After watching Plankton: The Film on Netflix, I acquired within the temper to revisit the primary feature-length spin-off of the late Stephen Hillenburg’s beloved animated TV present, The SpongeBob Squarepants Film. I might have watched the 2004 Nickelodeon movie with my Max subscription, however I nonetheless had the DVD I first acquired once I was about 11. I additionally indulged in watching a few of the particular options, which jogged my memory of a behind-the-scenes element that I had utterly forgotten about, most likely as a result of I had blocked it out of my thoughts.
You see, one in every of my favourite moments from The SpongeBob Squarepants Film is when the titular sponge (one in every of Tom Kenny’s most well-known voice roles) and Patrick (Invoice Fagerbakke) discover themselves on dry land and are introduced again to Bikini Backside by none apart from David Hasselhoff, who I used to be already a fan of in my youth from his function within the hit ‘80s sci-fi TV present, Knight Rider. It’s a gloriously ridiculous sequence that also makes me giggle to this present day, however after studying a very unusual reality about it from the movie’s making-of featurette, I’ll by no means have the ability to view it the identical manner once more.
The Absorbing Story of The SpongeBob Squarepants Film exhibits behind-the-scenes footage of David Hasselhoff being dragged throughout a small physique of water on a motorized system for the sequence through which SpongeBob and Patrick use his physique as a speedboat. Nevertheless, Mark Osborne, who was accountable for directing the movie’s live-action scenes, explains that, for sure moments, the crew used a frighteningly lifelike duplicate of the previous Baywatch forged member that was greater than double his dimension.
The scenes that required the life-like sculpture (reminiscent of SpongeBob and Patrick’s closing showdown with Alec Baldwin’s hitman, Dennis) solely happen on Hasselhoff’s again, however they didn’t cease there and reconstructed him from head to toe, leaving no element ignored. There’s even a second within the featurette that exhibits the actor posing subsequent to his 13-foot double, and I’ve little question it would without end be tattooed on my reminiscence. Imagine it or not, the story solely will get weirder from there…
David Hasselhoff Took The Double-Sized Reproduction Dwelling With Him
Seven years after the discharge of The SpongeBob Squarepants Film – which we reviewed favorably – Hasselhoff was being interviewed by GQ when the interviewer requested him about a big sculpture resembling the actor that he retains at his home. Lo and behold, it was the exact same duplicate of him that was constructed for his cameo within the film. He defined how he grew to become its proprietor, regardless of some preliminary uneasiness in its presence, within the following quote:
It freaked me out as a result of it was so lifelike, with tooth, if you contact it seems like actual pores and skin. It is mushy, like your pores and skin. So anyway, once I was carried out with the film, I stated, ‘That is ridiculously superior. What are you gonna do with it?’ They stated, ‘Uh, I dunno. Nothing? You need it?’ I stated, ‘Uh, yeah. Okay.’ So I went again to my room and drew up a contract in 10 seconds, and I saved it. I’ve acquired it in my projection room. I do not know what to do with it. It is simply sitting there, and it freaks the hell out of individuals. Ultimately, I will most likely make a desk out of it and put it in a restaurant someplace.
In response to a 2014 unique by The Hollywood Reporter, Hasselhoff ultimately put up the duplicate for public sale, solely to alter his thoughts simply days earlier than the occasion. Nevertheless, in 2021, The Hoff introduced on social media (together with X when it nonetheless referred to as Twitter) that “Massive Dave” was going again on the block. I can’t discover phrase on how a lot it was bought for or who owns it at the moment, however I certain hope they’re glad with the acquisition.
David Hasselhoff is thought for making a number of different memorable film appearances, together with his cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 from 2017. Nevertheless, I nonetheless assume his run-in with SpongeBob wins over all of them. Simply realizing that the sequence resulted within the creation of a monstrously massive (and simply plain monstrous) duplicate of the actor, regardless of its disturbing nature, truly makes it much more particular to me.