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The Baywatch star gets roasted in Atari's "Ready 2 Rumble Revolution" -- and takes it like a man.
From Knight Rider to Baywatch, David Hasselhoff has been a pop-culture icon since videogames were in their infancy. Appropriate, then, that he was chosen to be lampooned as one of the celebrity parodies in the new Wii boxing game from Atari, Ready 2 Rumble Revolution. "The Hoff" met with Yahoo! for a brief chat to discuss his role in the game, as well as the perks of celebrity -- such as using his heavyweight name to score the last Wii on the store shelves.
How did the Dewie Struedel character in Ready 2 Rumble Revolution come about? Were you approached by Atari about using your likeness in the game?
David Hasselhoff: No. They were going to use my likeness whether I liked it or not. I had no choice. They said, we’re Atari, this is the game, Ready 2 Rumble, we're doing Wii, and one of the caricatures and parodies is you, and would you be interested in getting on board to help play the game and promote it? I said, send me the image of the caricature, and they did, and I just fell off my chair. And everyone called me and said “You can't do this! It’s horrible, it's demeaning, you have a bra line.†I said, "I know, it’s fantastic!" [laughter]I said, the fact that I'm actually being considered for a video game is cool, and the fact that it's Wii and Atari is even cooler. I’ve taken enough negative heat and enough positive heat, and I’ve had enough caricatures about me, and this one is terrific. They showed me the game, I couldn’t stop laughing. It was hysterical. And then I saw the other celebrities that they had parodied, and I said, “I’m in.â€[For] my daughter – one of the big first gifts that I used my name, celebrity,
"David Hasselhoff," "oh my god please hang onto that game," was Wii. Because you couldn't get them. I guess you still can't get them. And it blew my mind. I went out and I said, "What do you mean, you don't have any left?" And I played the celebrity card, which I never play unless I need to get past a line or find a Wii game, and I made them hold it. They didn't believe it was me and I said "Hold the game, I'm right there!" Drove all the way down to the Valley to the game store, and I went in and I went, "Oh, this is paradise!" Bought the Wii game, and then got hooked on Guitar Hero.I always run everything by my kids. Like Spongebob [Squarepants]. "What's Spongebob?" [I asked.] "What do you mean, what's Spongebob, Dad? What, are you crazy? Do it!" And it was the best thing I ever did – little cameo in Spongebob. And so I took this because, to be a part of a Wii game is just fun, and we've been playing the game a lot. It's interactive, and it gives you a physical workout. You can get your aggressions out without touching the other person.
That's the interesting thing about playing the Wii. You get a workout.
Yeah, I hyperextended my shoulder trying to knock out Simon Cruel...
The game's really got this sense of humor, and the celebrity angle maybe makes it more mainstream.
Videogames are bigger than major motion pictures. Major stars are involved in them – to be involved in one means you're, quote-unquote, "still in the game." How could I not do this? A, they're going to do it without me anyway, because it's a parody; and secondly, if you can't make fun of yourself and have fun with your life and your character, the people that you create, if you don't look at the positive side of all the negatives and all the paparazzi... You know, people are interested in knocking you out! It's great. How many people are going to want to go up against Stallone and punch out Rocky? How many people are going to want to punch out Arnold Schwarzenegger for saying "Kaly-fornya"? How many people want to punch out The Hoff because they can? I got a lot of people out there that really like me, and a lot of people that I think are kind of jealous of my Baywatch days. And, you know, it's fun. We played it in the mall yesterday and there were like 14 people in the mall, and I had them all playing the game, and they were yelling and screaming and applauding. It was a lot of fun.
You did Red Alert 3 recently; you were in some of the scenes in that?
Yeah, I had a whole big expanded character – [but] it turns out the dates that I had to do this film I'd just completed called "The Dancing Ninja" - kind of a sequel to Beverly Hills Ninja – was shooting at the same time, and so I didn't get a chance to continue. Because I loved the character they created. Really interesting experience because suddenly you were not just doing the voiceover or playing a caricature of yourself – you're actually in the game. You're playing a caricature inside the game with major actors.
Yeah, like Jonathan Pryce, guys like that.
Yeah, how cool is that? And the script was great. And these guys kind of know that I live in the world of "The Hoff" and they know that I don't take myself seriously... Go to my website and you’ll see every illegal game in the world that was invented about me – Pac-Man with Pac-Hoff, Frog-Hoffer, Where's the Hoff, all these crazy games. But this game is like, you get next to anybody, and you can actually get physical with them and not touch them – it gets aggressive, you work up a good sweat.
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