"Sharknado 3" is more "ridiculous," says screenwriter Thunder Levin
Screenwriter Thunder Levin had one goal in mind when writing the script for the third incarnation of "Sharkando" -- for it to be as "ridiculous" and "unexpected" as possible.
Levin, who wrote both "Sharknado" (2013) and "Sharknado 2: The Second One" (2014), told CBS News, "We wanted to open it up a bit. We wanted to make it bigger."
They attempted to do that, he says, by setting "Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!" all along the East Coast. As opposed to the first two, which took place in Los Angeles and New York City, respectively, the third installment finds the shark storm traveling from Washington all the way down to South Florida.
One key part is the same though: "Beverly Hills, 90210" alum Ian Ziering is back as Fin, and Tara Reid returns to play April.
"It's actually kind of four movies in one. We've got the opening, like 12-minute teaser that's really sort of 'White House Down' and a 'Die Hard' action movie kind of thing," Levin said. "Then it becomes sort of a road trip movie for a while, then it becomes a disaster and a theme-park movie. And then we take it even a step further at the end.... It was pretty ambitious. We were moving around to a lot of different places."
Ziering calls it a campy science-fiction movie done with a very low budget. "So therein lies the organic ability to not have the quality content you might expect from a James Cameron movie," Ziering told us back in February. But he says the script reads like $200 million blockbuster.
And there's more celebrity appearances this year, too. David Hasselhoff joins the cast as Gilbert, Fin's father.
"They had a cameo for me last year...but I couldn't do it. Then they came back with the part of the dad. And honestly I hit it off with everyone so much," Hasselhoff told CBS News earlier this year.
"He played it straight, which is necessary in 'Sharknado.' The filmmakers and the audience can be in on the joke, but the characters never are," explained Levin. "He wasn't just there making fun of his image like he does sometimes. He was really playing the part. He was great. And he and Ian got along."
Hasselfhoff isn't the only new face. There are plenty of other cameos in the new Syfy film, including appearances by Mark Cuban, Frankie Muniz, Bo Derek, Ne-Yo, Penn and Teller, Lou Ferrigno, and former Congressman Anthony Weiner.
Levin says the sheer number of cameos were one of the main challenges to the script.
"How do we fit these people in and still keep the story moving?...Some of them are cast well ahead of time and some of the cameos are parts that I wrote knowing they would be cameos but not knowing who would be playing them," he said. "So people were plugged into those roles. Some of them were cast enough ahead of time that I was able to write parts for them. And some showed up at the last minute. They were cast the night before or showed up that morning and were sent by the casting department and we had to figure out what to do."
Another challenge included cohesively fitting in the product placement. Then there was the overall pressure to live up to the first two films, Levin admitted.
"It gets more challenging in a way because we've done a lot of stuff...and we have to keep coming up with new stuff. And there's a lot more attention [on it].... The first one nobody expected anything.... And this one -- everybody gives their opinions -- and I have to find a way to synthesize all of those into a coherent story."
As for the possibility of a fourth shark storm? Levin isn't getting ahead of himself just yet.
"There have been no official talks about it yet," he revealed. "Every once and a while if we're all together we sort of joke about what the fourth one will be."
But he promises for some laughs, at least, for this latest installment.
"It's three times the shark, three times the 'nados, and 100 percent more Hoff," he said.
"Sharknado 3" premieres Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET on Syfy.
