INTERVIEW: Stars of ‘Sharknado 2’ on facing swirling sharks, keeping straight faces

Sharknado, the popular Syfy original movie from 2013, lit the Twitterverse on fire. The unexpected hit featured Tara Reid (American Pie) and Ian Ziering (Beverly Hills 90210) fighting off, well, a tornado filled with sharks. Consider yourself warned.

The inevitable sequel, Sharknado 2: The Second One, premieres 9 p.m. Wednesday, July 30 on Syfy. Recently, Hollywood Soapbox took part in a group phone interview with the stars and director of the monster flick. Reid and Ziering repeat their roles, and now Vivica A. Fox joins them in Anthony C. Ferrante-directed film.

Hollywood Soapbox wanted to know whether the actors in the film play the roles seriously, or do you they act knowing that many of the lines will garner laughs. Here’s what they had to say …

Vivica A. Fox: I definitely played my character serious and then I think, like, in the moments and what we’re fighting against and the elements, then the comedy ensued. So I took it very serious that, you know, a Sharknado was coming, and we were there to stop it.

Tara Reid: … [E]ven though the situation seems so crazy. But you had to play it serious because if you didn’t — if we were playing it laughing the whole time, then the storyline wouldn’t even make sense. It’s by taking it serious in such an absurd crazy, you know, environment, and that’s where the jokes come in. That’s where it gets funny.

So I think you really do have to commit to your character, you know, and also know what you’re playing and being in that situation that you’re in and playing it serious then there comes the humor. So I think that’s really what … a lot of people did.

Anthony C. Ferrante: And I think one of the other tricks with this movie, and there’s a lot of horror films that will be just purposely campy and over the top, but … I think the key actually to this whole franchise is having everybody playing it straight.

I mean Ian has some very funny moments in the movie and lines, but they’re character driven. They’re reactionary. The only people that are allowed to be funny are your comic relief characters, which are like, Judah Friedland. But even then they ground it. It’s not, ‘I’m making a joke.’ …

That was one of the things when we’d get new people coming in for cameos. A couple times they would come in, and they’d be over the top when we were rehearsing. And we’d be like, ‘No, no, no, it has to be played straight.’

You can be as funny as you want, but you have to be in character and take the situation seriously. And I think that’s part of the charm. I mean Ian, you kind of agree, right, with…

Ian Ziering: Absolutely, even though the situations are absurd, you know, in the reality of the imaginary circumstances if you will, you know, you say and do things that … are appropriate for the actions or the scenario.

But as a spectator, as an observer, you realize how funny they are within that situation. But when you’re dealing with it, you know, you have to act naturally in imaginary circumstances.

But as a spectator you realize that, you know, you get to enjoy the fun of it because you’re a witness. You’re not there experiencing it. So in that dichotomy, that’s where really the joy of the movie exists because you have to suspend this belief to buy into what you’re doing, but yet you still have your foot in the real world. So it gives you perspective of how absurd this movie really is.

Anthony C. Ferrante: I think a perfect example of what Ian did in the first movie when he chainsawed his way out of the shark there’s two ways that could have went. You could have went the Jim Carrey route where it’s like, I’m laughing it up. Or you do what he did, which was literally committing that he just was inside of a shark, and that inherently makes it funnier because it’s so earnest … and it’s so in the moment.

And I think that’s one of the charms about why people remember that sequence because — you know, Ian — it was the coldest day of the year in L.A., which is hard to believe that we had a cold day. … We dumped, like, 20 gallons of water on him. He’s freezing to death. He did. It was great. It was awesome.

Hollywood Soapbox: Thank you very much.

Anthony C. Ferrante: Remember all those towels and then water — we had to pour on you right away after.

Ian Ziering: Brutal.

Tara Reid: That’s horrible.

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

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