Kilmer Voicing KITT in 'Knight Rider'

(FROM VARIETY) – Val Kilmer has been cast as the voice of KITT, the car in NBC's Knight Rider revival, which airs Feb. 17. The actor replaces Will Arnett, who had actually filmed all his parts as the car's voice, but then had to pull out due to contractual reasons. The problem lies in that Arnett does voiceover work for GMC Trucks, and because KITT is a Ford Mustang, GM asked the actor to step down. ''I was very excited at the prospect of playing the part of KITT in the new Knight Rider movie," Arnett said. ''However, because of a long relationship with General Motors as the voice of GMC Trucks, I had to respectfully withdraw from the project.''

The new Knight Rider centers on Mike Tracer (Justin Bruening), Michael Knight's son he never knew he had. David Hasshelhoff, who played Michael Knight in NBC's original 1980s TV series, will reprise his role for the movie. The story follows Tracer, recruited by his childhood best friend, Sarah Graiman (Deanna Russo), and her physicist father, Charles (Bruce Davison), as he joins the Knight Foundation, a group committed to mitigating damage done by private, covert military contractors. To help them achieve their goals, Charles creates a second-generation talking KITT car, which a shady millionaire tries to steal. NBC will air the two-hour telepic on Feb. 17 as a pilot, and if successful, the network could pick it up as a series.

Kilmer's past voiceover includes voicing Moses in 1998's The Prince of Egypt. (Variety)