The Last Sharknado is Here and It’s About Time: Talk Nerdy Talks with Tara Reid

A couple of weeks ago, I had the chance to chat with Tara Reid who has been battling the shark-apocalypse for half a decade now. The Last Sharknado: It’s About Time premieres tonight on SyFy at 8:00 p.m. and marks the end of the franchise. Read on to find out how Tara feels about the end of the road and what she’s got coming up next.

Let’s just get right into it. Let’s talk about Sharknado and the end. How are you feeling? Are you relieved? Are you tired of battling sharks? Are you ready for the next chapter? 

I am definitely ready for the next chapter. It’s kind of a melancholy feeling; every year for the last six years we knew we’d always be starting the movie in January and February, so it almost became a habit. But you know, at the end of the day, all good things come to an end. There’s a lot of time travel in the next movie. We’ll go into the dinosaur age, you know, the prehistoric age, and then you go into like meet George Washington, but it’s so random. It’s like we fly around in tornadoes and I can steer the tornado. It’s unbelievable what they’ve created. I think this one’s going to be the worst one because it’s so ridiculous and that’s why people are going to love it the most. That’s what made these movies popular because they’re so bad [that] they became good, like because it was so cheesy, and we had no idea it would ever have the success it did. So you know, I think that we’re happy with all that.

Where would you go if you could travel back in time? Without sharks of course. 

I think I’d go to like old fashioned days, when there weren’t cell phones and people used to have to come to each other’s house and knock on your door; that doesn’t exist anymore. I would love to just dress up in those flapper clothes like they all did and go to the soirees and the balls that they went to. It just all looks like so much fun.

Now that she movies are coming to an end, who has been your favorite cameo appearance on Sharknado?

I think it would have to be Kelly Osbourne. She did such a good job, she’s a really good actress.

Is there anyone you wish had made an appearance that didn’t?

At one time we heard that Lady Gaga was going to come on and I thought that was really cool. Oh, and the kid from Harry Potter; that’s my favorite movie of all time. He was going to do a guest spot, but he said “no” too. It’s crazy, but you know, there’s nothing like it in the world. I feel like, in this day and age you need something to laugh at because there’s so much depression, bullying and bad things going on that when you go into this movie, you’re happy. It makes you laugh, it’s funny, it’s ridiculous. It’s a family movie and it’s a fun movie. I have little kids recognize me all the time because they love this movie and it has given me a whole new fan base. I never had fans that were kids, it was always like American Pie or Josie And The Pussycats and now little kids notice me and it’s a cool feeling.

I hadn’t watched much Sharknado before prepping for this interview, but I have to say, now I’m hooked. What are some crazy things we can look forward to in the last movie?

I’m probably not supposed to say this, but I’ll never forget this. When they told us we were going to time travel, we were like, ‘but how are we going to travel?’ They put us in this huge pot, like a huge pot for when you bake things. It’s huge. All three of us would get in this pot and fly down the road in this huge pot that’s like a UFO. That was so ridiculous. Then, we’re in the dinosaur age, and one of the funniest things for me [was when] I become really good friends with a pterodactyl that I name “Tara” in the movie and it’s so funny.

It looks like you get to travel a lot working with this franchise. How has that been?

So we started off in, I want to say London first, then we went to Tokyo, Hong Kong, then we went to Australia. We were like rock stars. We were really on tour, you know, it was so much fun. And when you do these kinds of movies, everyone wants to take you out to their favorite restaurants or their favorite spots. It’s just been really cool to get to know so many different kinds of cultures and people.

So your Sharknado following is pretty much worldwide?

Oh yeah, because it comes out in like 265 countries. The people love it. They love it. Yeah, it’s insane. I remember I was in Mexico and my phone was blowing up and I’m like, ‘who’s calling me?’ And then it’s over and over and over. People are calling me and they’re like, ‘do you see what’s happening?’ I get nervous thinking maybe there’s an earthquake or something happening with my family or you know, like what happened? And they are calling to tell me Sharknado was number one with like the most tweets per minute; it was just crazy. We never, never thought that was going to happen.

Which movie would you say was your favorite?

The second one is my favorite and potentially, how this one gets cut together, I think this will be my favorite because we really go out with a boom! We really close it up good and it all comes full circle. They really figured that out. So I mean, they’ve done a great job and what they’re doing, it’s just completely out there. But people know that and people know they’re not watching a film that’s going to get an Academy Award; it’s just the kind of film that’s gonna make you laugh and I think people are really going to enjoy it. It’s just so ludicrous and so out there and I think it’s what people want, and I think they’re going to like it.

So what’s your next project coming out after the end of Sharknado?

The next one coming out is called Party Bus to Hell. It’s about a bunch of kids that are on a party bus on their way to Burning Man. They basically get lost in the desert and they’re tripping and seeing things and there are mummies and everything is crazy. So it’s a really, really fun horror movie. I think to make a good movie, in any way, you have to have love in there somewhere, even if you have to love to hate a character or something. If there’s no heart in the movie then there’s no movie.

Here’s hoping you all love The Last Sharknado: It’s About Time! Thank you Tara, and best of luck to you!