"Shark Night 3-D" Cast "Those fake sharks had real teeth!"

The 20-something cast of the new thriller Shark Night 3-D had way too much fun in the Shreveport, Louisiana area. After spending endless days and nights shooting in the murky water at a local lake, they would head for town and some casino action. Co-stars Sara Paxton and Alyssa Diaz dressed up as “ladies of the evening”, got hit on and won some money while Dustin Milligan played bodyguard.

Male co-stars Chris Zylka, Joel Moore and Chris Carmack went fishing for bass and competed in director David Ellis’ donut and cracker-eating contests. Sinqua Walls, who is the first in the film to be attacked by a shark, learned how to swim without an arm!

We are in Westwood, Ca. across the street from the UCLA campus to get the soggy story of a very fun getaway weekend turned terribly wrong. First, Joel (who was in Avatar) comes over with a mixed drink (he’s over 21 folks).

Joel: Why am I the only one drinking?

TeenHollywood: We’ll probably get to that later. Meanwhile, we hear there were eating competitions on set. Were you all involved in that?

Sara: David had eating contests. It was like 108 degrees outside and everyone is eating donuts and crackers.

Chris Z: There was a something-eating competition every Friday. I was involved in the cracker eating.

Chris C: I saw something nasty being eaten but don’t know what it was.

Joel: The winner got a hundred bucks.

TeenHollywood: So this movie, sharks in a lake, is based on a true story?

Joel: Well the story isn’t but post-Katrina, when the levees broke, there were some sharks that got into the lakes in the area and it was easy feeding ground for them. There is something really scary about the lake you’ve been living on now having new predators in it. That attracted all of us to the movie.

TeenHollywood: Okay, fun in the sun in Louisiana. Can each of you talk about your character?

Chris Z: I’d say I’m more of the jokester/ass, the cocky kid. “That guy”. You want the sharks to eat me.

Joel: I think you want the sharks to eat everyone in a movie called Shark Night. I play Gordon. I’m an eight year senior at the college. Maybe I’m not even in college anymore but I share a room with Dustin Milligan’s character.  I’m along for the ride because we get an invitation to Sara Powsky’s (Sara Paxton’s) house on the lake and who is gonna pass that up? I come along with these guys.

Chris Z: Sinqua (Walls) character Malik and I (Blake) are best friends and they both play on the football team at college.

Chris C: I’m a local dive instructor. I’m sort of the liaison to the underwater world in Shark Night. My character has a romantic past with Sara Powsky. She broke my heart as well as other parts of my body.

TeenHollywood: Are you the bad guy in the film? We’ve only seen clips from it so far.

Chris C: Well, it’ll be pretty clear but he has some redeeming qualities. I can’t say too much.

Alyssa: I play Maya and Sinqua plays Malik and we’re lovers and it’s true love. We go out with our friends in the summer to an island to have some fun and trouble ensues. He gets in an “accident” and loses his arm and we don’t know what’s going on.

Sinqua: Right off the bat I lose my arm.

Alyssa: I’m trying to save him and get him to the hospital but we’re in the middle of nowhere. Maya is very fiery and is there for her man.

Sinqua: They told me in casting, “This is your girlfriend” and showed me a picture of Alyssa and I said “Yeah! I’m good. Sign me up!” (Alyssa is laughing).

TeenHollywood: Did you guys meet in advance or just get the movie and meet on set?

Alyssa: It was a fast casting process. They cast me off a tape. I’d never met Sinqua before. We got there and I heard Sinqua missed his flight so I thought “Oh great. I don’t know about this guy. He’s already messing things up”.

Sinqua: She thought I was this Hollywood cat who was gonna have a big ego which I clearly don’t have. My character is Malik and he’s the glue that brings all the friends together. He has the encounter where he loses his arm and that becomes the driving force for what we’re gonna do to get off this island and get away without more shark attacks. He’s also fun-loving, he’s smart and he’s on the verge of going to the NFL but he hasn’t lost track of who he is. He loves his girlfriend and he’s friends with real people, Dustin (Milligan’s) dorky character Nick, friends with Joel (Moore’s) character and they play video games. He’s a genuine, truthful guy.

TeenHollywood: Are you like Maya, Alyssa?

Alyssa: I’m like Maya in that I’m a feisty woman and deep. I love having fun and very loyal to loved ones. I’m not like her in that I would take on the sharks and fight ‘um to the death! I think I would take a shark out!

Sinqua: (laughs) I think you would too! She’s a skilled and trained martial artist.

Alyssa: I started messing around with that about ten years ago and it’s a lot of fun and a great workout. (Watch Alyssa kick butt on TV’s “Nine Lives of Chloe King”)

TeenHollywood: Sara, your character brings everybody to your family’s house on this island and you have some kind of a secret your friends don’t know about?

Sara: Yes. I do. A secret from my past. My character, you think she’s this good girl when the movie starts and as the “sharknanigans” start.. (she points to Dustin). He came up with that. As they start you see that she has a secret that is tied into what is happening with the sharks.

TeenHollywood: Ooooo. So you also had to learn to drive a boat for this movie. What was that like?

Sara: They just kind of threw us in the boat and said “go”.

Dustin: They literally threw us in and said “so, you’re okay to drive this, right?”  And I’m like “Do I have to take a written test first?”

Sara: “So here’s what you’re gonna do. Get it up to 80 then get as close to the camera as you can without killing everyone.

Dustin: We had this professional wakeboarder doing stunts and I had to drive the boat so he looks really amazing and it was very intimidating. Luckily, almost always when we’re driving the boat there is a guy under our feet…

Sara: With a blanket over his head so you can’t see him…

Dustin: He would take the boat back to do the shot over.  They don’t trust us with a lot.

TeenHollywood: Let’s talk about all the different kinds of sharks in the movie.  There were big animatronic sharks on set with you, remote controlled.

Joel: Yeah and they looked real!

Chris Z: They could control the fins and make them swim deeper and open and close their mouths. They had this thing lunging at Sara through a cage.

TeenHollywood: Sara you were in Last House on the Left where your character was horribly abused and scratched up. In this you are in a cage underwater. Which was the most difficult job for you?

Sara: This was more physically demanding because we trained with Navy Seals and learned how to breathe underwater on a regulator and we’d be under there for 45 minutes at a time so that was demanding but fun. On “Last House” it was more emotionally demanding so I’d say that “Shark Night” was more fun.

TeenHollywood: Any injuries for anybody?

Joel: There were some scrapes and bruises along the way when you do a lot of action scenes. When you’re in the water though there are like 40 stunt guys and lifeguards.

Sara: I didn’t get hurt but Dustin did.

Dustin: Yeah. I got this scar (he shows me a scar that looks like a big scratch from his little finger across the top of his hand to his thumb). But, it was difficult for both of us because we had the most stunt-heavy interactions with these sharks that were unpredictable at times. The scar happened from me holding a rope doing something with Alyssa and something went wrong and I got a slice on my hand.

Sara: The camera guys were getting “bitten” by the big shark a lot though.

Dustin: Just by bumping into it, yeah. The fake sharks had real shark teeth.

Sara: It’s really scary when you are unconscious in a cage and the director, on the underwater sound system, is like “Get closer to the mouth!”.

Dustin: There were actual deadly or creepy underwater creatures in that lake, snapping turtles, snakes, alligators. I stepped on barbed wire under the water on the last day. “Get out of here Tetanus boy”.  But it was a great time.

TeenHollywood: Why will all these sharks be so much cooler than some fake ones you see in bad TV movies?

Chris Z: I can tell you that going from being in Shark Night to Piranha 3DD, one big difference was when there is a guy holding a fish on a stick in front of you and they’re going to do the fish in CG in post-production is a lot different than seeing this animatronic shark that looks and acts and you think sometimes, could be real! Big difference.

Chris C: And, as a performer working with the sharks, you’re underwater and can’t see clearly and it looks real. It looks real out of water. We were watching the playback of our scenes wearing 3-D glasses and we didn’t have to imagine. We could see that this is gonna be scary.

Sinqua: Those sharks were so strong. They were built to look like real sharks. They had real shark teeth and eyes that moved. You get lost in the moment and see a shark coming at you and react. I did.

Alyssa: When you are swimming helplessly in the middle of a swamp and you see a shark fin chasing you, it’s terrifying in the open water. You are so vulnerable. The water in the lake had no salt so you sink and it’s very muddy and there are all kinds of creatures in there; water moccasins and alligators.

Sinqua: They put a life vest on me because I was sinking and it was also freezing at night.

TeenHollywood: Did you ever get to remote control operate one of the animatronic sharks?

Sinqua: Uh, we can’t say that we didn’t but we weren’t allowed to “play” with the sharks.  But, sometimes, the remote was just sitting there…. (he rolls his eyes).

TeenHollywood: And you played with the sharks. Alyssa, we hear you’ve always been terrified of sharks.

Alyssa: Oh yeah and alligators too and I saw a “log” floating ten feet from our boat when I’m about to get in the water. A “log” with eyeballs? It was a 14 foot alligator in the water and it was hungry and pregnant according to the locals so we got to the other end of the lake to shoot that scene. I was freaked out and my stunt double was trying to give me tips on how to wrestle an alligator “You know about the belly rub, right?”

TeenHollywood: Sinqua we saw you in some stills from the movie with your arm missing so was that done in computer or was your arm taped behind your back or what?

Sinqua: It was a combination. David (Ellis, director) wanted that real texture as well as CG. I got my arm fitted for a cast for the CG moments and then I’d just hold it in a green screen sleeve and a lot of it, my arm was tied behind my back in the water and I couldn’t move it the entire day. I got used to that.

TeenHollywood: Let’s lighten up. Who was the jokester on set? The boys or the girls?

Sinqua: Alyssa and Sara. 

Alyssa: There was a casino in Shreveport so Sara and I went to the thrift shops and dressed up. I had hot pink pants and a leopard t-shirt. I did my hair with Aquanet spray, had red press on nails and sunglasses and Sara had neon blue pants and slicked back her hair and put on ‘80’s cat eye make-up and we were Cha-Cha and Brigitte. We won money in the casino on roulette and we didn’t know what we were doing. It was a lucky night.

Sara: We realized as we were leaving the hotel that we looked a little on the hookery side. Alyssa was like “Do you think they’ll think we’re hookers?” We got there and they did so we played it up. Yep, she was Cha Cha and I was Brigitte.  Cha Cha got more attention. Oh darn!

Sinqua: The guys are sitting around talking sports and the girls come walking up and I see them and, at first I’m like “what?”.  “It’s us”.  We went too and were Cha-Cha and Brigitte’s bodyguards.

TeenHollywood: So did you all stay far from the water when not shooting?

Joel: (Pointing to Chris C.) This guy fished a lot. I bought a fishing pole and never used it.

Chris C: I bought the one that actually breaks down in half so I could bring it home in my luggage. This guy bought like a nine foot pole that he had to leave in his hotel room.

Chris Z: Chris and I went out and caught some bass. Nothing to brag about. I was so over the water stuff that fishing was the best option. There wasn’t a lot to do in Shreveport. They wouldn’t let us do any of the fun stuff (because of the high insurance that must be paid if an actor is hurt). We couldn’t go wake boarding.

Joel: It’s muddy water too. Anywhere we were shooting, we had to find an open patch that was deep enough to wakeboard on.

Chris Z: Recreationally, I was the most fortunate because I was on a jet ski and they let me play around on it. I went around the Bayou. I saw some alligators but didn’t hit any.

TeenHollywood: A lot of people are gonna get chewed by sharks in this film but what qualifies as a gnarly death in a movie for you?

Joel: This is PG-13 so it can’t be that gnarly. But a gnarly death would consist of a lot of blood and some big teeth and bites.

Chris C: I like it when things stretch and then snap!

Joel: Yeah. Bone-crushing.

TeenHollywood: What scares each of you, either in a film or in real life?

Chris Z: Personally, I like the moment where it’s quiet and I like the film score and the sounds. You hear what might be happening and then, all of a sudden a sound happens and you know the shark is striking.

Chris Z.: Michael Myers (Halloween villain).

Joel: My favorite recently is Let the Right One In, the original. Best made indie horror film in a long time.

Chris C: I’m not an avid horror movie goer so Shark Night! After making this movie I’m no more scared of swimming in the ocean but I am scared of swimming in nasty, swampy lakes. There were some nasty things in there.

Joel: And there were some pretty scary humans that lived lake-side, the real locals. They were a little (he hums the banjo music from the movie Deliverance, indicating inbred, backcountry folks).

Alyssa: I think what scares me is doubt and not living life fully. (I’m afraid) of letting a day go by and not appreciating it. Life is so short.

Sinqua: For me, in a similar fashion, not living up to expectations, not as an actor but as a person. I was raised by my mom and grandmother and they instilled certain expectations in me as a man and a person. Not carrying myself in a way that would make them proud is my biggest fear. Letting them down.

TeenHollywood: That’s sweet. You guys are so deep! Sara and Dustin?

Sara: Cockroaches. Ewww. I’m really scared of them. I can’t even look at them.

Dustin: Remember “Fear Factor”? I’m scared of Joe Rogan (who hosted the show) and he’s coming back. That guy is scary. He’s always juiced up and screaming into the mic on “The Ultimate Fighting Championship”. He’s so loud. But no bad dreams about him.

TeenHollywood: How about dreams about sharks or drowning?

Sara: I was too exhausted. We were living the dream.

TeenHollywood: Of all the six kinds of sharks in this movie, which do each of you think is the most bad-ass?

Alyssa: The most bad-ass is the cookie cutter shark because it’s small and has a circular mouth with jagged teeth. It attacks its prey then spins and sucks out a chunk of meat like a cookie cutter. Pretty brutal.

TeenHollywood: Ewwwwww!

Sara: I feel like hammerhead is the most exciting shark to me.

Dustin: Hammerhead has the most ludicrous look. That’s for sure. How is that practical for anything to have its eyeballs out here? (He indicates on the sides of his head). That makes no sense.  The most bad-ass though? I liked the cookie cutter sharks on that but the Great White has “great” in its name.

Sinqua: Well I had firsthand experience with a hammerhead shark in this movie and he’s a bad mo-fo. He don’t play around. I fight him valiantly. We went 12 rounds. I got respect for you, man.

Sara: I liked the Tiger Shark that likes to look over its shoulder. I think there are moments when the fake sharks are actually pissed off.

Dustin: Or they are smiling.

Sara: There is a moment where Dustin is in the water panicking and the shark looks over its shoulder (she demonstrates a cocky look).

Dustin: They are all equally bad-ass in their own rights but some have excellent killing skills.

Sara: There are a lot of different ways to die.

Dustin: In other films, it’s just been Great Whites swimming up and eating you and that’s so passé.

Sara: Borrrring.

Dustin: Yeah. This movie has suspense like Jaws but it’s fun and flashy and very quickly-paced and exciting. Not the traditional chomp, chomp.

TeenHollywood: What would you do if confronted by a real shark?

Sara: Poop my pants and freak out.

Dustin: They say punch it in the nose but he’d bite my hand off. Maybe stare it down.

Chris Z: Hope the dolphins are around. I heard that dolphins protect humans.

Joel: There was a girl in the ocean surrounded by sharks and the dolphins came and messed with the sharks and saved the girl.

TeenHollywood: So are you gonna do comedies next?

Dustin: This was serious on screen but a comedy behind the scenes.

Sara: We’d get the giggles at 3:00 AM and they’re like “Okay. Shut up now!”