Filed under: Ford, Celebrities
Val Kilmer to voice KITT, Will Arnett is out
Man, how time flies. The return of Knight Rider to the small screen happens in just nine days when a two-hour movie featuring a new Michael Knight and his talking, jumping, cloaking car airs February 17th on NBC. You'd think with such little time left that the movie itself would be finished and ready to go. Not so. A few weeks ago, Will Arnett, the chosen voice of KITT in the movie and upcoming series, was forced to back out because someone realized that he also did voiceover work for GMC. Being a professional grade voice for General Motors doesn't jive with playing KITT in a show that's sponsored by Ford, so the Arrested Development star vacated the role. His replacement: Val Kilmer. Wha?!?!?! Doc Holliday? Ice Man? Nick Rivers? It's true. Kilmer's a pretty big star for the production to score on such short notice, but then again, Kilmer hasn't had a mainstream hit in a while. Still, why doesn't someone just bite the bullet and call William Daniels, the original voice of KITT who is also known for playing Mr. Feeny on Boy Meets World? Admit it, Val Kilmer's synthesized pipes coming from KITT's tweeters will never live up to the high standard set by Daniels. But don't worry Val, we'd say the same thing about anyone they got for this job except for the original voice of KITT.
[Source: knightrideronline.com via Jalopnik]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
indymcsc 7:33AM (2/08/2008)
Wow, does Val need work that bad?
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DCragtop 7:41AM (2/08/2008)
no, just another meal.
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DCragtop 7:42AM (2/08/2008)
This is just creepy. It was bad enough when he was 'Batman'....now KITT? Hollywood dun bump dey head.
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Vik 7:59AM (2/08/2008)
Kilmer's voice is not distinctive enough for this type of work. They'll probably process it so much we won't be able to recognize it, anyway. I'll bet William Daniels was approached for this project (how could he not be their first choice) but he probably declined. He is in his 80s and I'm sure he can afford to be picky about his projects these days. This show isn't gonna be the next Battlestar Galactica.
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E.J. 8:05AM (2/08/2008)
I don't want to hear the voice of Daniels coming out of that ugly thing...
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John R 8:17AM (2/08/2008)
+1
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Gstill 8:19AM (2/08/2008)
I remember thinking that when I heard Arnett got the job. I knew he did voice-over work for GM, but I didn't think that would be a conflict of interest. I guess I didn't realize how invested in this show Ford really is.
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stang_fan 8:31AM (2/08/2008)
I'm a fan of Val Kilmer, I actually liked his Batman...even if it was done better by Micheal Keaton. But after seeing Mr. Kilmer on a recent rerun of NUMBERS, I have to wonder why they built KITT. I mean, the poor guy looked like he needed his own wheels to move his (then?) portly body. Just put Mr. Kilmer in a shiney black suit, put some rollers under him and with the magic of the "green screen" he's ready to fight crime...with or without human assistance.
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Jeff 8:50AM (2/08/2008)
Speaking of Batman - Kevin Conroy, the guy who did the voice for the Animated "Batman" through the 90s and early part of this decade would be perfect for the part, IMO.
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Jeremy 9:16AM (2/08/2008)
Well, this just frees up Arnett for the Arrested Development reunion!
But where'd the lighter fluid come from?
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John R 9:29AM (2/08/2008)
I can't play KITT because of the GM ads! Come On!!
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MajorGeek 9:38AM (2/08/2008)
Well, KITT was always a monotone voice, so just about anyone could do it, having a name that interests people doing the voice is more important then the voice itself. I hate to admit it, but I think I will give it a chance, though I will use the writers strike and nothing on TV as my excuse.
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Bob 9:45AM (2/08/2008)
This is not Mel Torme...
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Jon 9:49AM (2/08/2008)
Let's give it a chance. It's not like there are many car tv show alternatives for us to watch. I'm sure it won't be as corny as the original, though I have great memories from it.
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Richard 10:02AM (2/08/2008)
Is it me or is Val morphong into Bill Hurt?
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Corey W. 10:09AM (2/08/2008)
This has to be some sort of marketing scheme, with today's technology, they can synthesize any voice they want. Hell you can make me sound like George Bush if I wanted. And how many people knew the original voice was William Daniels?!? Or even who he is?!? And not to be negative, but this show is going to fail just like the last 4+ times they tried to make a new Knight Rider or spin-off of the show. People don't watch this type of stuff anymore, they rather have crap like Sex in the City and Flavor of Love...
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Leaf 10:11AM (2/08/2008)
This show is going to bomb fast and hard.
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joey 10:26AM (2/08/2008)
Daniels would never have wanted to do this version. He doesn't even want credit for the first time around.
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BMWdownshift 10:29AM (2/08/2008)
I was hoping Will Arnett would be replaced with Wanda Sykes.
"You want the what? the turbo boost bay-bee ? uh uh I'm busy honey"
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MajorGeek 10:38AM (2/08/2008)
See, now THAT would be funny! Or, as mentioned above, just give KITT Flavor Flav's voice.
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