KITTSite Covers Knight Rider @ Comic-Con '08: Justin Bruening Speaks!
KITTSite was able to participate in several interviews with Knight Rider cast and crew following the Knight Rider panel at the Comic-Con International in San Diego, and now it's time for that to start rolling out, albeit a week or two later - sorry for the delay!

Today, we post our interview with Justin Bruening, who will be playing the lead in Knight Rider as Mike Traceur.

BE WARNED OF SPOILERS BELOW.

In the trailer shown at Comic-Con and on NBC.com, there were many exciting clips, but one that particularly caught fan attention is a scene where is Justin Bruening is seen introducing himself as Michael Knight. Shooting the scene was a surreal experience for the long-time Knight Rider fan. "It was the same feeling that I had when David Hasselhoff said it to me, except I got to express it this time," Justin laughs. "When I read the script of the first episode, I was like 'shut up! Am I really now? That's awesome!' And it makes sense. You can't have Knight Rider without Michael Knight," he explains. "It's kind of like the original pilot; it's a nice little origin story."

Recalling that scene from February's KR pilot movie, Justin could not keep from smiling when filming with Hasselhoff. "I was trying to be all professional around David, and I didn't want to mess up the scene, and I'm trying not to smile because I'm not supposed to like when he says that to me," he says.

Justin confirms that he would enjoy the chance to drive the classic Trans Am and says that he has enjoyed hearing and reading the theories on where the original KITT might be. "I'd love to drive that," he says, "even if our car could transform into that, would be freakin' sweet."

Of KITT's many new features, the heads-up dashboard display seems to be among Justin's favorites. "It's kind of like Minority Report. I can move files; I can view video files. At one point I move the speedometer up there so I can look at it. Everything is interactive. People can come up on a chat line and actually talk to me from headquarters [on there], and I think that's my favorite feature, because every week we'll get something new," he says. Bruening also confirms that unlike in the TV-movie, Mike will be doing most of the driving. "In the pilot, there were some really boring moments where we're just sitting in the car and KITT's driving and nothing's going on, so now what we've added is that my character always drives, unless, obviously, he's wounded and he can't see, or his eyes are shot out or something," he says.

Finally, knowing that Justin Bruening was a fan of the original Knight Rider, it seemed time to ask the eternal question of character preference - which character did he have a crush on as a child, Bonnie or April? Bruening confirms that Patricia McPherson's character of Bonnie was his top choice. "Bonnie was the original, and then she got replaced with April, and then Bonnie came back, and they didn't explain anything in that," he explains. "And Sarah - she's kind of like Bonnie a little bit. [Deanna and I] did a screen test and they had her come out in a mechanic's outfit, and I was like 'Now I get it. Now I understand why there's a girl'," he laughs.

Knight Rider premieres September 24 on NBC.

Read our full coverage from Comic Con '08: Justin Bruening (Mike Traceur) - Gary Scott Thompson (Executive Producer) - Deanna Russo (Sarah Graiman) - Bruce Davison (Charles Graiman) - David Bartis (Executive Producer)

Read some more spoilers! - Return to the KITTSite home page