Ian Ziering Catches Lightning In A Bottle With Sharknado
By Spike Eskin
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Just after Jonathan Papelbon recorded the final out in the Phillies 3-1 win over the Nationals, I glanced down at Twitter and saw only one thing; Sharknado. Chances are, any person anywhere in the country was looking down and seeing the same thing.
Sharknado, a movie on the Sy-Fy network about a flood and tornado dual-disaster that pulls killer sharks into the air and causing mass destruction, had captured the imagination of the country. Social Guide says the 318,000 tweets about the movie makes it the "most social" TV movie of 2013, and accounted for about 12% of all tweets about television on Thursday.
The star of the movie is Ian Ziering, who many remember best as Steve Sanders in Beverly Hills, 90210.
"It's amazing, it seems like we caught lightning in a bottle. The reaction line, 5,000 tweets a minute. It's insane," Ziering told 94WIP's Rob Ellis on Friday. Ziering said the talk with Ellis was his first post-Sharknado interview. "I don't look for the glory, I look for the accomplishment. I was always a big fran of the action/adventure genre. This was my opportunity to chainsaw my way out of a belly of a shark."
Ian Ziering Interview
Sharknado, which also stars Tara Reid, is just one in a series of B-movies that SyFy has produced monster combos like Frankenfish, Dinoshark and Sharktopus.
"I just look for interesting characters, I don't take myself so seriously. Sharknado was so nuts," Ziering said. "You have to suspend disbelief. When you're running with a chainsaw, you're telling people to get out of there because there are sharks falling from the sky, you have to own that. Probably one of the craziest things I've ever done on film."
Ziering, whose career has taken many turns since starring on 90210, is currently performing with the Chippendales in Las Vegas. "My career is all over the palce. You never know what the next things' going to be. You have to be open minded. I'm performing with the Chippendales, I never thought I'd be doing this. People remember me from that role [90210] and I'm always very flattered by it. Steve Sanders has been very good to me and he continues to be, but at the end of the day I still feel like a young guy. I've got legs for many more years in this industry and it just takes time to get people to see you in a different light. Doing things like Sharknado, action-adventure, science-fiction genre. Doing things like Chippendales, shows a little bit of a darker, raspier, sexier side I am bringing to the table now. I'm not the same person I was when I was on 90210. I was a young boy, and I'm all grown up now," he said.
"Honestly, it's a crappy movie, you just have to watch! If you're expecting Avatar, you're watching the wrong movie," he said. "This is one of those campy, science-fiction movies that doesn't lie to you. Straight up, Sharknado. You know what you're getting in for and it's a thrill ride."
The SyFy Network has announced an encore performance of Sharknado next week.
Some selected tweets about Sharknado:
