Last week, theTVaddict.com’s Special West Coast Correspondent Steve C. attended the KNIGHT RIDER Media event on the back-lot of NBC studios in Burbank. The following are Steve’s interviews with actors Bruce Davison, Deanna Russo and Sydney Poitier.
Bruce Davison (Charles Graiman)
Steve C: Hi Bruce…ok so to get started, it’s been revealed that your character is actually the genius who created KITT 25 years ago…but your character was never mentioned in the original series…
Bruce Davison: Yeah he was pretty hidden, I was sort of sequestered, but now I’ve been discovered!
So how do you play into the other characters that used to be connected to KITT in the original series like Devon Miles and Wilton Knight
Well I was part of the Foundation (of Law and Government) and was sequestered since the invention of it (KITT) and now the foundation has been resurrected
Now there have been other incarnations of this series like Knight Rider 2000 and Team Knight Rider, do those extended universes play any part of this movie?
We certainly acknowledge our birth and origins, and we’re advancing from the Trans-Am to the Shelby. It’s a new generation and a whole new show, it brings in a whole new perception, and the villains of the world have changed as well. But the same type of tongue in cheek feeling will continue…
Were you ever a fan of the original series?
Yeah I was actually working on the lot when David was doing the original and I’ve known him for 30 years…
What’s the inherent pressure and expectation to be the next generation of the original cult show?
Well everything is different, it’s like what’s happened to Batman and what’s happened to the Bionic Woman, things change and shift and they’ll either fit into a new generation or they wont…but we’ll see, I’ve got real strong feelings about this though and its real interesting because like I mentioned, the villains have changed a bit and the corporate specter and the military specter are much more of a bad guy but at the same time there is an irony and a tongue in cheek about the show and its about what it is…and w/ the special effects and the car, I think there’s a lot of room for lightness and adventure