Everyone liked Justin Bruening?

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Everyone liked Justin Bruening?

Post by KRisBack » Fri Feb 22, 2008 10:39 pm

Am I the only one who thought he looked too young and "pretty boy"ish?

I want KITT to be driven by a guy who looks manly and wont jump up like he's seen a mouse when the car starts talking. C'mon Is a talking car that far fetched when we have GPS units that give voice commands?

"eeek a talking car and it knows my name"

Be a man Mike and stop letting people call you Mike. You're not twelve anymore. Try Michael on for size. It worked when Graiman called you that.

Bruening has a deer stuck in headlights look to him that is just too distracting.

Am I the only one who feels like this?

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Re: Everyone liked Justin Bruening?

Post by Lost Knight » Fri Feb 22, 2008 10:53 pm

I'm sure you're not the only one who feels that way, though I do think you're overanalyzing a bit. He reacted the way he did to K.I.T.T.'s voice because he was suddenly thrust into a hectic situation before he really had time to process everything that was going on. Next thing he knows he's getting picked up by a car driving itself and talking to him. He was more shocked that the guy he thought he was talking to on the headset was actually a car.

If you're going to make the "pretty boy" complaint, what would you consider David Hasselhoff in the original series? He did have a loyal female fan base, after all. Besides, Mike does have the scruffy unkempt look to him to reflect his out of control life.

As for his being called Mike, well I think that's pretty obvious, isn't it? It helps separate his character from Michael Knight's a little bit further. It's bad enough having two K.I.T.T.s; having two Michaels as well would also be kind of pushing it.

Regarding his performance, I thought he did a great job. Fortunately in his case, the way the script was written was to put the most emphasis on K.I.T.T., and therefore we sort of become distracted about whether or not we can accept Justin as the new lead. If the telepic leads to a series, I'm sure the writing will lean back toward the way it did in the original series and focus a lot more on Mike. Also keep in mind that as Shapeshifter pointed out, a racing scene designed to give his character more depth was unable to be filmed. So there is definitely more opportunity to explore his character more deeply later down the line.
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Re: Everyone liked Justin Bruening?

Post by knightofthephoenix » Fri Feb 22, 2008 11:20 pm

KRisBack wrote:I want KITT to be driven by a guy who looks manly and wont jump up like he's seen a mouse when the car starts talking.
I thought that why they had the threesome scene?

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Re: Everyone liked Justin Bruening?

Post by ck37 » Sat Feb 23, 2008 12:02 am

Like David Hasselhoff wasn't a pretty boy when he first started?

Don't blame Justing Bruening, he didn't write his own lines or direct himself. He is an actor told what to say, and given direction on how to say things.

He couldn't improvise, change any dialogue because of the writers strike.

This is a common misconception sometimes when people watch film, tv etc. It truly is a directors medium, but the actors get blamed for a lot when you should look at the director because the way I scene is played etc.are his choices.

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Re: Everyone liked Justin Bruening?

Post by Michael Pajaro » Sat Feb 23, 2008 12:07 am

KRisBack wrote:Be a man Mike and stop letting people call you Mike. You're not twelve anymore. Try Michael on for size. It worked when Graiman called you that.
I'm a 39-year old man whom people call "Mike".

(puts on thick jersey accent) Yous got a problem wit dat?
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Re: Everyone liked Justin Bruening?

Post by MSFproductionsMAIN » Sat Feb 23, 2008 12:16 am

I also kind of understand what the casting people might have been thinking. The Hoff was a Soap Star before Knight Rider. So they figured. Hey let's get another fresh young Soap Actor to do the new roll in this version. I think they got it right by doing so. That's one thing I didn't like about the Star Wars prequils. They had to many big names & not enough unknowns in those movies. One thing I think that made the original trilogy work was the fact the George Lucas cast unknowns for his lead rolls. Only Alec Guiness & Peter Cushing were really known in that movie when it came out in 1977. In the prequils. You had Natalie Portman, Sam Jackson, Liem Nielson. Names that alot of people already knew. So I believe that the casting director got it right by going for a new soap star to play the lead in the new KR. They did try and stick with the same formula that made the original work.

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Re: Everyone liked Justin Bruening?

Post by KRisBack » Sat Feb 23, 2008 12:25 am

Michael Pajaro wrote:
KRisBack wrote:Be a man Mike and stop letting people call you Mike. You're not twelve anymore. Try Michael on for size. It worked when Graiman called you that.
I'm a 39-year old man whom people call "Mike".

(puts on thick jersey accent) Yous got a problem wit dat?

Bruening didn't have a jersey accent. So he doesn't get a free pass in my book but you do. (looks around nervously) :shock:

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Re: Everyone liked Justin Bruening?

Post by KRisBack » Sat Feb 23, 2008 12:27 am

ck37 wrote:Like David Hasselhoff wasn't a pretty boy when he first started?
He certainly didn't have the deer in headlights look.

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Re: Everyone liked Justin Bruening?

Post by Knight6000 » Sat Feb 23, 2008 12:34 am

Bruening was great in the new movie.

He definetly has the tough guy look,he's a pretty good sized guy in real life.Met him back in 2006,talked about KR a bit and some other 80s stuff.He loves the fans of KR and his own personal fans.Just give him a chance.

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Re: Everyone liked Justin Bruening?

Post by knightrover » Sat Feb 23, 2008 12:42 am

i thought justin was pretty good in the pilot.

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Re: Everyone liked Justin Bruening?

Post by Michael Pajaro » Sat Feb 23, 2008 1:04 am

Knight6000 wrote:Met him back in 2006,talked about KR a bit and some other 80s stuff.
Where did you meet him? How did the topic of Knight Rider come up in 2006?
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Re: Everyone liked Justin Bruening?

Post by fsc » Sat Feb 23, 2008 1:12 am

> Am I the only one who thought he looked too young and "pretty boy"ish?

I agree. He looked like an immature bum with the 3 day old beard. Horrible casting all the way around even with the voice of the car.

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Re: Everyone liked Justin Bruening?

Post by Lost Knight » Sat Feb 23, 2008 1:55 am

MSFproductionsMAIN wrote:I also kind of understand what the casting people might have been thinking. The Hoff was a Soap Star before Knight Rider. So they figured. Hey let's get another fresh young Soap Actor to do the new roll in this version.
Well, that might be part of the thinking. Another reason is probably because Justin truly looks like he could be related to David Hasselhoff (at least I think). But I believe the biggest reason of all is because he was cheaper to pay than, say, an A-list star (and that's with all due respect to Justin).
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Re: Everyone liked Justin Bruening?

Post by Kaine » Sat Feb 23, 2008 6:01 am

well, i liked Justin Bruening, thought it was a great choice to cast him!
he looks as if he could be Michael Long's son, and i also liked his delivery of the line with the talking car.
come on, if you want to see the ultra-hard action-heroes you should propably watch Payback or Die Hard.
Knight Rider was always a much more light hearted, fun show.
remember michael knight's reaction to turbo boost sometimes? that was childish too, but that's propably why we liked it. i don't understand why who claim to be fans of the original series, criticise the exact things on the new series that they liked about the classical... that's weird!

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Re: Everyone liked Justin Bruening?

Post by Dalton » Sat Feb 23, 2008 6:11 am

Not fully convinced by him. His look isn't distinctive enough, his presence is a bit weak. The Hoff was a strong character in the role. Try and imagine the young Hoff and Bruening in the same scene togther who would stand out more? The Hoff.

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Re: Everyone liked Justin Bruening?

Post by DeeKnight » Sat Feb 23, 2008 10:29 am

Can we maybe give him more than one episode to judge him? Remember we had 4 seasons of the hoff.

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Re: Everyone liked Justin Bruening?

Post by Knight6000 » Sat Feb 23, 2008 11:00 am

Michael Pajaro wrote:Where did you meet him? How did the topic of Knight Rider come up in 2006?
I posted this in the Welcome!New to the board thread so this is just cut and pasted from there.

As everyone knows he's an ex soap star.Well my wife watches the ABC Soaps and is an avid watcher.I've taken her to the Super Soap Weekend here at MGM Studios at Disney twice.Well the last year we went which was in 2006,Justin Bruening was there.I was out walking in the park and I hear someone comment on my Optimus Prime shirt,so I stopped and told the person thanks and struck up a conversation with him,it was Justin.We were talking about different 80s shows and he brought up KR.I told him that I loved KR and told him about my best friend's KITT replica.He then said that he hoped that one day he got to work on a KR project because he grew up with KR and loved it.

I went back to my wife and told her that I was pretty sure I just held a conversation with one of her soap stars.I showed her Justin as he came up on stage later that day for a Q&A and she freaked out.Then 6 months later he leaves All My Children,the soap he was on.Then in November I was online reading about upcoming projects and I came across KR and lo and behold there is Justin's name credited.Apparently he left the show because of him landing the role of Mike Traceur.
:kitt2:

He didn't say anything about this new KR,as I would believe that in 2006 he wouldn't even have auditioned yet.But he was very nice and respectful and he really does love the show.

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Re: Everyone liked Justin Bruening?

Post by DeeKnight » Sat Feb 23, 2008 11:15 am

^^ Cool,looks like we have someone who really does care about the show.

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Re: Everyone liked Justin Bruening?

Post by Niggle Snoosh » Sat Feb 23, 2008 11:18 am

I have to admit i do think, looks wise he appears a little too sweet and innocent for a rebel persona but inspite of that i enjoyed his performance and thought he pulled it off. He at also showed he can be more than capable in a fight scene.
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Re: Everyone liked Justin Bruening?

Post by DeeKnight » Sat Feb 23, 2008 11:21 am

^^ Yeah if his knee doesnt pop out all the time,ouch!

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Re: Everyone liked Justin Bruening?

Post by Knight6000 » Sat Feb 23, 2008 11:21 am

Definetly.

It was the way he spoke about and the tone if his voice he talked about my best friend's KITT replica,that you could tell he genuinely loves KR.It is that same tone we all get when we get excited about something we love whether it is KR,Transformers,Ghostbusters,etc,etc.

I'm glad that we got someone that really loves the series and hopefully NBC picks it up,cause I'm ready for another great KR series.

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Re: Everyone liked Justin Bruening?

Post by DeeKnight » Sat Feb 23, 2008 11:28 am

It helps i think when your star cares about the show they are in,they bring there own wee touches to it and dont just read straight from the script. I think the Hoff managed that well.

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Re: Everyone liked Justin Bruening?

Post by Knight6000 » Sat Feb 23, 2008 11:41 am

Agreed.

I'm hoping that Hoff gets regular cameo roles so we can see more interaction between Mike and Micheal.

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Re: Everyone liked Justin Bruening?

Post by knightofthephoenix » Sat Feb 23, 2008 12:12 pm

Knight6000 wrote: As everyone knows he's an ex soap star.Well my wife watches the ABC Soaps and is an avid watcher.I've taken her to the Super Soap Weekend here at MGM Studios at Disney twice.Well the last year we went which was in 2006,Justin Bruening was there.I was out walking in the park and I hear someone comment on my Optimus Prime shirt,so I stopped and told the person thanks and struck up a conversation with him,it was Justin.We were talking about different 80s shows and he brought up KR.I told him that I loved KR and told him about my best friend's KITT replica.He then said that he hoped that one day he got to work on a KR project because he grew up with KR and loved it.

I went back to my wife and told her that I was pretty sure I just held a conversation with one of her soap stars.I showed her Justin as he came up on stage later that day for a Q&A and she freaked out.Then 6 months later he leaves All My Children,the soap he was on.Then in November I was online reading about upcoming projects and I came across KR and lo and behold there is Justin's name credited.Apparently he left the show because of him landing the role of Mike Traceur.
WHAT?!? Really? That's pretty crazy. Has he mentioned in interviews he was a big fan and always wanted to work on a KR project?

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Re: Everyone liked Justin Bruening?

Post by KRAvengerII » Sat Feb 23, 2008 3:05 pm

turns out my brother's lady friend is an avid "AMC"' watcher, and tuned into the new KR just to see how Justin Breuning would do.
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