The “Sharknado” franchise is one of the weirdest phenomena ever to come out of the SyFy Channel. The movies feature giant tornadoes ravaging the coasts that drop human eating sharks on passersby. The scenario is played solely for laughs, but it has acquired a so bad it’s good cult status.
With the fifth installment drawing nigh, The Hollywood Reporter reveals an odd search for the person to play the president of the United States in the third installment that aired in 2015. It turns out, that person might have been Donald J. Trump, the real life current president.
The search for an American president
Sharknado 3 was going to have a sequence where the sharks start invading the White House. That part of the movie required that a president and vice president be cast. Ann Coulter, the conservative writer, and media personality was quickly cast as the vice president. However, the president proved to be a more challenging role.
The first choice was apparently Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska and vice presidential candidate. However, negotiations fell through, likely because of Palin’s well-founded suspicion of the entertainment industry. Then the series’ star, Ian Ziering, had an inspiration. Besides fighting flying sharks with chainsaws and fire fighter axes, Ziering had been on “Celebrity Apprentice” and had become good friends with its star Donald J.
Trump.
Trump blew hot, then cold, then really hot
At first, Trump was enthusiastic about playing the president. The possible role went so far as having a contract drawn up and sent to Trump’s lawyer. However, weeks of silence ensued until Trump’s lawyer revealed that Trump was thinking of running for president for real. Appearing as the president in a movie about flying sharks would not do.
So, the production offered the role to mark cuban, who accepted, and thus history was made.
However, when hearing about the casting of Cuban, the production company heard from Trump’s lawyer again. The lawyer claimed that Trump had actually wanted to do the role and that he was going to sue and shut down the production. The real reason was that Trump harbors an intense hatred for Cuban, who is the star of his own reality show, ironically called “Shark Tank” that is similar to “Celebrity Apprentice.” Trump, it seems, was interested again in being a fake president if one of his enemies was going to be in the role instead.
Of course, nothing came of the legal threats and the movie aired on the SyFy Channel. President Mark Cuban led the nation in its time of crisis. However, Donald Trump got the last laugh as he really is president and Cuban is not.
