Soap star gets keys to "Knight Rider" TV movie

By Nellie Andreeva

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Meet the new Knight Rider. "All My Children" hunk Justin Bruening is set as the lead in NBC's two-hour movie "Knight Rider," a "Transformers"-inspired sequel to the 1980s series about a man and his talking car.

If successful, the movie could lay the groundwork for a new series.

Bruening will play the son of Michael Knight, the character played by David Hasselhoff in the original series. And like father, like son, the choice of Bruening closely resembles Hasselhoff's casting a quarter-century ago.

Like Bruening, Hasselhoff was a soap star ("The Young & the Restless") with few other credits when he landed "Knight Rider." He was almost the same age as Bruening, who is 28.

Bruening also follows in the footsteps of fellow "Children" alum Josh Duhamel, who made the transition to a primetime leading man as the star of NBC's "Las Vegas."

Bruening plays Jamie Martin on "Children" and also had a role on the ABC soap "One Life to Live."

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter