The thrilling movie Shark Night 3D hits theaters today and revolves around college kids at a shark-infested lake.
We had the opportunity to sit down with three of the film’s stars, Chris Carmack, Chris Zylka and Joel David Moore, who gave us the rundown on their challenges shooting the movie, how much they’ve learned about the dangerous sea creatures and more!
Check out what all three of the Shark Night stars had to say below.
This is a movie about sharks, that takes place almost entirely in a lake … what was your biggest challenge in shooting this movie?
Chris Zylka: I think in an action film with so much action the most difficult part is when the acting sometimes becomes an afterthought. When something is exploding and there’s a shark coming after you and you have to really focus and try to remember that you are creating something for an audience. I think each one of us created characters that had redeemable qualities. So even though it’s an action movie, you do like the characters.
Joel David Moore: For a movie all about sharks, it was a very well written script. As an actor you want to make sure that you have something to work with, that its not just cheesy WB dialogue. I think they did a very good job of not wasting any characters.
How long did you have to be in the water for?
Chris Carmack: We were in these tanks for about a week and a half and for me as far as physical challenges, that was the most difficult. It sounds silly but the chlorine was so strong it was burning our eyes after a while. We were glad to get out of it. We found ourselves yearning for the lake water, but then when we made it into in the lake water we wanted to get back in the tank!
Joel David Moore: It’s really an injustice to call it lake water. It’s really just mud that has settled and you can maybe swim in for a little while. The lakes in Shreveport, Louisiana while beautiful, are not exactly clear. And there were alligators there too.
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Did you guys hang out with the locals at all? Hit up the local bars?
Joel David Moore: We hung out as a group and then obviously in the city of Shreveport there’s a lot of casinos. One of the nice things about Shreveport is that they stay open until about six or seven in the morning, not like L.A. So if you want to have a little night cap and get some food you can do that, which is nice when you’re shooting for 14 hours a day and just want to unwind.
Chris Carmack: There was a YMCA near the hotel and we actually played a lot of basketball together.
Joel: The people are really cool there and the music is great. There were a lot of cool jazz festivals. It wasn’t so bad if you have to be shooting in a small American town no one’s ever heard of.
Chris Carmack: A few of us did karaoke and obviously Kat McPhee took the cake on that. The cooks were running out of the kitchen, spatulas in hand, to hear her sing!
Do you think you three might know the most about sharks now, out of your family and friends?
Joel David Moore: We know the most about animatronic sharks.
Chris Carmack: Well, this movie is meant to scare people, so we didn’t really learn too much about the mating patterns of sharks or anything scientific like that.
Joel David Moore: We did, however, learn about the mating patterns of humans!
How realistic were the sharks that you were shooting with?
Chris Carmack: The teeth that were in the animatronic sharks were actually real shark teeth. So even though we didn’t have to deal with them much, some of the crew members and special effects guys actually got cuts from the teeth.
Are you more afraid of sharks now after all that you’ve learned?
Joel David Moore: I don’t think much has changed. If I’m out in the ocean and I see a fin, I don’t care if it’s a dolphin fin or a kid’s kite … I’m running.
Chris Carmack: I did some research. One thing that has me a little more scared of sharks is that there are an alarming number of bull sharks that swim up rivers in fresh water lakes.
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Tell us about the vibe on set with director David Ellis. We heard something about a donut eating contest?
Joel David Moore: Every week he would do a different contest and he would pick four or five people to participate for a cash prize. Each time it was different like donuts or cookies. The one I did was a cracker eating contest with saltines. This turned out to be the worst one of them all! They put seven crackers in front of me and you had to eat it as fast as you can. I’m thinking, ‘this is easy!’ But you can’t eat three crackers in a row, and you can’t have any water or anything. So you just end up with like a glob of cracker in your mouth you can’t swallow.
Nice image there, Joel.
Joel David Moore: Needless to say, I lost.
Chris, can we ask you about The Amazing Spider-Man? Are we going to see Flash and Pete’s relationship develop at all in this take on the franchise?
Chris Zykla: No comment.
So we can’t ask you about Spider-Man!
Joel David Moore: You can ask me about Spider-Man! He [Zylka] is in it. And some guy from The Social Network.
Thanks for the help Joel! Chris you did Piranha 3D as well, so when did the irony hit you about doing another sea creature movie?
Chris Zylka: My last three movies have been sharks, piranhas and spiders. I think it’s time for an indie or a romantic comedy.
Joel, any updates on Avatar 2?
Joel David Moore: They are coming soon, we will start rolling them out next year. Jim [Cameron]’s got it all in his brain and we are all very excited about it.
Did you feel like a veteran on the set of Shark Night 3D having shot a movie in 3D before?
Joel David Moore: Avatar was such an interesting process because they were building it as we went, and kind of making it up as they went, so the technology was constantly changing. By the time that we got to Shark Night we were using 3D compatible cameras and they were able to mount them on a crane and do things that were a struggle when we did Avatar. In a way this was a far easier way to shoot a 3D movie that’s actually gonna look good.
Chris Zylka: We shot this entire film in 3D; it wasn’t converted.
Joel David Moore: Yeah I’m kind of a nerd about that. I wanted to make sure Shark Night was going to be shot in 3D and not converted.
Chris Carmack: I think that the 3D in this movie was pretty well integrated into the storytelling.
Joel David Moore: Yeah and to see Dustin Milligan in 3D … that’s a lot of sexy. But seriously, when you shoot an action movie in 3D its important to understand it’s not about the gimicks. Rather it’s about expanding the world.
Joel, after being a part of a movie that set the precedent for 3D do you think it’s here to stay?
Joel David Moore: I think if films are continually converted, it will not stay. Anytime you cheapen an art form, and 3D is an art form, your audience will suffer. As long as we’re shooting it in live action and actual physical production 3D, I think it’s going to last.
Check out the frightening trailer for Shark Night 3D below.
