It wouldn’t be summer without Syfy’s pop-culture Sharknado phenomenon, and this year is no different with the fourth movie in the franchise airing Sunday night.
Sharknado: The 4th Awakens takes place five years after the East Coast was ravaged in Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! Fin (Ian Ziering), his family and the cosmos have been blissfully sharknado-free in the intervening years, but now sharks – and tornados – are being whipped up in places (and ways) least expected.
In addition to Ziering reprising his role as shark-fighting hero Fin Shepard, Tara Reid is set to return as April Wexler to reveal the outcome of the fan-voted #AprilLives or #AprilDies social campaign.
The newest addition to the hit global franchise also sees the return of David Hasselhoff as Gil Shepard and Ryan Newman as Claudia Shepard, while In Living Color star Tommy Davidson joins the cast as Aston Reynolds, an Elon Musk-type billionaire entrepreneur with the attitude of Tony Stark.
Parade.com spoke to Davidson about being the new addition to the cast, if he gets to kill any sharks, working with Ziering and Reid, and more.
Had you seen any of the first three before you got signed to do this one?
I had not. I had seen blurbs of it and I said, “Get outta here, that can’t be possible.” If you’re in TV and movies, like me, and you’re producing and writing and see something like Sharknado get done, you’re like, “Oh man! What am I doing wrong?” I’m just happy to be part of it now. I’m going, “Wait a second. This is pretty cool.”
What’s his relationship with Finn?
He went to high school with Finn. He and I had a conflictual relationship in high school. We were rivals in a way. He did really well with his career and Finn, of course, ended up fighting sharks part time.
Do you have a favorite moment from the film?
One of my favorite moments in the film was at the beginning when we go face to face. I have to get him to get back into the shark battle, like, “I need you to help me because this thing is bigger than I thought.” So Aston comes to Finn and says “Let’s go, I really need your help.” He doesn’t convince him then but he eventually convinces him.
He talks about his father in order to get him to do it, right?
Aha! Thank you. Oh, you’re doing homework there. Exactly!
Is it a fun set? What’s it like to work with Ian and Tara?
It’s really fun. We all worked for a long time on different stuff, but this was really fun, and there was a lot of creative to be done, and that’s not usual, that’s not typical. It’s not typical to have blood all over the place and you’re doing 3D. You’re doing the virtual green screens and you’re flying on wires. It’s really involved stuff.
Can it possibly top the first three?
I’m in it!
You know how sometimes franchises lose a little steam…
They’ve definitely stepped up the casting.
Is your character personally allowed to kill any sharks?
Yeah, he does but he doesn’t personally do it. I kind of bomb them. They go through the whole chainsaw thing; I just use missiles.
Aston wears these really interesting glasses with that little red square. Is that one of his inventions?
That’s one of my inventions, yeah. What that is for is radar. For reading infrared radar.
That’s how he knows the Sharknado is on its way?
Aston’s got a global computer system that is based on infrared radar and ultraviolet light. So he’s been able to track, not only changes in temperature, but he can track changes in shark behavior. So those both become very, very compatible because what? One is a tornado and one is a shark.
Sharknado: The 4th Awakens, also starring Gary Busey, Masiela Lusha, Cody Linley, and Cheryl Tiegs, premieres Sunday, July 31 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Syfy.
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