diff --git a/pre_commit/resources/hook-tmpl b/pre_commit/resources/hook-tmpl
index 299144ec..0bdb83ba 100755
--- a/pre_commit/resources/hook-tmpl
+++ b/pre_commit/resources/hook-tmpl
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 # File generated by pre-commit: https://pre-commit.com
 # ID: 138fd403232d2ddd5efb44317e38bf03
 import os
+import shlex
 import sys
 
 # we try our best, but the shebang of this script is difficult to determine:
@@ -25,7 +26,9 @@ ARGS.append('--')
 ARGS.extend(sys.argv[1:])
 
 DNE = '`pre-commit` not found.  Did you forget to activate your virtualenv?'
-if os.access(INSTALL_PYTHON, os.X_OK):
+if "PRE_COMMIT_CMD" in os.environ:
+    CMD = shlex.split(os.environ.get("PRE_COMMIT_CMD"))
+elif os.access(INSTALL_PYTHON, os.X_OK):
     CMD = [INSTALL_PYTHON, '-mpre_commit']
 elif which('pre-commit'):
     CMD = ['pre-commit']