He made it! We weren't sure if American actor David Hasselhoff was really going to Dubai over the weekend, but the 62-year-old made a special guest appearance at the opening of Jean-George Vongerichten’s new restaurant at the Four Seasons Dubai.
And while Hasselhoff was mingling with VIPs and beautiful models, supplied by international modelling agency Wilhelmina Models, at the party, he used his time and celebrity status to try and get his wannabe-model daughter Taylor a contract with the exclusive agency.
Taylor is already making a name for herself back in Hollywood - she has appeared in the second season of Rich Kids of Beverly Hills, but a little push towards stardom from her famous daddy wouldn't hurt either!
The Baywatch icon travelled to the UAE capital Abu Dhabi as well this week, to teach an acting class at the entertainment company Image Nation for the young filmmakers he judged at the now-shuttered Abu Dhabi Film Festival Arab Film Studio award.
But 14 years after Baywatch came off the air, The Hoff has still got it! On June 18, David's new British comedy show - in which he plays himself trying to reboot his career - will land on our TV screens.
And that's not all; this Jack of all trades says told Gulf News that he has a single out that's doing so well "it's all going crazy."
“I’ve got a single out now called True Survivor with 13 million hits,” he told Gulf News. “It’s all going crazy.”
Although he can sing, with a few other talents, Hasselhoff said that what he really wants to do is to shoot a film in the UAE. Good news for TwoFour54, who are trying to promote film tourism in the UAE.
“I came to Abu Dhabi and the gentleman who runs Image Nation [CEO Michael Garin] believed in me and he gave the ok with my script,” he said. The film, Killing Hasselhoff, “is an absolutely hysterical comedy.”
“I found a young writer who is so good that I bought it strictly on the title. Ken Jeong is in it and Hulk Hogan and Jon Lovitz and even Justin Bieber. I finished it and came back and saw Michael again. Michael said I can you teach a class’, and I said yes, but I want to talk to the sheikhs about coming and shooting here because I want to shoot camel races, and I want to shoot judging the camels.”
Hasselhoff said that his sense of humour about his 1980s series Knight Rider helped build relations with local leaders, whom he met with during his visit to the Emirates.
“I wanted to try and go back and show the world that we need to get along and the people here are lovely people. I will bring production down here and I will try to put local people to work. I’m not a big producer, but what I can offer is, if I can shoot down here, those kids in the front row [of his class] will get a great opportunity.
