On the Los Angeles set of “Sharknado 2: The Second One,” someone has asked Fin Shepard: “What happened up there?”
Up there, as in the sky.
“Sharks happened,” Fin (Ian Ziering) replies in his usual unintentionally hilarious way.
Oh, this sequel is so on.
TODAY was on set Tuesday for the Syfy cult sequel’s final day of production for the actors. Little else can be revealed now about the circumstances surrounding Fin’s declaration, but suffice it to say there was an airplane involved.
Most of the sequel was filmed in New York City, where the story is set. But some scenes were filmed in Los Angeles — including cameos by Kelly Osbourne, who plays a flight attendant, and Andy Dick, who plays a cop. Production will return to Manhattan for additional filming, but Fin and his sort-of-reconciled wife April (Tara Reid) have finished killing sharks.
How many sharks? Reid estimates, “Maybe thousands?”
The original "Sharknado" aired last July and became an instant cult sensation and social media phenomenon. Reid says she likes the story of the sequel better than the original because it has more “heart.” Fin isn’t just trying to save his family now — he’s trying to save all of New York. And April is helping.
“One of the things about New York City is that when something goes down, the community really gets together,” Reid said. “And I appreciated that part. I was there on Sept. 11 when it happened. I saw the city all come together. Not that a shark is really going to attack New York City, but I understood it. In real life, it’s actually technically possible. Like, you know, you had the tsunami in other places where all the swimming people got killed and all the sharks came in. But in real life, if a tornado comes down in the ocean, technically, it’s possible.”
The reality of sharknados aside, production confronted some unexpected gifts from the New York weather gods.
"We were shooting a summer movie during snowstorms!" Ziering said. "But Mother Nature must be a New Yorker because what she was dishing out on the days that we were at Citi Field, was what was called for within the script. Clear one day, snowing moments after. We had this scene we shot where the sun was shining and there was a snowstorm. It was weird weather. You know, sharks are year-round but snow is a bit of an anomaly. Almost as unique as sharknados!"
Vivica A Fox and Mark McGrath are also part of the cast. Judd Hirsch, Robert Klein and professional wrestler/Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle are among the many actors appearing in cameos.
"Everyone came by for lunch," Ziering said. " Lunch, as in, to be lunch.
The movie premieres on Syfy on July 31.