David Hasselhoff wants James Gunn to make a Knight Rider movie
As anyone who’s seen ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’ will be aware, Marvel’s cosmic sequel boasts a few notable references to beloved 1980s TV series ‘Knight Rider’ – and if David Hasselhoff has his way, that might not be the end of writer-director James Gunn’s involvement in that property.
A new feature on Gunn at The Hollywood Reporter features quotes from Hasselhoff, who made a brief cameo appearance in ‘Guardians 2’ and even recorded the vocals for an original song on the film’s soundtrack (for which, it’s been hinted, an all-new music video may be on the way).
The 65-year old screen veteran has long been interested in reviving the ‘Knight Rider’ brand on the big screen, and he thinks James Gunn is the right filmmaker for the job – and, more importantly, he implies that Gunn may be interested. “I’ve given some ideas to James for ‘Knight Rider’ and he responded in a big way.”
In discussing his hopes for a ‘Knight Rider’ movie, The Hoff remarked, “If it does go forward, I don’t want it to be spoofed like ‘Baywatch’ or ’21 Jump Street.’ Those films lose what it’s about and you have to respect the fans.”
It’s perhaps a little surprising to see The Hoff throwing a little shade at the ‘Baywatch’ movie there, particularly given that he makes a comedy appearance in the comedy take on his 1990s series opposite Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. While it wasn’t quite the critical or commercial slam-dunk hoped for, ‘Baywatch’ has proved a modest success, particularly thanks to the German and Austrian box office.
Launched in 1982, ‘Knight Rider’ cast Hasselhoff as Michael Knight, police officer-turned-agent of crime-fighting organisation FLAG, who drives the high-tech, artificially intelligent super-car KITT, the vehicle that every kid wanted to own in the 1980s (and many doubtless still do).
The original show ran for four seasons. Since there have been a number of ‘Knight Rider’ TV movies, 1997 series ‘Team Knight Rider’ and a 2008 ‘Knight Rider’ reboot series, but none have managed to catch on the way the original show did.
Still, The Hoff has never stopped waving the flag for ‘Knight Rider.’ In the early 2000s, he even asked Orlando Bloom to play Michael Knight Jr in a ‘Knight Rider’ movie. Despite various movie adaptations having been in development over the past 15 years (with ‘Fast & Furious’ director Justin Lin linked at one point), none have come to fruition so far.
As for whether or not James Gunn actually wants to make a ‘Knight Rider’ movie – the filmmaker himself has not remarked on the matter at present, but it looks most likely that his next feature will be the inevitable ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3,’ most likely arriving in 2020 (although it doesn’t have a confirmed release date yet).
In the meantime, ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2’ comes to home entertainment in the UK on 4 September.
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