I first met Sharknado 4: The 4th Awakens Director Anthony C. Ferrante at a SyFy channel event a few years ago. I didn’t know who he was, but Sharknado was the talk of Comic-Con that year. Everywhere I went people made jokes about it, even a lot of the celebrities that I talked to. The first film touched a cultural nerve, now 4 years later and the franchise is still going strong. The movie debuts on SyFy Channel this week (Sunday, July 31st)
The stars and producers will once again try and touch that Social Media itch and will be live tweeting during the premiere. I had a quick call with Ferrante and of course I asked him why I was left on the cutting room floor (his basic response was “things happen.”).
Ferrante’s band Quint did some of the music for the movie. Their EP Sharkando Rhapsody can be found on Apple Music. Check out their Facebook site.
Interview Highlights:
- Sharknado 4 is set 5 years later. April has had some interesting developments in that time. Tornados have been eradicated, but nature being the way it is have found a new way to torment humanity.
- The 5-year jump was a suggestion from the network. This gave the team breathing room and meant that they our heroes didn’t have to deal with a baby.
- Working with Tommy Davidson was great. Since he came from In Living Color, he was able to do more improve. He plays a scientist who wants to come up with a way to permanently stop Sharknadoes. He means well, but his approach isn’t going to work and his character was needed to be a foil for Finn.
- The hardest thing about this film was just being able to shoot a big movie like this in 15 days, when usually it takes months and a bigger budget to film.
- The movie was shot mostly in LA with pickup shots in Las Vegas, Niagra Falls
- We’re 4 movies into this franchise and the crew has a lot of ideas for further installments. There will always be a Sharknado movie as long as fans continue to support them.
- Anthony says they are the “Pokemon Go of Movies.”
- Anthony used to be a Journalist so he understands how criticism works. However the name Sharknado says everything you need to know. If this movie was about the serious plight of famine and a Sharknado appears, then you can complain. But it’s called Sharknado and not meant to be taken seriously.
- It’s just a fun, turn your brain off, summer movie. The type of film we need, especially this summer.
- The hardest thing about this film was just being able to shoot a big movie like this in 15 days, when usually it takes months and a bigger budget to film.
- The first 20 minutes is features one of the most ambitious sequences they ever shot.