Justin Bruening is Knight Rider

Back in the 1980's Dark Ages, David Hasslehoff played a non-costumed crime fighter who drove a very hot car. Her name was KITT (for Knight Industries Three Thousand) and every teen in the world wanted to roll with an amazing ride just like her. She was state of the art for weapons, intelligence and was just one heck of a cool set of wheels! Well, KITT is back, sleeker and more tech-loaded than ever but the new TV series, premiering Sept 24th on NBC, doesn't just star a car! Behind the wheel is hottie Justin Bruening as Mike Traceur, the estranged son of David Hasslehoff's Michael Knight character.

Gorgeous Justin is an ex-model and soap opera actor with quite a few prime time TV credits on his resume. He hails from very small-town Nebraska (like a population of 85 people!) so there is still that slice of humble pie in his demeanor but he's very excited about and proud of his new show. We caught up with gung-ho Justin earlier this summer at an NBC party....

TeenTelevision: Is the show going to pick up where the pilot left off?

Justin: No. Forget about the pilot. It's done. It's over. It's gone. My example is if that was "Knight Rider" 2.0, if you consider that the sequel, this is "Knight Rider" 15.0. We took "Knight Rider" and blew it up. It's amazing. It's bigger, badder. It's a cross between James Bond, Jason Bourne, and Batman...It's a melding of the genres.

TeenTelevision: Sounds awesome. Is this a very physical role for you? Seems like a lot of required action for you.

Justin: Yeah. Here's my example of that: I gave up caffeine for like two months. Before, I said, "Yeah, I don't it need anymore. I'm good, I'm rested. We're awesome." And I made it to day three. And I was like, "Go get me a Red Bull, I can't take it anymore! I'm going to die if I don't [get one]." [we laugh] The first episode starts off in the middle of the action. It's really a throwback to James Bond. Really cool. We've got all our little gadgets like "Mission: Impossible" on "Knight Rider". We got the talking car, which is the biggest, coolest gadget of them all. I shouldn't call him a gadget, but he's not here, so it's fine.

TeenTelevision: If you could trick out your own car with a KITT feature, what would it be?

Justin: He transforms. It's pretty cool. I want that. It's amazing. I saw it yesterday. I act like a big kid because you have to for this show. I mean, everything's greenscreened and you just have to have an overactive imagination, so my inner 10-year-old is screaming with joy right now.

TeenTelevision: Had you ever worked with greenscreen effects before?

Justin: No. It's a challenge, you know? And on top of it, the car doesn't actually talk, nothing actually works...

TeenTelevision: I don't think much really worked on the original car either but it looked great.

Justin: Well it's a little secret but our car continues to evolve. He needs to learn. He has super artificial intelligence, and he continues to become more human the more he learns. Which is great having an actual voice actor there to talk to us. He adds that cadence, and he adds the hints of emotion, where our characters can react to that. And it provides a lot of interesting moments when KITT says he is afraid or he has feelings. And you're like, "Well, you're a car..." (Val Kilmer is the voice of KITT)

TeenTelevision: You play David Hasslehoff's son. Does he come back for a little part on the show?

Justin: I don't know if he's going to. Hopefully he does. I think we all want him to. We would love to have him. If there's an opportunity to bring him in, we definitely will. I play his son and I do end up taking over his name. I become Michael Knight in the first episode. Which I don't think it really sunk in until I had to actually say that line where I go like, "Yeah, I'm Michael..." I laughed the entire time. We had to do it so many times because I was just like, "I'm Michael..." [laughs] "I'm sorry." It's a great role. It's my childhood hero, so it's really funny to actually have the words come out of my mouth and say that. But it's an honor to be taking it on.

TeenTelevision: Can you talk about working with beautiful Deanna Russo who plays your ex-girlfriend/friend? She is also a soap opera veteran.

Justin: Deanna's fantastic. She's unlike any actress I've ever worked with. I screen-tested with a lot of actresses for the role, and she was the one that came in and really had a completely different approach to the character. And she really shocked me to the point where I was like, 'Oh, I didn't know you were going to go there! Okay, cool. Let's do that scene.' It was refreshing to have someone come in with a completely different point of view. And she's brilliant in it. Our characters had a relationship in the past but my character has a little Bourne Identity to him where he doesn't remember certain moments of his life. He has amnesia or mindwipe or whatever.

TeenTelevision: So, now you don't remember that you once hooked up with her or what?

Justin: You find out in the first episode that our relationship was actually a lot deeper than in the pilot, and I didn't even remember. She was a little resistant to me. A little harsh with me. And there's a reason why, you find out in the first episode. When I read it, it gave me goosebumps. It was like, 'Oh, crap! I'm glad I don't remember!' It's the perfect guy excuse. It's like, 'I have amnesia. Got nothing. Gone.'

TeenTelevision: Ah, very convenient. Any kick butt stunts or action sequences you're looking forward to shooting?

Justin: I've already shot them! [laughs] Every episode has something. Episode 4 is amazing. Today I had to go to surfing training because Episode 5 was a whole thing with surfboards and surfing. So it's tough. There are amazing stunts, amazing everything. It's fantastic. The first episode starts out with high action. [My character] is kind of a screw up sometimes because I'm very lackadaisical with my approach to missions. I am a solider, I am highly trained, but I don't care. [laughs] It's kind of that. And that's kind of where the humor comes from in our episodes. I tend to screw up things, but I fix everything I screw up. So that presents a little fun challenge.

TeenTelevision: Has a lot changed from the original 1980's series?

Justin: I'm a fan of the original series. So there are things in the original series that I would like to see in the pilot but we put them all in there in the series. And you have to be patient, because we can't fit everything in. I think the fans will be pleased. There's always going to be someone that I think won't like it, but hopefully we'll win them over. You can't remake something that was great, you can only continue it. We got to test the fans' responses, the viewers' responses, and seeing what they liked and did not like, and now we've made a better, badder product.

TeenTelevision: Do you get home much to Nebraska?

Justin: I don't. I've been filming a lot, so I haven't actually gotten to come home a lot. But I hope to soon.

TeenTelevision: Do you hear from people back home a lot? People you went to school with when you were a teen?

Justin: Yeah. They're all my best friends. [laughs] I only had 9 people in my class so they're all my best friends.

TeenTelevision: Do these famous nine people like "Knight Rider"?

Justin: That was a huge show back in the Midwest. The biggest draw, I think, is in the Midwest. Actually my best friend, he's a cop and he actually was in the Army. He watched the "Knight Rider" TV movie and absolutely loved it. He thought it was great.

TeenTelevision: What do you drive now?

Justin: I have a Mustang. I have a Bullitt. You know, the remake of the car that was in the original (Steve McQueen) Bullitt movie?

TeenTelevision: We do. It was a dark green Shelby Mustang Cobra!

Justin: I was nostalgic when I got that.

TeenTelevision: So we take it that you are happy to have the lead in the show?

Justin: Yeah. Definitely. It's awesome. It's been a fantastic joyride. No pun intended.