Sharknado (2013 TV Movie)
Trivia
Steve Guttenberg was offered the lead role of Fin Shepard, but turned it down. When the film became a cult hit, Guttenberg regretted it to the point that he accepted a role in Syfy's Lavalantula (2015), a movie about giant fire-breathing tarantulas that attack Los Angeles.
The flooded interior house sequence was shot in a set put in a pool. Unfortunately, the water couldn't be heated, so it was freezing cold. The cast members can be seen shivering in certain shots.
Ian Ziering (Fin Shepard) was unsure of doing the movie until talking to his wife, who insisted that he do the film, as they had another child on the way, and he needed to work.
Almost the entire movie was shot during bright, sunny days. The weather and rain had to be created through a combination of rain towers, fans, and digital effects.
The school bus sequence was filmed over several days at the 6th Street bridge, in downtown Los Angeles. While a stunt double was used for certain shots, Ian Ziering did a lot of his own rappelling stunts.
Robbie Rist (Robbie the bus driver) also co-wrote a handful of songs that are featured on the soundtrack.
Ian Ziering openly admitted in interview that he disliked the script, but agreed to star in the film anyway for financial reasons. He was about to become a father for the second time, and needed to make a certain amount of money within the calendar year, in order to qualify for Screen Actors Guild health insurance.
(at around 39 mins) Fin says, "Semper Paratus" (Always Ready). This is the motto of the U.S. Coast Guard.
The opening sequence at sea, looks like it takes place on one boat, but was actually two boats. They filmed on a sailboat for one day during principal photography. The film needed pick-ups and they rented a cheaper boat to double for the hero boat. You can tell they don't match in certain shots, as the original boat was longer, and had a mast and large ship's wheel.
Cory Monteith's final Tweet was about this film, a few days before he died from a drug overdose.
The name of the band, Quint, that performs a majority of the film soundtrack is a nod to the character "Quint", in Jaws (1975).
The Hummer at the end of the film did not have a working speedometer, nor a full dashboard. Also, the doors had trouble opening or closing.
Many crew members became seasick during principal photography, as well as one of the cast members. So not everything could be filmed at the time, hence pick-ups were needed. A lot of the pick-ups were done with the boat at dock, so as to not get talent or crew sick again.
Tara Reid's character's house was a combination of three locations. The wide effects shots of it raining and sinking, were done with a house found on the side of a street. When the car drives up, and the heroes get out, it's a mansion with rain towers set up for the storm effect, and then the interiors were a set built in a pool, so it could be flooded.
The exterior of Fin's bar is a restaurant on the end of the Santa Monica Pier, but the interiors were filmed at Mo's Place in Playa del Rey.
Teri Hatcher, Rebecca Romijn, and Tiffani Thiessen were approached for the role of April before Tara Reid was cast.
(at around 21 mins) The shark having its head blown off by having an oxygen tank shoved in its mouth and the tank exploding, is a reference to the final scene in Jaws (1975).
The scenes on the Santa Monica Pier, and at the veterans retirement home, were both shot in a single day.
The role of Captain Carlos Santiago was specifically written for Israel Sáez de Miguel.
"Petunia" (a stuffed opossum which makes an appearance in each movie) can be seen in the hardware store as Baz assembles the propane tanks.
(at around 1h 9 mins) One of the choppers used, or at least the interior, is registered in Australia. During one of the in-cabin shots, the registration, starting with "VH" (the Australian code) can be see on the center of the black instrument binnacle.
A fin in water is a recognizable characteristic or sign of a shark. Shepard is a common misspelling of shepherd. To shepherd something, means to guide or control it. Taken together, the main character's name, Fin Shepard, is an 'aptronym', meaning his name suitably describes his job.
Director Cameo
Anthony C. Ferrante: (at around 11 mins) Man in water at beach who gets eaten by a shark.
Spoilers
Homage to Steven Spielberg (director of Jaws (1975), the icon of shark phenomena in films): when the shark is on the Santa Monica pier and attempts to attack, they shove an air tank into its mouth to blow it up. That's how the shark in Jaws was finally killed. The second is in the same scene with the Ferris wheel rolling down the pier, an homage to Spielberg's not-so-successful film, 1941 (1979). Third is when a shark lands in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre, it falls just behind the sidewalk square with Spielberg's signature and hand prints in cement. Fourth: When Nova and Matt go up in the helicopter and come up against the first tornado, Nova exclaims "We're gonna need a bigger chopper!" The original line in Jaws was "We're gonna need a bigger boat." Fifth: Nova tells a similar story to Quint's tale of the U.S.S. Indianapolis sinking, even stating how many men were in the water and that the "sharks took the rest." Sixth, people run from the loose Ferris wheel like Indiana ran from the boulder in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).
