Sharknado , the writer explains why by ANNALEE NEWITZ and ROB BRICKEN
Thunder Levin , writer of Sharknado , gets asked some very ‘ serious ’ questions
This month , Syfy debuts the greatest shark disaster epic since Sharktopus . It ’ s called Sharknado . And yeah , it ’ s about a tornado — full of sharks . Thunder Levin wrote the script , and we caught up with him to ask some philosophical questions about this important film that forces us to question the very nature of reality itself .
Is there any scientific basis , however tenuous , for sharknado ?
A month later they came back to me and said they really wanted me to write a movie called “ Sharknato ” ( at least that ’ s what I thought they said ), and I asked what sharks had to do with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ? I was suddenly seeing the army battling sharks invading Europe … But they said “ No , Sharknado !” They gave me about half a page of notes which I read and replied “ This is the most ridiculous thing I ’ ve ever read … I ’ M IN !”
Seriously , how drunk were you guys the first time someone uttered the word “ sharknado ”?
Alas , I wasn ’ t in the room for this historic moment , but they must have been pretty drunk !
Why a tornado and not a hurricane ? Wouldn ’ t that make more sense ?
Actually , we have both . In the movie an unprecedented hurricane sweeps up the Pacific coast from Mexico towards L . A . driving all the sharks in this part of the ocean before it . The hurricane floods the streets of L . A ., which is woefully unprepared for a hurricane . ( Up to this point , it ’ s all fairly accurate and something we should be thinking about , disaster preparednesswise ). Naturally these floodwaters are filled with sharks ! And then , as often happens , the hurricane
Yes . There are numerous confirmed reports of fish falling from the sky , sometimes even on a clear sunny day . We just took it to the “ logical ” extreme .
How did you come up with such a blisteringly awesome concept ?
Well , the Asylum ( the company that produced the movie for Syfy ) came to me just after I ’ d completed writing / directing duties on last year ’ s American Battleship ( sorry , “ American Warships ”) and asked me to pitch them ideas for a movie called “ Shark Storm ”. I asked if this would be a straight up movie about sharks attacking during a storm or a crazy storm made up of sharks . They said it would be straight , so I declined , feeling like we ’ d seen enough shark movies and enough storm movies .
28 | WGSA MAG July 2013