Just two weeks before the debut of the pilot film for a potential new Knight Rider TV series on NBC, the heated rivalry between General Motors and Ford has forced producers to call in Val Kilmer (Batman Forever) to replace Will Arnett (Arrested Development) as the voice of highly intelligent uber-auto KITT.

Arnett had already completed his voiceover work for the film when General Motors discovered that the actor who provides the rough hewn vocal dubs for its GMC Truck commercials was also acting as the voice of KITT, who is played in the new Knight Rider by a Ford Mustang, something that was especially galling to GM execs since KITT in the original Knight Rider series was portrayed by a Pontiac Trans-Am (a GM car).  When forced by GM to choose, Arnett went with the long term stability of commercial work rather than the vagaries of series TV, hence the producers' last minute search for a new voice for the super car.