Handle this story with your sturdiest pair of rumour gloves, but the courageous bloggers at Schmoes Know believe they have a major exclusive on the Weinsteins' developing Knight Rider movie. According to the Schmoes' intelligence, Danny McBride and Chris Pratt have been offered central roles.
Knight Rider, should you need reminding, was a 1980s TV action series about David Hasselhoff and a talking car. Or, if you prefer, it was a shadowy flight into the dangerous world of a man who does not exist. The Hoff played Michael Knight, a young loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent, the helpless, the powerless, in a world of criminals who operate above the law. You know what's sad? We didn't even have to look that shit up.
What we know for certain about this new version is that Brad Copeland has been tasked with the first draft of the screenplay. Back when it was announed last June, we mused that the veteran of the Arrested Development and NewsRadio teams, and the sole writer of Wild Hogs and Yogi Bear, was an odd choice for a high-octane, all-action update. If the McBride rumours are true, they do shed some light on that subject. We're not looking at a serious Knight Rider here: we're looking at a 21 Jump Street-style spoof-boot.
That begs the further question of who'd play whom. The Schmoes put their money on Pratt as Knight, with McBride as the voice of artficially intelligent Trans Am K.I.T.T. (it stands for Knight Industries Two Thousand - we didn't look that up either), but we're not sure we agree. The Jump Street angle might suggest McBride as a slobbily inept Knight, with Pratt perhaps as a villain or the voice of K.I.T.T. (he did pretty good voice work in The Lego Movie, after all). Or if Pratt were to play Knight, might we see McBride as his "handler" Devon Miles?
Whatever: this may all be nonsense. But give us your thoughts on spoof vs. serious in the comments below, and watch this space for further turbo-boosted updates.