One Monday in February, in the middle of a polar vortex, shivering actors dressed as police officers, firemen, and suspiciously soapy-fresh homeless people warmed up in the lobby of the Residence Inn, on Broadway. Midtown tourists rolled their luggage past, pondering the immortal question: Was this a quirky Big Apple thing or a “CSI” taping? All signs pointed to the latter. Outside, a film crew huddled by a fire truck and circulated apple cider and hand warmers. Someone yelled, “Watch your back,” a familiar enough refrain on any set, but made slightly more ominous by the giant shark-head prop—open mouth, lolling tongue—that sat on the sidewalk, teeth pointed skyward. This was not your regular faux crime scene. This was the site of day four (of fourteen) of production on “Sharknado 2: The Second One,” which premières Wednesday on the Syfy network.
In case you missed it, the original “Sharknado” is what you might expect: a shark-loaded tornado touches down in Los Angeles and is driven back by a surfer. Fueled by Twitter-based shark snark, the movie was a hit; for instance, the “30 Rock” actor Judah Friedlander tweeted, “SharkFart vs Diarrhea Whale. Call me @Syfy. That's my movie pitch. #Sharknado.” Friedlander has a role in the sequel, which also features cameos by Kelly Osbourne, Judd Hirsch, Andy Dick, Sandra (Pepa) Denton, and Richard Kind, among other people you remember only after you’ve Googled them.
Out on the street, Anthony C. Ferrante, the director of “Sharknado” and “Sharknado 2” (as well as of the short “Para-Homeless Activity”), wore a giant blue-and-black puffy jacket and earmuffs slung around the back of his head. He talked fast, hopped up on nerdy exuberance and the stress of tight deadlines. “Making normal movies is like putting a puzzle together,” he explained. “Making a ‘Sharknado’ is like playing a game of Jenga.”
Ferrante’s new film brings back “Sharknado” ’s leads, April Wexler (Tara Reid) and her ex-husband Fin Shepard (Ian Ziering). The movie opens with April and Fin on a flight to New York to promote her new book, titled “How to Survive a Sharknado.” (You’d better believe there will be a tie-in print publication.) “Fin, why aren’t we having more fun with this?” Reid asks. “C’mon, April,” he replies. “Two of my friends were killed, I almost destroyed Los Angeles, and—oh yeah, I got eaten by a shark! How much fun do you think that was?” Needless to say, shark-riddled tornadoes are shortly tearing up Citi Field, as well as various locales featured on double-decker bus tours. The third installation of the series has already been green-lit.
“Think of this as your ‘Braveheart,’ ” Ferrante coached Ziering. “You’re going into battle. You’re gladiators!” Ziering is fifty, and his reddish-blond hair has thinned since his decade-long stint as the heartthrob Steve Sanders on the show “Beverly Hills, 90210.” On set he wore a shark-tooth necklace, chunky black boots, jeans, and a gray jacket over a lighter gray hoodie. His brow furrowed as he took Ferrante’s direction. “Sweet,” he said, in the affirmative.
Reid, who is thirty-eight, wore a black leather coat, black pants and boots, and a single fingerless black leather glove. A bandaged stump had replaced her other hand. (Spoiler alert: a shark ate it.) After learning that she wasn’t needed for the shot, she retreated to a heated tent and threw a fuschia down coat over her shoulders. She said, “It’s a little cold, yeah. But, actually, in the first one we were freezing, too, cause we were wet the whole time. So, a different kind of coldness.”
According to the script, by Thunder Levin, who also wrote “Mutant Vampire Zombies from the ’Hood!,” the afternoon’s scene would take place at “Ext. base of Empire State Building—Day.” This would be shot on the northwest corner of Fifty-fourth Street. The script continues, “Fin climbs the fire truck. The Sun peeks out below the heavy clouds as it approaches the horizon, bathing Fin in GOLDEN LIGHT, the chainsaw in hand and addresses the citizens.”
“Chainsaw’s coming in, guys,” a prop guy warned.
“Sharp thing!” someone yelled in his wake.
Ziering clambered on top of the truck and was handed an orange chainsaw spray-painted with the letters “NYFD” [sic]. “Let’s go kill some shaaaarrrks!” he rehearsed. He and Ferrante debated whether he should brandish the chainsaw on or before the word “sharks.” Ferrante concluded, “It’s going to be fucking insane.”
Ferrante turned to the milling crowd at the foot of the truck, which included the supporting actors Vivica A. Fox, Mark McGrath, and Dante Palminteri. The professional wrestler Kurt Angle was filling in as the fire chief; the comedian Robert Klein was playing the mayor. “Does everyone know what’s happening? Does everyone know when to scream?” Ferrante asked. “Until he kills something, it’s just sort of, ‘Yeah! Yeah!’ Just little claps, until we get to the big moment. After he kills something, then we’re all into it.” C.G.I. sharks would be added in post-production.
As Ziering got ready for the take, Ferrante noted, “The thing that’s really cool is that kids love the movie. We did not make a movie for kids, initially. There’s gore. And there’s the shark attacks. ‘Jaws’ makes you afraid to go in the water; we made it O.K. to go in the water, because”—he shrugged—“the water’s going to come to you.” Someone called for quiet. “Let’s roll! Sound rolling! One-nine-nine alpha, take one! Action!”
“All right, listen up!” Ziering began. “There’s a storm coming. A storm the likes of you have never seen before. I’m going up there, and I’m going to try and stop it. There’s going to be a lot of people down here who are going to need your help. I know you’re scared. I’m scared, too. They’re sharks. They’re scary. Nobody wants to be eaten. But I’ve been eaten! And I’m here to tell you that I’m still standing. It takes more than that to bring a good man down. It takes more than that to bring a New Yorker down!”
According to the script: “Now they’re all with him, but they’re not responding. They just stare past him. Fin REVS his Chainsaw and in SLOW MOTION–takes down one shark after another with his big ass chainsaw. He stands there and turns back around at the crowd. His chainsaw dripping shark blood.”
“Make it look more natural,” Ferrante barked. “Now cheer! You guys need to be freaking out!”
Ziering: “Let’s go show them what it means to be a hero! Let’s go show them what it means to be a New Yorker! Let’s go kill some shaaaarrrks!”
It was a wrap.
“People love it, people hate it, people think it’s so bad it’s good—whatever,” Ferrante said. “As long as people are talking about it. The worst thing is, your movie opens and no one watches your movie. I’d rather have people making fun of it, because it means they’re having a fun time! And people say it’s so bad it’s good, but you know what? A bad movie you turn off.”
