Corporate Shenanigans Force Out Will Arnett as Voice of KITT

Weirdest Actor-Replacement Story You’ll Ever Hear: So Will Arnett had already finished recording his performance as the voice of super-car KITT in NBC’s new version of Knight Rider, but when chief sponsor Ford — the company providing the new KITT car as well as much of the promotion and branding for the backdoor pilot — figured out that Arnett has been the voice of General Motors GMC Trucks campaign for nearly ten years, they asked Arnett to pull out and hired Val Kilmer to rerecord KITT’s dialogue. What’s weirder: The Man demanding Val Kilmer or the fact that everyone in Detroit thinks Will Arnett sounds like a car? This is what happens when you don’t have the Hoff around to straighten things out. [Variety]

Izzy’s Back!: Eddie Izzard will workshop his new (and as-yet-untitled) solo show in New York for eleven nights next month at the Union Square Theatre. As long as his The Riches co-star Minnie Driver’s not opening, we’re there. [Playbill]

Murphy Inherits Poor Things: Apparently Brittany Murphy’s career is so far down the toilet that she’s the casting agent’s second call after Lindsay Lohan. Murphy is considering taking over a role vacated by Lohan in the indie suspense thriller Poor Things. [HR]

Forster, Archer, Douglas See Ghosts: Robert Forster and former Fatal Attraction co-stars Anne Archer and Michael Douglas fill out the supporting cast of the Matthew McConaughey–Jennifer Garner rom-com Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. Let’s hope the film offers Douglas and Archer no opportunities to rekindle their old chemistry. [Variety]

Vedder, Young Support Body: The Sire label releases a two-disc soundtrack to the forthcoming Phil Donahue–co-directed documentary Body of War, about a paralyzed Iraq-war veteran. Eddie Vedder, Neil Young, Bright Eyes, and Tom Morello all contribute tracks. [Billboard]

Funny Names for Unfunny Movie: Eleven-year-old actor Kodi Smit-McPhee scores the most child-scarring role currently available in Hollywood as Viggo Mortensen and Charlize Theron’s son in Dimension’s film of Cormac McCarthy’s postapocalyptic bummer The Road. [HR]