With summer coming to an end, it’s the perfect time for a movie to scare
you off the beach. Here to do it is “Shark Night 3D,” from “Snakes on a
Plane” director David Ellis. Metro caught up with Ellis and one of the
flick’s stars, “American Idol” runner-up Katharine McPhee to see what
secrets about the film they’re willing to spill. As it turns out, not
many.
What can you tell us, without giving too much away, about “Shark Night
3D”?
David Ellis: There’s sharks in it. (laughs) It’s really weird. And a
lot of the movie takes place at night.
Katharine McPhee: I’m in it.DE:
Kat’s in it.KM: My character’s name is Beth. That’s all I know.
David, you’re no stranger to genre movies. What’s the appeal of them as a
filmmaker?
DE: For me, I think it’s just fun to be able to entertain
people — for them to be able to go an escape from everything crazy
that’s going on in the world for an hour and a half and go have fun. To
kind of scare them and make them laugh and make them cry, and just kind
of play with their emotions.
KM: You like making people cry.
How was the “Shark Night” experience for you, Kat?
KM:
fun. I love going to set. I love getting up early. I mean, on a regular
basis, you will never find me up early, but I love when my alarm goes
off and I get to put on my pajamas and get to set and get my coffee and
my food and get in hair and makeup. I love everything about it, so for
me just the whole experience is great. We shot in Shreveport, La., and
even though it’s not a particularly exotic place, it was gorgeous. And I
just love being in new places and feeling like you’re starting
something new.
DE: I love the free food part. Like, every day when you go
to the set and they have all this free food. But what made it so fun
for me was that we had an amazing crew and we had a cast that was into
it 110 percent.
Were you afraid of sharks before you made the movie?
KM: I’m one of those
people who, especially as a kid, would spend hours in the ocean
swimming. I love swimming. But always in the back of my head there was
that fear of a shark coming and getting you. I could say, yeah, this has
definitely made it a little bit more of a threat.
DE: For me, I grew up
in the ocean as well — my whole life in Malibu — and I’m aware of them,
you respect them. But you have a better chance of getting hit by a
coconut than getting killed by a shark. But it’s a primal fear for
people.
KM: It’s just not a way you want to go. There’s a couple other
ways I could think of wanting to go other than sharks.
How creative do you get with the deaths in the movie?
DE: Pretty
creative. Each one is different and unique. And what’s cool about it is
we had so many different types of sharks. We have hammerheads and great
white sharks and bull sharks and cookie-cutter sharks…
I’m not familiar with that one.
DE: You will be when you watch Kat.
They’re friends of hers. So yeah, they’re unique. Besides the characters
in the movie, we have so many different characters in the sharks.
