says Al Uzielli, senior adviser at Ford Global Brand Entertainment, who describes Bartis and Liman as old pals and who was interested in the project from the moment he found out about it.
Bartis says they talked to many car companies, but there was an easier dialogue with Ford. "When I lined up all the options available to us in the car landscape, I had a visceral reaction to this car," he says.
From the famous 1968 Mustang that raced through San Francisco in "Bullitt" to the GT500 featured in Will Smith's "I Am Legend," Mustangs have nabbed starring roles in too many movies to count. Still, Bartis says there was much thought given to selecting the right replacement for the discontinued Trans Am.
The goal was "to find something that embodies the qualities of what the original car stood for," says Bartis. "For me, the qualities were, a) it had to be an American car, b) it had to be two-door. There's something inherently uncool about a four-door and I can say that, having kids. It had to have some muscle to it. It had to have that intangible cool factor. There's something aggressive and bold about this car."
A car buff's dreams
The new KITT is described as a gadget-packed ride of a car buff's dreams. It has a supercomputer that can hack almost any system and, thanks to nanotechnology, some pretty nifty abilities to shift shape and color.
The TV movie features three modes of KITT, including a fantasy Attack version with air-ride technology designed by Harold Belker ("Batman & Robin"), who worked with Ted Moser and his team at Picture Car Warehouse in Los Angeles.
Val Kilmer, the star of "Batman Forever," will be the voice of KITT, a job originally held by the exquisitely snippy Williams Daniels of "St. Elsewhere" fame. Kilmer has done voice work before, most notably as Moses in the animated film "The Prince of Egypt."
Comic actor Will Arnett ("Arrested Development") was supposed to be KITT's voice, but he had to drop out because he does voice-over work for GMC.
And don't hassle the Hoff -- the producers gave Hasselhoff a cameo, realizing fully how important that would be to fans. It will be revealed that Hasselhoff's character has a special bond to the new driver of KITT.
"He's very emotionally attached to the show," says Bartis, adding that Hasselhoff shared a lot of insight as to why the original series worked so well. "He's really passionate about it."
Now it's just a matter of persuading viewers to embrace the TV movie, which could become a regular series if enough viewers are drawn to it.
Bartis is counting on a time-honored formula to work its magic once again.
"To me, there's something so fundamental about the guy-car relationship," he says. "I don't really know how to rationalize it, but it's there."
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