"Piranha 3D" *IT'S WAR: 'Piranha' Producer Responds to James Cameron's Comments*

[JamesG]

Gossip Girl Goes on Seafood Diet in Piranha 3-D
Source:E! Online
May 5, 2009


E! Online has discovered that Jessica Szohr from the CW series "Gossip Girl" will be joining Dimension Films' Piranha 3-D, a remake of the 1978 cult classic by Alexandre Aja (Hills Have Eyes).

Szohr joins the already announced cast of Elisabeth Shue, Ving Rhames, Adam Scott and Richard Dreyfuss, playing "Kelly, a hot young townie caught up in the excitement of co-eds who have descended upon the area for spring break."

Being that the movie is about a lakeside town overrun by man-eating razor-toothed fish, here's hoping she doesn't go in the water.

Piranha 3-D begins shooting in Arizona later this month and is scheduled to open on March 19, 2010.

http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/topnews.php?id=10402

[Torgo]

Well it couldn't be any worse than the awful 90's remake with William Katt, or the silly James Cameron sequel.

[JamesG]

EXCL: Set Pic from Piranha 3D
Source:Roger Galloway
May 10, 2009

Starting Monday, there are some new sheriff's department vehicles patrolling Lake Havasu City, Arizona under the guise of "Lake Victoria."

There are three vehicles in all and they are the chief "camera cars" for the movie, Piranha 3D. Driven by the movie's stars, Elisabeth Shue and Ving Rhames (as sheriff and deputy,) they'll help control frantic spring breakers on land and be used to watch out for jumping flesh-eating piranha in Lake Victoria. (The actual piranha in real life Lake Havasu are known as "striped bass.")

Piranha 3D, directed by Alex Aja, opens on March 19, 2010

http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/topnews.php?id=10452

[JamesG]

Christopher Lloyd Becomes Piranha Expert!
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
By: MrDisgusting

B-D reader Roger Galloway tipped off both Bloody-Disgusting and Dread Central to the fact that the great Christopher Lloyd has joined the quickly growing cast of Piranha 3D, which is currently lensing under the direction of Alex Aja.

Lloyd, who you might remember as Dr. Emmett Brown in the Back to the Future franchise, will star as Goodman, an expert on piranha.

A new type of terror is about to be cut loose on beautiful Lake Victoria. After a sudden underwater tremor sets free scores of the prehistoric man-eating fish, an unlikely group of strangers must band together to stop themselves from becoming fish food for the area’s new razor-toothed residents.

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/16179

[JamesG]

Cody Longo (Odd Name) Joins Piranha 3D Cast
Thursday, May 14, 2009
By: MrDisgusting

Cody Longo better get himself some titanium waders as the young actor has joined the cast of Dimension's horror revamp Piranha 3-D, to be directed by Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes, Mirrors, High Tension).

Elisabeth Shue, Adam Scott, Jerry O'Connell, Ving Rhames and Richard Dreyfuss already have been cast in the story about a resort community terrorized by flesh-eating fish. Longo will play Todd Dupree, a high school jock and self-absorbed creep.

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/16193

[JamesG]

Update: Porn Star Heats Up Piranha Infested Waters, Fish Tank Video!
Friday, May 15, 2009
By: MrDisgusting

Over at BDTV you can watch an exclusive video (to B-D and Dread Central) that features your first look at the Piranha "Fish Tank"!, courtesy of tipster Roger Galloway.

In other news, porn star Riley Steele (pictured inside) landed the role of Crystal in Alex Aja's now-filing remake of the 1978 cult, horror classic Piranha.

The release tells us that she is one of the leading roles with substantial scenes, and will act alongside an all-star cast featuring Oscar nominated actress Elisabeth Shue, Oscar winner Richard Dreyfuss, Jerry O'Connell, Ving Rhames, Dina Meyer, and Kelly Brook.

“It's crystal clear that Riley Steele adds yet another dimension to Piranha 3-D,” says producer Mark Canton. “Her natural beauty will light up the screen as she frolics with the hordes of spring break partygoers in our very contemporary, scary 3-D movie.”

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/16221

[Big C]

I'm setting the over/under on human deaths by piranha at 20.

[HuntingtonM15]

I was unaware of a Piranha remake. I enjoyed the original, so I'll most likely check this one out.

[JamesG]

The following interview gives away spoilers so be warned...

EXCL: Riley Steele Talks Piranha 3D
Source:Ryan Rotten, Managing Editor
May 22, 2009

At the outset of production, director Alexandre Aja was on the lookout for hot bodies to populate Piranha 3D, his remake of Joe Dante's camp classic. He certainly found one in porn starlet, and Digital Playground contract girl, Riley Steele. The actress called in to ShockTillYouDrop.com from the film's Arizona location to give this writer the lowdown on her character Crystal.

"She's a girl who's out to have fun," Steele says. And she means that quite literally, Crystal is one of the stars of the film's Wild, Wild Girls, a spin on Girls Gone Wild. "Me and Danni [Kelly Brook] go out and basically trying to get innocent Kelly [Jessica Szohr] to become a Wild, Wild Girl with me. So, I'm basically playing myself."

Steele's untamed lifestyle ultimately leads to her demise, a scene she tells us she is in the midst of shooting this week with co-star Jerry O'Connell. "I haven't seen any blood yet but I heard there's going to be some today. Yesterday we filmed a scene where we all die. Jerry O'Connell is playing the director, or the owner, of the Wild, Wild Girls and we fall off of this boat and he kills me trying to save himself," she laughs. "A huge piranha eats through my head and comes out of my mouth. A death scene in 3-D, eating through our faces, everything!"

Because the piranha will mostly be created in CG, Steele says she hasn't come face-to-face with any on set, however, she has seen a few mock-ups. "They're pretty cool. They really look like fish, when I saw them they didn't have any paint on them but they're really intense. Very impressive. " After our chat, it's off to do more water training. "It's all about trying to hold our breath because there's this glass bottom boat me and Kelly [Brook] have to swim under for this sexy thing. So our training is all about working under water, being comfortable. It's a lot harder than it looks!"

Piranha 3D - starring Elisabeth Shue, Adam Scott, Ving Rhames, Richard Dreyfuss and Dina Meyer - opens in theaters on March 19, 2010.

http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/topnews.php?id=10605

[JamesG]

Official Plot Synopsis for Piranha 3D
Source: Dimension Films
June 1, 2009

Dimension Films has sent us the official plot crunch for Alexandre Aja's Piranha 3D, 2010's first big 3-D horror film.

Jaws...lots and lots of jaws. From acclaimed director Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes) comes the new action thriller PIRANHA 3D, in the latest eye-popping 3D technology. A new type of terror is about to be cut loose on beautiful Lake Victoria. After a sudden underwater tremor sets free scores of the prehistoric man-eating fish, an unlikely group of strangers must band together to stop themselves from becoming fish food for the area’s new razor-toothed residents. But our heroine (Elisabeth Shue) is seriously outnumbered, and with only one chance to save the lake and her family from totally being devoured, she must risk everything to destroy the aquatic carnivores herself.

The film also stars Adam Scott, Ving Rhames, Richard Dreyfuss, Dina Meyer and Jerry O'Connell. Look for it in theaters on March 10, 2010.

http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/topnews.php?id=10706

[JamesG]

Eli Roth Cameos in Piranha 3D
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
By: MrDisgusting

Looking at Alex Aja's history, I'm starting to think that Piranha 3D has the potential to be EPIC. It's becoming increasingly obvious that the film isn't to be taken too serious and that it's going to be a fun bloodbath.

In addition to the odd cameos of porn star Riley Steele and comedian Paul Scheer (awesome), Bloody-Disgusting learned that writer-director Eli Roth cameos as the host of the wet t-shirt contest. 16 hotties and 32 pairs of soaking wet tits, what more can you want from a Piranha movie in 3-D? Oh yeahhhhh, BLOOD! Read on for a bit on that.

A B-D reader sent me the following excerpt from one of the KNB FX guru's blog:

"Between us and the physical FX crew this movie has the potential to out blood the 400 gallons we went through on "Kill Bill". Remember Lake Havasu, the jewel in the Arizona desert, well Its red now. LOL. We are currently shooting the Lake massacre scene 100 boats, 500 extras, 400 gallons of blood, lots of screaming, lots of bikins, lots of torn flesh and its all in 3D. Come on!!! Tell me you're not interested in seeing this movie and I'll call you a liar."

More blood than in Kill Bill? Are you kidding me? Seriously, this movie sounds like it has some serious potential to entertain. What do you think?

March 19, 2010 can't come soon enough.

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/16448

[JamesG]

Last Second Desperation Casting For Piranha 3D
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
By: MrDisgusting

Ricardo Chavira ("Desperate Housewives") has been cast alongside Elisabeth Shue, Adam Scott, Ving Rhames, Richard Dreyfuss, Dina Meyer, Brooklynn Proulx, Quinn Lord, Riley Steele, Jessica Szohr, Jerry O'Connell, Paul Scheer, Cody Longo, Riley Steele and Eli Roth in the Weinstein Co.'s Piranha 3D.

The film has already begun principal photography under helmer Alexandre Aja, with plans for a bow March 19, 2010.

After a sudden underwater tremor sets free scores of the prehistoric man-eating fish, an unlikely group of strangers must band together to stop themselves from becoming fish food for the area’s new razor-toothed residents.

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/16516

[JamesG]

Piranha 3-D Visit: McQueen is Ready for Action
Source:Ryan Rotten, Managing Editor
June 27, 2009

"Am I going to get to use that?" questions a chilly, but palpably excited, Steven McQueen on the Arizona set of Piranhna 3-D, Dimension Films' remake of the 1978 film poised to make a splash March 19, 2010. McQueen and director Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes) are watching an FX technician demonstrate the use of an underwater flare. And to answer McQueen's question, yes, he is going to use it.

When Shock visits the set, McQueen is in the midst of filming a sequence that will kick off the film's action-packed third act. Today calls on the young actor, grandson to the Steve McQueen, to spend most of his time, with Gossip Girl's Jessica Szohr, swimming in a large tank created for the production (more on that in a future report) with two capsized boats.

"I'm regretting doing my own stunts right about now," McQueen laughs, later taking a break in a nearby warming pool. This is where Shock catches the actor before it's back to the tank for him. Of his experience on the production, he says "This whole thing has been awesome. It definitely has its funny beats and scary beats, it's got a nice romance. The whole 3-D aspect is definitely going to get people into it and make them excited to see movies again."

McQueen, seen this fall on The CW's Vampire Diaries, says Piranhna 3-D was the perfect gig to take on after shooting the Diaries pilot. "I play Jake, Elisabeth Shue's son," he explains. "I'm the main kid - and he's got great potential but he doesn't know how to let it out, use it. Out of this extraordinary situation I learn to put that to good use." That extraordinary situation entails a horde of prehistoric piranha freed from their cave when an earthquake disrupts Lake Victoria (Arizona's Lake Havasu in the real world).

"Alex [Aja] is a good guy," he continues. "And as director, he knows exactly what he wants to see. It's been an honor working with him. He's a fan of the blood." No doubt. A week prior to our visit, Aja staged a massacre in the lake which entailed hundreds of screaming extras. "I wasn't working too much of the massacre. I came and visited that day, but I needed to take that time to rest my body from the stunts and the underwater stuff. We've been doing a lot of water training. Before we started I could only hold my breath for up to 40 seconds, by the end of this I could get it up to two minutes, but that's not that long."

With that, McQueen is called back to set to brave the moderately cold temperatures of the tank. But sun, sand, babes...voracious fish? Not a bad way to spend a summer for this actor. Stay tuned for an in-depth report from the set of Piranhna 3-D in the near future!

http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/topnews.php?id=10935

[JamesG]

Piranha 3-D Set Visit: Alex Aja Interview
Source: Ryan Rotten, Managing Editor
June 30, 2009

"My heart is beating out of my chest," enthuses French filmmaker Alexandre Aja. The reason behind the increased heart rate? He's on the 38th shooing day of Piranha 3-D - his big budget update of Joe Dante's 1978 Jaws rip-off - and things are going swimmingly well, no pun intended. Beneath unkempt, sand-colored hair, the High Tension director's eyes intensify when he rattles off the cast he has to work with this time: Elisabeth Shue, Ving Rhames, Christopher Lloyd, Jessica Szohr, Steven McQueen, Adam Scott, Jerry O'Connell and, sink your chompers into this...a cameo by Richard Dreyfuss, bearing a slight resemblance to his Matt Hooper persona in Steven Spielberg's aforementioned classic.

ShockTillYouDrop.com is sitting with Aja on the arid, overcast Arizona set which is situated on a ranch tucked behind an Amblin film-esque neighborhood. The production has successfully made its mark on Lake Havasu, a popular tourist spot just a few miles away, quite literally turning its water red with spilled fake blood. Yes, it's hot. But not oppressive. No reason to go running for the three giant stacks of bottled water yet.

Today, Aja, this writer and the crew are perched on the edge of an in-ground tank, the largest of its kind in North America. For the purposes of the film, it's meant to resemble a section of Lake Victoria (Havasu's fictional name in the film) where the crew can do some underwater work. On the far end of the tank, 75 feet or so beneath the surface, is a set all its own: A cave where the film's titular nasty nibblers originate from and wreak havoc on Victoria's spring breakers.

And apparently I've missed something big. Before me, in the tank, is a small dock and two half-submerged boats - the result of a deadly piranha attack. The vessel farthest from us is named the "Barracuda." This afternoon's action is taking place on the closer party boat with a glass floor that Jerry O'Connell's character uses for his Girls Gone Wild-style program. Aja assures me the floor is put to good use with shots of naked swimming beauties (like Kelly Brooke and porn stars Riley Steele and Ashlynn Brooke) who will look like they're "swimming over the audience" in 3-D. Yee-haw.

Presently, the floor is a means of escape for McQueen who's tethered underwater and about to swim up through a hole in the glass and into the heart of the boat. Aja fires off a take, hindered briefly by a few problems: A stand-by scuba diver is conspicuously drifting into the shot and the line holding McQueen is being stubborn. The actor hits the surface and climbs onto the top of the boat. He's immediately met with a towel to cover up, but not before I spy the giant blotches of blood stains on his shirt.

Yes, it's a rather light and quiet day action-wise on the set. Busy work is happening all around, no doubt. Two crew members in one spot have a stunt jet-ski attached to a rig. An FX technician walks by with a fake head of Ashlynn Brooke, the back of her skull hollowed out.

The weather has affected the schedule forcing Aja to push much of the juicy stuff to the following day. Elsewhere, on Lake Havasu, his writing and producing partner Grégory Levasseur is waiting for the clouds to pass so he can begin the day's work on second unit. Levasseur isn't the only one on Piranha 3-D from Aja's High Tension days. Franck Khalfoun, who played that film's hapless gas station attendant, is sitting nearby. It's his last day of acting work playing a deputy for Shue's Sheriff Forester.

As McQueen saunters off to hop in the warming pool, Aja takes some time to talk about his second remake after The Hills Have Eyes...




ShockTilYouDrop: Is this your biggest picture yet?

Alexandre Aja: It's huge, it's nothing compared to Mirrors. It's completely a different movie, but it's also a different scale. Piranha is a big disaster movie and we have so many characters, so many actors, so many extras. Everything is taking place during the most crazy, insane spring break you can imagine.




Shock: How are you handling it stress-wise?

Aja: I was very stressed before because it was the most challenging hostile element that you can imagine, from shooting above the water, special effects, visual effects, special effects makeup, the heat - 120 - kids, animals, CG fish, everything. You name it, we have it.

Finally, on set, I realized that making a movie on the water is one of the greatest things ever because you're in open space all the time. You can swim during the day, so when it's very hot, it's very great. it's pretty intense. Yesterday was our last day really on the lake, it was very kind of moving. It was really hard, but we managed to get so much great stuff out of it.




Shock: How did you convince the powers that be, to do a sequence like we've been hearing about with 500 extras, a full-on massacre?

Aja: During the whole process the idea was to do a movie like "spring break under attack," so it was the whole idea. Of course any studio would have tried to "Less is more. We care about the characters, we don't care about spring break," because it was a huge scene, nine days of shooting. It was really big. I don't know how many hours, but I would guess around 25 or 30 hours of dailies, five cameras. It was, in every scale, really huge. The special effects guy told me [around] 5,000 gallons of blood. I think it's a little bit over because it's cutting the blood with the water, but it's pretty sick. Lake Havasu was completely red for a few days after.

All of that together, it was the only reason why I wanted to make this movie. I wanted to have that huge scene. [I wanted to have] a movie that starts like a spring break where you can have some fantasy on it and then turns into a big nightmare.




[B]Shock: The original Piranha had humor in it. Is this the first Aja film we're going to see with a funny bone?

Aja: It's completely different from anything else that I've ever done before and it's very, very dark funny. It's scary as well. We are much more on the The Frighteners, Braindead, Gremlins side than like the other movies before. We are completely throwing popcorn. We are going for the rollercoaster ride. We are here to spend an hour and half in the most insane world that we can imagine. The movie was funny even while writing.

The first script I read five years ago was already that idea of "spring break under attack" and it was already something very iconoclastic with a kind of subtext about American culture. Like spring break being the incarnation of the American way of living in excess and the piranha being the unexpected dilemma, the uninvited guest that's going to just crash the party.

It's so in the vain of all those guilty pleasure movies that we had in the '80s. Just the rewriting of the script was following in that direction. I think even directing the movie and shooting everyday those scenes together is exactly what we achieve. We achieve to create that kind of movie that you would have died to have seen when you were 12, 13, 14, 15, 16... monotonous




Shock: How much screen time is Richard Dreyfuss going to have in this?

Aja: You'll see. It's very funny because it's an unofficial, indirect sequel or spin-off [of his Jaws character]. So, it's funny.




Shock: Did it take much convincing to get him on board?

Aja: When you write a character and you think about an idea... When the idea for Richard Dreyfuss to play this part came to us, we couldn't imagine anyone else. The studio really supported us in that decision to get him. From the glasses, to the outfit, to everything you'll see.




Shock: That's awesome. You've also got Christopher Lloyd!

Aja: For our generation Christopher Lloyd is that kind of...I couldn't imagine anyone better than him to play that old adventurer that came back to Lake Victoria to open a pet store, but still passionate about preserving the species and stuff. We were shooting that scene last week and the way he lights up when he starts to be passionate about something, it's dark, there is no question. It just belongs to that kind of pop culture mix that we are trying to create here.




Shock: Did you reach out to Joe Dante at all?

Aja:Yeah.




Shock: Yeah, what did he have to say?

Aja:His only advice was, "Even if you go with CG fish get some puppets."




Shock: And did you take that advice?

Aja: We have some puppets in the truck.




Shock: Can you talk about the design of the piranha as well as what they're capable of in the movie?

Aja: For a few months we didn't have time because we pushed the shooting back with Neville Page, the designer of the fish. We went through all the deep sea and prehistoric species still alive, and all the different documents we could find about it. Then, we tried to think about the way they were two million years ago and how they were able to survive. The design that we were able to create is a good mix between all the old species without losing what makes it a piranha - the size, not too big, the tooth shape, and many other features.

Then we were following some very logical elements like, they were [in this cave] for like a million years feeding on other species and killing each other. They would lose some senses like vision and give up some other ones. That's a little bit of direction. And then, when you study the piranha you have a piranha that can jump a meter out of the water, three feet out of the water. We used all the kind of different skills you can find in nature.




Shock: So no POV shots from the piranha ala Jaws?

Aja: They're mostly blind, but we'll follow them. We'll be in the middle of the school. We're working with amazing people. The guy who's doing our visual effects...I'm very confident about CG and what we're going to achieve with it.




Shock: Do you see this as having the potential for a series?

Aja: There are many stories and the movie ends in such a way that there are a few sequels possible. We'll see.




Shock: In some early photos of Elisabeth, she looked as if she had been doing a bit of training...

Aja: I wanted like a very tough sheriff for this town, someone believable and someone sexy at the same time. She had, at first, a very great physical condition. She's a big tennis player, but she really trained to be that new Linda Hamilton. She's impressed me in the situation and everything. [Steven McQueen] is the real leader of the movie because the whole story is about that guy Jake who is the older son of Elisabeth Shue. This guy, year after year is forced to do some babysitting over spring break, so he's missing all the fun every year and this year he just wants to have fun. That's the whole beginning. And he's really the guy who's carrying out through that fantasy of spring break that's going to turn into the blood bath.




Shock: What 3-D process are you using for this film?

Aja: It's very bizarre because we started the process by talking about using the new system that James Cameron used [for Avatar]. I realized along the way that those cameras were forcing me, first, to shoot in HD and then there were too many technical parameters that were not good.

So, we heard about a new technique they were developing that nobody really used before which is the conversion. The conversion is more expensive, much more work in post-production. You're basically shooting the movie in the traditional way thinking 3-D and then the whole movie would be converted by computer. The camera in 35mm is shooting all of us here and then the computer is going to modelize each of us in 3-D and inside the computer you're going to screen, you're going to project the image on the 3-D model and you create that space and that whole style. It's very complicated.

I was kind of like, "Oh, it's impossible it's not going to feel natural," and I saw 20 minutes of King Kong being converted and it's the best thing I've ever seen. When I see 20 minutes of that, I mean, I don't understand why the studio is not finishing the movie and releasing the movie again in 3-D. It's the best, best, best, best. I've also seen stuff from The Matrix and from Star Wars, the original.




Shock: Whoa. They're just converting it for 3-D?

Aja: Yeah, it's unbelievable. It's not like black and white convert in color where you see that it's stained and it's not natural. It's amazing, there is no word. It was great for us because we are shooting for real on cinemascope anamorphic on film, shooting it as a normal movie. So, it's much faster and we have a full control on the 3-D. Without being presumptuous, I think the 3-D experience on Piranha is going to be the best one that's ever made.



Piranha 3-D opens in theaters on March 19, 2010 from Dimension Films. Stay tuned for a full FX report with KNB's Greg Nicotero. It's gonna get messy!

http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/topnews.php?id=10956

[JamesG]

Piranha 3-D Set Visit: Greg Nicotero Interview
Source: Ryan Rotten, Managing Editor
July 2, 2009

Piranha 3-D may be the bloodiest film you'll see next year. And behind the carnage is none other than KNB EFX, reuniting with director Alexandre Aja for a third time after 2006's The Hills Have Eyes and last year's Mirrors, both of which offered audiences a generous amount of punctured craniums, slit throats and hacked limbs. None of this compares to the gore-covered canvas KNB's Greg Nicotero, his team and Aja are playing with this time.

Within the on-set Piranha FX trailer utilized by Nicotero, Jake Garber, Mike McCarty and Carey Jones one finds corpses and sundry body parts in various stages of consumption - chewed up by the film's titular fish which will be created practically by KNB and CGI visual effects supervisor Derek Wentworth's crew. "In my 500 homages to Jaws in the movie, we even created Chrissie's arm for one of the body parts," Nicotero grins handing this writer a faux female arm, wounds vibrant and fresh. He's wearing a Land of the Dead shirt, an out of the norm day for him. He says he's been wearing Amity Island and Jaws t-shirts during the production.




I'm dropping in on Nicotero on a June afternoon in Arizona where Aja is nearing the end of his production schedule. Things haven't slowed down any here for KNB. Out of the estimated 40-day shoot, Nicotero tells me they've had probably ten free days. He echoes a sentiment that I've heard bandied about the set quite a bit: Piranha 3-D is an ambitious feat for the budget they have to work with. One scene alone called for 97 hours of non-stop prep work and execution.

"We had a week and a half of people being decimated," Nicotero says incredulously, describing what is sure to be Aja's piece de resistance: An estimated 500-extra massacre in which the prehistoric piranha go on a feeding frenzy. "It's a sequence we call the D-Day sequence where they're bringing all of the survivors up onto the beach and the camera is going through and finding people with their limbs chewed up. Just hunks of raw meat! We used a couple of surfers who were amputees and we put chewed up legs on them. The nice thing about Alex is he just lets us go. He knows this movie is about the gore and, when you get to that point in the script when the piranhas start attacking, it has to feel like complete insanity and mayhem."




To capture the carnage, KNB had eight weeks preparation time to test new techniques and gags for realism. Nicotero grabs a slab of flesh on a nearby table. For the life of me, I can't identify what part of the body it came from, but it looks like the piece of gristle I left on a plate at the end of a recent BBQ in the backyard. "We came up with different ways of using silicone, different textures so it dangles. It looks like a butcher shop," he punctuates this by flicking a sheer end of the pale skin then turns to a corpse we cannot identify. Literally. Half of this poor soul's face has been picked off. "These are some of the best fake bodies we've ever done. Kevin Wasner, he came up with this great technique to layer the bone and the musculature and add that fat layer in so it's not just scooped away foam. Once we established the look we liked, we had an assembly line of guys going in adding not just bone but more textures on top of it."

The assembly line technique also applied to the massacre's injured extras, a process that recalled Nicotero's days readying the zombies for George Romero's Land of the Dead. "You do all of the zombies, then you go on set and do all of the gags. This one, you do all of the bites and the victims, then you get on set and you do all of the gags which take a little time. We had a crew doing 60 to 70 make-ups a day plus gags and we had to paint a lot of the blood on with tattoo color so it wouldn't wash off in the water. We had bodies and body parts everywhere."




Aja and Nicotero found themselves referencing this video, amongst other research photos and YouTube discoveries, at the outset of production. The real shark attack caught on camera set the bar for what needed to be achieved in KNB's kill gags. "What happens is the blood starts pouring in the water, they grab the guy and pick him up. The second they lift him out of the water, the blood gushes like a f**kin' water fountain. Aja thought we needed to differentiate the blood in the water versus the blood out of the water. The first test we ever did was at KNB with one of my guys where we made a full silicone leg with blood tubes in it and we actually green screened out his real leg. We had a couple of guys carrying him around in the water. Alex said if we can maintain that level of detail on all of these gags in the massacre, we're going to have a great scene."

"Right when we were shooting the D-Day scene," he continues, "we have water blood and dressing blood. The water blood has that bright '70s feel to it so it reads in the water. I would run along the shoreline dumping blood in and when they yelled action, the blood would just wash up on the shore. It looked like the entire lake was covered."




So much blood was spilled in Lake Havasu - where most of the lensing took place - it crept across the lake to where families frolicked. They didn't seem to mind though ("Kids are playing in bloody water!" Nicotero laughs); they even showed amiable curiosity when the KNB team unloaded bodies and parts from their boat to the dock at the end of the day.

As for the lil' buggers inflicting all of the damage, Nicotero pulls out a maquette of one of the film's fish, conceived by Cloverfield monster designer Neville Page. "The first thing Joe Dante said when I told him we were doing this was, 'Oh, you're shooting with hand puppets? Shoot it at eight frames? Man, you get a lot of mileage out of that!' Yes, Joe, we're going to have puppets." Head-on, the piranha I'm looking at is fearsome, almost dragon-like with a bony plate situated between its eyes and just above the mouth. The tale resembles - slightly - that of a coelacanth and the scales are painted with a blue hue. On either side spring two feelers which Nicotero explains "will be a lot thinner and wispy. The majority of the fish stuff is going to be CGI. What we provided were the hand puppets and the scannable maquettes."




What gets this Jaws fan palpably revved up is not just the viscera he gets to spill but the company he has gotten to keep. Nicotero owns up to doing a little "geeking out" alongside Aja when it came time for Richard Dreyfuss to do his cameo.

"F**kin' unbelievable," he says. "They changed his name in the script to Matt. Ironically, when they started casting, they were cc'ing me on the cast wish list. When the cast list for cameos came out, they wanted Shatner, Sam Elliott, Billy Bob Thornton, everybody they wanted to play that character. At the bottom it said, 'Richard Dreyfuss unavailable due to scheduling.' That night I had dinner with a friend of mine who said, 'Guess who I represent?' Richard Dreyfuss." Aja put in his request again, and as it turned out, the actor's schedule was free during the time they needed him. "He gives me a little credit for getting Dreyfuss. The first day on set, when you hear his voice, and he's in that character, Alex and I just started freaking out."

"Eli Roth was also here because he has a part in it as the host of the wet t-shirt contest," the KNB EFX head adds. "He was great on stage with these two super-soakers soaking down all of these chicks in Wild, Wild Girls t-shirts. Eli said, 'I should never be around this much boobs and blood in my life ever.'"




Piranha 3-D may be work for the KNB fellas, but they seem to be having the time of their lives with an unbeatable equation. Says Nicotero, "If I was 20 years old, this would be the greatest movie I ever worked on because it's just gore and hot women and 3-D and monsters. How much more fun can you get?"

You'll see their work and more when Piranha 3-D opens in theaters on March 19th.

http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/topnews.php?id=10977

[JamesG]

Piranha 3D Swims to Another Date
Source: Dimension Films
August 6, 2009

Alexandre Aja's remake, Piranha 3D, is now slated to open on April 16, 2010, a date once reserved for Robert Rodriguez's Nerveracker which is now "TBA." That's a push for Aja's fish who were originally scheduled to debut on March 19th.

I'm speculating that the bump was to accommodate for a lengthier post-production. Genre-wise, it wasn't up against any particular competition at the box office, now it's opening two weeks before A Nightmare on Elm Street. Studios are getting frisky when it comes to placing their horror releases near the summer movie madness.

http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/topnews.php?id=11336

[JamesG]

AFM '09: Crazy Awesome First Still from Piranha 3D
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
By: MrDisgusting

One of the coolest things we stumbled across at this year's AFM are the first ever images from Alex Aja's (High Tension, Mirrors, The Hills Have Eyes) 3-D remake of Piranha.

Beyond the break you'll witness mayhem in bloody waters, along with your first look as Richard Dreyfuss (Jaws)!


After a sudden underwater tremor sets free scores of the prehistoric man-eating fish, an unlikely group of strangers must band together to stop themselves from becoming fish food for the area’s new razor-toothed residents.

But our heroine (Elisabeth Shue) is seriously outnumbered, and with only one chance to save the lake and her family from totally being devoured, she must risk everything to destroy the aquatic carnivores herself.


Dimension will release the remake on April 16, 2010.

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/17967

[JamesG]

Piranha 3D Trailer Swims into Theaters When?
Source: Ryan Rotten, Managing Editor
December 15, 2009

Alex Aja's first foray into 3-D horror fare, Piranha 3D, doesn't hit theaters until April 16, but it's about to get a huge push.

Shock Till You Drop has learned the trailer is being positioned ahead of prints of James Cameron's Avatar, another 3-D offering, which opens in theaters this week.

We're unsure if the trailer itself will be in 3-D.


A remake of the Joe Dante-directed creature feature, the film stars Elisabeth Shue, Steven McQueen, Adam Scott, Ving Rhames, Richard Dreyfuss and Christopher Lloyd.

http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/topnews.php?id=13292

[JamesG]

A Good Look at Piranha's Killer Fish!
Source: Zoopy
January 14, 2010

Someone on the crew of Piranha 3D has posted a gallery of behind-the-scenes stills from the Arizona set when director Alex Aja rolled cameras last year.

The most significant pic of the lot is the one you see below, offering a good look at KNB EFX's work on the eponymous underwater killer.

http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/topnews.php?id=13657

[JamesG]

Piranha Feels Bite of Release Reshuffling
Source: L.A. Times
January 14, 2010

We predicted via our Twitter account yesterday that we'd be surprised if Alex Aja's Piranha 3D made its April 16 release date.

You see, The Weinstein Company has fallen on hard times. Nine is a financial disaster, despite its Golden Globe nominations. And their 2009 genre box office was gloomy.


Tonight, the company has announced Piranha 3D has been pushed out of April into an undetermined August slot. David Glaser, a senior Weinstein Co. executive, tells the L.A. Times that the decision was not motivated by finances.

Sources tell us that when the film does arrives in August, it will not be in 3D.


August has been a hit or miss month for TWC, many of their Dimension horror releases have come out in late-summer. Halloween II bowed around that time...but tanked.

Looks like we'll have to wait a bit longer to see the furious fish!

http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/topnews.php?id=13670

[JamesG]

EXCL: Alex Aja & Producer Comment on Piranha Delay
Source: Ryan Rotten, Managing Editor
January 15, 2010

This week, The Weinstein Company opted to push Alex Aja's Piranha 3D from April to an August 27 release.

Speculation buzzed as to why and just as fast as we had heard it might arrive sans 3-D, we received a phone call to learn it was still going to be in 3-D. (Such is the nature of the news biz.)

To further confirm this, Alex Aja and producer Mark Canton were kind enough to exclusively throw Shock Till You Drop a statement:


"Our "PIRANHA" are still breeding!!! After the revolution of "Avatar", I want to give the necessary time possible to perfect and heighten both our visual effects and our 3-D.

"The Final Destination 3D's" huge opening weekend the previous year is a good indication that August will be prime feeding month!

We are working on crafting every tooth, every scar and every fin with the utmost dread to give you the greatest punch of the summer yet in 3D!"



If you were one of the rare few you caught the film's trailer in theaters, you might agree some of the CG needed work. Good to hear Aja's got time to tweak now.

Keep it here for more on the film.

http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/topnews.php?id=13694

[JamesG]

Check out the trailer for Piranha 3D here:
http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/18748

[JamesG]

Special Trailers Being Shot for Piranha 3D
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
By: MrDisgusting


Bloody Disgusting learned that Alex Aja will be getting back behind the camera to film some new footage for his 3-D redo of Piranha.

The catch is that the new footage is being used specifically for the second trailer and new TV Spots.


The content of the footage is unknown, but we're told that they're currently casting hotties to strap on their bikinis. I'd take a wild guess that they're shooting some "Girls Gone Wild" spoof.


Dimension Films recently moved the bloody flick featuring hungry fish to August 27th to work further on the CGI.

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/19406

[Torgo]

I was unaware of a Piranha remake. I enjoyed the original, so I'll most likely check this one out.

This isn't even the first remake...that's how unoriginal remakes are getting.

[JamesG]

This isn't even the first remake...that's how unoriginal remakes are getting.

Yeah, I haven't seen that one but wasn't it made by the same director of the original?

I know that James Cameron did the sequel.

[Torgo]

Yeah, I haven't seen that one but wasn't it made by the same director of the original?

I know that James Cameron did the sequel.

Same producer(Corman)and same writer(John Sayles)

[JamesG]

Piranha 3D Website Launched, First Look at Logo
Thursday, March 25, 2010
By: MrDisgusting


B-D read Thom B. just tipped us off to the newly launched official website for Dimension Films' Piranha 3D, Alex Aja's bloody remake of the classic Joe Dante film.

Unfortunately, the site only features a look at the logo and gives you an option to register for updates. Check out the logo below.


Arriving in theaters August 27, after a sudden underwater tremor sets free scores of the prehistoric man-eating fish, an unlikely group of strangers must band together to stop themselves from becoming fish food for the area’s new razor-toothed residents.

http://piranha-3d.com/
http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/19591

[JamesG]

Alex Aja Defends Post 3-D Piranha, Talks Blood and Guts
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
By: MrDisgusting


When Dimension Films delayed Piranha 3D - Alex Aja's remake of Joe Dante's classic 80's film - speculation ranged from the fact that Dimension wanted to avoid a box office battle with Lionsgate's Kickass to the notion that the film needed a lot more work in FX department.

While we wait until August for the massive attack, Aja talked with MTV about the post 3-D conversion, while also revealing a few scenes that he enjoyed shooting.




The conversation kicks off with a little Piranha hype.

"I understand why James Cameron in "Avatar" didn't want to make the 3-D gimmicky, and he was right," he tells MTV.

"But we are making a piranha-attacking-spring-break movie, so we are going to go for the huge on-the-screen effects and fish attacking the audience."






Aja claims to have been skeptical of post-conversion 3-D until he saw footage of Star Wars and Titanic.

"We were going to shoot with the camera system Cameron used, and we found out that, of course, we don't have the same budget as an "Avatar" or as much time. And shooting on the water with a real 3-D camera brings some very big restrictions in terms of dealing with reflections.

But I was very, very skeptical about the 3-D conversion, because it felt so unnatural to create 3-D when it's flat at the beginning. And I saw a lot of demo reels, like some of the James Cameron "Titanic" conversion scenes, some of "Star Wars," and 20 minutes of Peter Jackson's "King Kong" fully converted into 3-D, and that was simply the best 3-D I've ever seen. Period."


That's a bold statement. He'll regret this after he sees Clash....






Aja defends his post-conversion process citing budget issues and the fact that all of the fish are CG.

"I was sold. And in addition to that, because all of our piranha are CG, they are all real 3-D in the computer. Our movie is going to be completely converted, but a big chunk of it will be real 3-D as well."






For those of you who can't wait until August, Aja explains just how bloody the film is while also teasing one of his fav 3-D sequences.

"I think everything involving the fish is going to be fantastic. The biggest thing for the fans is going to be the big spring-break wet T-shirt contest, where we have thousands of spring-break groups on the water, and the party has its climax when the piranhas come and start attacking everyone. It's almost 25 minutes of a huge massacre, and it's really insane.

I think we broke all the records in the manner of blood used. I don't remember the exact number, but we passed "Kill Bill." You've never seen something like that before."


He continues, "Then there's a more specific 3-D area, where at one point there's a boat that's sinking and they are rescued by another boat, and they cannot exit because there are a lot of rocks, and they are pulling a rope in between the two boats — like a ski rope — and they have to cross over, and the piranha are jumping, trying to get them.

It's a very, very big 3-D moment."



Piranha 3D arrives in theaters August 27.

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/19651

[JamesG]

Updated Logo and Site for Piranha 3D
Source: Shock Till You Drop
April 7, 2010


Dimension Films updated their official site official site for Piranha 3D which now boasts a new title card, a 3D effect and synopsis.

Keep your eyes on that site for more.

www.piranha-3d.com
http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/topnews.php?id=14774

[JamesG]

First Official Photo from Piranha 3D
Source: IGN
April 8, 2010


IGN has debuted an official still from Piranha 3D arriving on the heels of an official site launch.

http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/topnews.php?id=14787

[JamesG]

Adam Scott Talks Piranha 3D
Source: USA Today
April 21, 2010


Adam Scott's roots in horror take him back to Hellraiser: Bloodline. Of course, he'd later to go on to co-star in Step Brothers and the Starz series "Party Down".

But this summer, audiences will find him in Alex Aja's Piranha 3D. Here's what he had to tell USA Today about the film:




"This one will be really cool – Alexandre Aja, who directed it, is a pretty incredible guy. He directed "High Tension" a few years ago, which was a wonderful horror film that was really artful and really terrifying and disgusting.

As far as horror films go, it was about as good as you can get. This'll be a nice mix of a lot of humor in there — it doesn't take itself very seriously – but also I think the trick will be you'll be laughing because there's a lot of comedy, but as you’re laughing, then you’ll be hit with horrible, disgusting violence. [Laughs]

And from what I've heard, it's the bloodiest movie in film history."




He also adds: "There's a massacre scene where all the piranhas attack a big party that's happening in a lake, where they had a gas tanker truck that was filled with blood.

On the side of the lake, it had a tube coming out of it, going underground and coming up at the bottom of the lake, and it was just pumping blood into the lake for this massacre scene. I think there actually is more blood spilled in this film than ever before.

But it was some special biodegradable fake blood, because we were in a lake."




The actor stars in Piranha 3D with Elisabeth Shue, Steven McQueen and Ving Rhames.
The film opens on August 27.

http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/topnews.php?id=14941

[JamesG]

Brand Spanking New Theatrical Trailer for Piranha 3D Draws Blood
Friday, April 30, 2010
By: MrDisgusting


Beyond the obvious need for an intense amount of CGI, the first official trailer for Dimension Films' Piranha 3D looks pretty effin' awesome (straight down to the Alien homage at the end).

The footage features your first look at horror director Eli Roth and a rash of scenes with Back to the Future legend Christopher Lloyd!


Piranha 3D arrives in theaters August 27.

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/20039

[UncleJimbo]

The content of the footage is unknown, but we're told that they're currently casting hotties to strap on their bikinis. I'd take a wild guess that they're shooting some "Girls Gone Wild" spoof.

Interesting you mention this. The other day i came across a website that included Jerry O'Connell dancing around with topless girls in Girls Gone Wild fashion. I also noticed that the welcome page showed what seemed to be Eli Roth hosing down girls with water soakers. Both actors are featured in the movie yet there are no explicit links or references to the movie... has anybody else seen this?

[JamesG]

Piranha 3D Swims Away from The Last Exorcism, Early Teaser Art!
Thursday, June 10, 2010
By: MrDisgusting


You knew it was going to happen, it was only a matter of time.

Dimension Films moved Piranha 3D up a week to August 20th in an attempt to avoid opening against Lionsgate's Eli Roth produced The Last Exorcism. Smart move if you ask me.

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/20534

[JamesG]

Official Piranha 3D Poster Shows Its Teeth
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
By: MrDisgusting


BD reader 'The180Curse' tipped us off to the first official one sheet for Dimension Films' Piranha 3D that's just hit the web.

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/20664

[JamesG]

OMGF of the Day: Variant Homage One Sheet From Piranha 3D
Monday, July 12, 2010
By: MrDisgusting


Last week Dimension Films released an amazing French one sheet for Alex Aja's Piranha 3D that gave direct homage to Joe Dante's original '78 film and Steven Spielberg's Jaws.

A domestic version found its way online and is slightly different (but just as cool!).

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/20870

[JamesG]

Meet the Wild Wild Girls of Piranha 3D!!
Thursday, July 15, 2010
By: MrDisgusting


Dimension is bringing out the T&A to promote Alex Aja's hot summer splatterfest, Piranha 3D, which swims into theaters August 20.

With a huge Comic Con promotion planned, the studio is unveiling a slew of new viral posters that feature the Wild Wild Girls of Lake Victoria!


Visit http://thewildwildgirls.com/

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/20903

[JamesG]

Piranha Goes Topless!
Friday, July 30, 2010
By: MrDisgusting


Ok, so this poster makes a ton of sense. When you're about to be eaten by thousands of prehistoric piranha, what's the first thing you do?

According to the new poster, you'd drop the top of your two-piece bathing suit. "I wanna die in style," I'm sure she said.

Still, it's a pretty badass poster that continues a really strong marketing campaign.




Alex Aja's Piranha 3D arrives in theaters August 20 from Dimension Films.

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/21116

[JamesG]

Ving Rhames Goes Dead Alive In Piranha 3D
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
By: MrDisgusting


Dimension Films provided Bloody Disgusting with a new image from their forthcoming 3D remake of Piranha, which arrives in theaters August 20th from director Alex Aja.

The new still features Ving Rhames giving homage to Peter Jackson's Dead Alive.

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/21252

[BillSexton]

Piranha was a cult classic? I've never heard of it until now. Weird.

[JamesG]

Piranha was a cult classic? I've never heard of it until now. Weird.

Yes, one of the many classic B-movies produced by Roger Corman.

Last week, Shout! Factory released Piranha on DVD/Blu-ray as one of their "Corman Cult Classics" releases.

[JamesG]

Meet the Smokin' Hot Chicks of Piranha 3D!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
By: MrDisgusting


It's rare when one of the big draws of a modern horror film is the nudity.

While Alex Aja's Piranha 3D might look like a modern day remake, it definitely gives homage to the 80's with its intensive amount of blood, guts and nudity.


This afternoon IGN posted some new images from the splatter flick that solely focus on the hot chicks of the big Spring Break bash!

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/21274

[kev411]

Meet the Smokin' Hot Chicks of Piranha 3D!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
By: MrDisgusting


It's rare when one of the big draws of a modern horror film is the nudity.

While Alex Aja's Piranha 3D might look like a modern day remake, it definitely gives homage to the 80's with its intensive amount of blood, guts and nudity.


This afternoon IGN posted some new images from the splatter flick that solely focus on the hot chicks of the big Spring Break bash!

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/21274


Looks more like a shoot for girls gone wild.

[JamesG]

Looks more like a shoot for girls gone wild.

That's exactly what it's supposed to be; they're calling it "Wild, Wild Girls" in Piranha 3D.

Jerry O'Connell is going to be hosting with a cameo by horror director Eli Roth (who's in the photos) as the host of the wet t-shirt contest.

[Torgo]

Hot chicks and killer fish in 3D...I am so there!:cool:

[JamesG]

Hot chicks and killer fish in 3D...I am so there!:cool:

Right on. This movie looks fun.

[BurnieMan]

Damn JamesG, you are all OVER this Piranha 3D stuff. They should be paying you for this. Either way, super excited.

I also found this hilarious radio interview Ving Rhames did to promote the movie. I love it when actors have fun with this stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvkJXSzzKlA

[JamesG]

Damn JamesG, you are all OVER this Piranha 3D stuff. They should be paying you for this. Either way, super excited.

I also found this hilarious radio interview Ving Rhames did to promote the movie. I love it when actors have fun with this stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvkJXSzzKlA

LOL, there is actually a lot I didn't post. I only post what I think is important and not every little leaked behind-the-scenes photo and what not...

[BurnieMan]

Well either way, keep up the good work. I didn't think I could get anymore excited about Piranha, and then I stumbled upon this thread.

[BurnieMan]

Feels weird that my first 3 posts are all here, but I wanted to share something else I found. Piranha's Kelly Brook in Playboy. Enjoy.

http://egotastic.com/entertainment/celebrities/kelly-brook/kelly-brook-topless-pictures-in-playboy-magazine-are-simply-amazing-005937

[JamesG]

LOL of the Day: Piranha 3D For Your Consideration
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
By: MrDisgusting


Piranha 3D is leading all of the Oscar's Best Movie categories! From "Best Picture" to "Best Penis Being Gobbled and Spit Out in 3D" (LOL).

Check out all the Oscar categories it's up for in this hilarious "For Your Consideration" clip on FunnyOrDie!


Word has it that the film is insanely fun, crazy bloody, and jammed with nudity. I guess we'll find out this weekend.

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/21325

[HuntingtonM15]

I hope this movie is going to be as fun as it seems.

[Torgo]

I hope this movie is going to be as fun as it seems.

True dat....

[JamesG]

Piranha 3D Madness: 3 Clips, New TV Spot, Girls Gone Wild Creator Pissed?
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
By: MrDisgusting


Three clips from Dimension Films' Piranha 3D have finally found their way online, one of which features a little controversy.

The New York Post writes that star Jerry O'Connell has been warned. In the Alex Aja directed film arriving in theaters Friday, the actor plays a soft-core pornographer filming bikini babes on spring break.

But he's not supposed to say he's playing Joe Francis, the founder of Girls Gone Wild.



"For legal reasons I'm supposed to say, 'I play someone loosely based on Joe Francis,'" O'Connell told journo Jacob Bernstein.



Now, Francis' lawyer, Stanton Stein, has fired off a letter to the Weinstein Company, which produced the horror flick through its Dimension Films:

"We caution all of those associated with this film to refrain from maligning Mr. Francis . . . Any defamatory or disparaging statements . . . will be met with swift litigation."



In addition, inside you'll also find a spoilery second TV Spot now airing below.

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/21342

[JamesG]

Lake Havasu fears Piranha 3D could take a bite out of tourism
August 18, 2010


“Piranha 3D”, out Friday, is set on “Lake Victoria” – a fictional popular tourist destination where spring breakers find themselves attacked by vicious fish.

But city officials in the region where the film was shot, Lake Havasu -- which borders Arizona and California – are fearful that moviegoers might recognize the vacation spot in the horror film and be led to believe piranhas actually exist in local waters.






At least that was the sentiment conveyed by the city's publicist, Jeff Blumenfeld, who called us somewhat frantically Wednesday morning to express concern over the movie.

“We’re gritting our teeth -- we’re just hoping that the reaction is a good one for the city,” he said.







While it might seem preposterous that tourists could truly believe that there are piranhas swimming around Lake Havasu, some local hotel owners say they've already encountered a few nervous patrons.

“One woman was bringing up to me that the movie was coming out, and she asked – as serious as serious can be – ‘Oh, but are there still piranha in the lake?’ ” recalled Cal Sheehy, general manager of the London Bridge Resort, which is right on Lake Havasu.

“At first, I kind of took it as a joke. But then I let her know that that’s the computer-generated part of the movie. And she was very relieved, saying, ‘Oh, I’m so glad to hear that.’ ”




Vern Porter, of the Nautical Beachfront Resort, has been joking with his guests that he “hopes they took all of the piranhas out when they finished the movie,” but can’t imagine anyone would take the threat of killer fish seriously.









Still, city spokesman Blumenfeld thinks that anyone who sees "Piranha 3D" could easily make a correlation between the lake in the movie and Havasu.

"It's Arizona's worst-kept secret," he said. "If you Google Lake Havasu, 'piranha' shows up. And people can easily recognize Havasu in the movie -- they've got some of our big spots, like the Bridgewater Channel.

When you look at the scenery, it's pretty distinctive -- that kind of desert, water, mountains."








That's not to say Havasu is getting too worked up about the negative effect the film could have on the area.

Blumenfeld admits the movie will likely have a more positive impact than anything -- it brought $18 million in during production, and some residents were even cast as extras in the film.

There's also a local premiere being held Friday, where clothing and props from the movie will be auctioned off to benefit a nearby sports park.

"We're not quaking in our boots," said Blumenfeld. "We just hope the movie opens up to the scenery beyond the blood in the water."






As for the most dangerous creatures actually residing in the murky depths of Lake Havasu?

“You do have to watch out for drunken boaters," he said. "We don’t have sharks. The blue fish won’t bite you. And we haven’t see any piranha.”

--Amy Kaufman

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2010/08/piranha-3d-lake-havasu-tourism.html

[Torgo]

These are the same people that believed The Blair Witch was real, Rose Red was a real house in Seattle, and there really was a family of cannibals killing people in 70's Texas. These are also the same people you see on the news saying "I thought it was all legit when I sent money to that guy in Nigeria."

[JamesG]

I hope this movie is going to be as fun as it seems.

Since you've seen it, what did you think?

[HuntingtonM15]

Since you've seen it, what did you think?

It was all right, nothing amazing. I was expecting it to be more fun than it was. There was also nothing all that great about the 3D.

[JamesG]

It was all right, nothing amazing. I was expecting it to be more fun than it was. There was also nothing all that great about the 3D.

Yeah, I got that vibe too. Piranha's been getting some mixed reviews; both from the mainstream and horror critics

[JamesG]

These are the same people that believed The Blair Witch was real, Rose Red was a real house in Seattle, and there really was a family of cannibals killing people in 70's Texas. These are also the same people you see on the news saying "I thought it was all legit when I sent money to that guy in Nigeria."

I remember that those Rose Red "true stories" were fueled even more from that prequel novel/tv adaptation "The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer".

People thought that all of this was historically true.

[Cactus Jack]

How bloody is it? Like normal horror movie bloody? Inglorious Basterds bloody? or Hostel?

[Torgo]

How bloody is it? Like normal horror movie bloody? Inglorious Basterds bloody? or Hostel?

What's normal horror movie bloody? That can be anything from Hostel(not the bloodiest) to Braindead(one of the bloodiest ever made) to They Don't Cut The Grass Anymore(so fake the blood looks like Kool Aid);)

[JamesG]

Piranha 3D: The Sequel Already Announced!
Monday, August 23, 2010
By: MrDisgusting


Some huge news out of Dimension Films this morning who announced that after earning rave reviews from top critics, wild cheers from audiences around the country, and $10 million in its opening weekend box office, they've already begun work on Piranha 3D: The Sequel!



Piranha 3D producer Mark Canton stated:

"We are thrilled that audiences are not just loving 'PIRANHA 3D', but cheering for it. And it’s fantastic that so many critics are really getting the movie and recommending it. We can't wait to get to work on the sequel."

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/21407

[HuntingtonM15]

I hope they actually add some decent 3D for the sequel.

[Torgo]

Will it be able to top James Cameron's sequel?:crazy:

[JamesG]

James Cameron Not A Fan of Piranha 3D
Source: Vanity Fair
August 28, 2010


One of the more interesting aspects of Dimension Films' recent Piranha 3D was the fact it took advantage of the latest 3D craze which came about after James Cameron's Avatar was such a huge hit.

Some seem to have forgotten there was an even bigger connection between the two movies other than the technology and that's that Cameron got his start directing movie with Piranha Part Two: The Spawning.





Vanity Fair remembered and when they interviewed Cameron recently, they brought up that connection.

When asked whether the release of Piranha 3D created any sort of sense of nostalgia in the blockbuster director, Cameron not only replied with an abrupt response of "zero" but went on to tell them how he felt doing horror movies in 3D was a throwback to when it was used as a gimmick.








"You’ve got to remember: I worked on 'Piranha 2' for a few days and got fired off of it; I don’t put it on my official filmography. So there’s no sort of fond connection for me whatsoever," he told them.

"In fact, I would go even farther and say that... I tend almost never to throw other films under the bus, but that is exactly an example of what we should not be doing in 3-D. Because it just cheapens the medium and reminds you of the bad 3-D horror films from the 70s and 80s, like 'Friday the 13th 3-D'.

When movies got to the bottom of the barrel of their creativity and at the last gasp of their financial lifespan, they did a 3-D version to get the last few drops of blood out of the turnip.

And that’s not what’s happening now with 3-D."






Ouch!

So Cameron not only has no fondness for his roots as a film director, but he thinks that the recent revival of the horror classic as a 3D movie "cheapens the medium".

http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/topnews.php?id=16355

[HuntingtonM15]

I agree that they need to cut back on the 3D. It's gotten to be a bit ridiculous, especially when some of them barely have any decent effects. Though, I also think James Cameron is a douche.

[JamesG]

Piranha 3D Producer Responds To James Cameron
Source: The Weinstein Company
August 31, 2010


Just this past weekend, STYD brought word of James Cameron's disparaging statements in Vanity Fair regarding Piranha 3D and its use of 3D technology.

Now, the film's Producer Mark Canton has issued a sternly-worded response to Cameron in defense of his film.




Canton's letter appears below in it's unedited entirety:





As a producer in the entertainment industry, Jim Cameron's comments on VanityFair.com are very disappointing to me and the team that made 'Piranha 3D'.

Mr. Cameron, who singles himself out to be a visionary of movie-making, seems to have a small vision regarding any motion pictures that are not his own.

It is amazing that in the movie-making process - which is certainly a team sport - that Cameron consistently celebrates himself out as though he is a team of one. His comments are ridiculous, self-serving and insulting to those of us who are not caught up in serving his ego and his rhetoric.











Jim, are you kidding or what?


First of all, let’s start by you accepting the fact that you were the original director of 'PIRANHA 2' and you were fired. Shame on you for thinking that genre movies and the real maestros like Roger Corman and his collaborators are any less auteur or impactful in the history of cinema than you.

Martin Scorcese made 'Boxcar Bertha' at the beginning of his career. And Francis Ford Coppola made 'Dementia 13' back in 1963. And those are just a few examples of the talented and successful filmmakers whose roots are in genre films.


Who are you to impugn any genre film or its creators?












Having been deeply involved, as either an executive or as a producer, on Tim Burton’s original 'BATMAN' and the first 'MEN IN BLACK', as well as '300', and now 'IMMORTALS', one of the things that has been consistent about all of the filmmakers involved in these landscape-changing global films is that, in each and every case, all of the directors were humbled by their predecessors, their colleagues and by their awareness of the great history of film that came before them.




The enjoyment and the immersion of an audience in a movie theatre, as they had and will have with the above-mentioned films, and as audiences are experiencing with 'PIRANHA 3D' now, comes from the originality and the vision of the filmmaker, and not just from the creation of the technology.


You as much as anyone certainly knows that there are many pieces to the puzzle. Going to the movies still remains, arguably, amongst the best communal experiences that human beings can share.












My sense is that Mr. Cameron has never seen 'PIRANHA 3D'...certainly not in a movie theatre with a real audience.

Jim, we invite you to take that opportunity and experience the movie in a theatre full of fans - fans for whom this movie was always intended to entertain.





Does Mr. Cameron have no idea of the painstaking efforts made by the talented young filmmaker Alex Aja and his team of collaborators?

Clearly, and this one is a good bet, he has no clue as to how great and how much of a fun-filled experience the audiences who have seen the film in 3D have enjoyed.




Those of us who have tried to stay in touch with the common movie audiences - the ones who really matter, the ones who actually still go to the theatre, put on the glasses, and eat the popcorn - take joy and pride in the fact that movies of all kinds, including 'PIRANHA 3D', have a place in filmmaking history - past, present and future.


3D unto itself is not a genre Jim, it is a tool that gives audiences an enhanced experience as they experience all kinds of movies.






I believe Mr. Cameron did not see 'PIRANHA 3D' either with any real audience or not at all.


On opening weekend, I was in a Los Angeles theatre with a number of today’s great film makers including JJ Abrams, who actually had nothing short of the fabulous, fun 3D experience that the movie provides. I am fortunate enough to have worked on, and continue to work on, evolutionary movies in all formats from just simple good story telling, which still matters most of all, to CG movies to tent-pole size 3D movies, and genre 3D movies like 'PIRANHA 3D.'











What it comes down to, Jim, is - that like most things in life - size doesn’t really matter. Not everyone has the advantage of having endless amounts of money to play in their sandbox and to take ten years using other people’s money to make and market a film... like you do.


Why can’t you just count your blessings? Why do you have to drop Marty Scorsese’s or Tim Burton’s names, both gentlemen who I have personally worked with, and who have enjoyed great joy and success with movies of all genres and sizes well before the advent of modern 3D?

Then as now, they were like kids in a candy store recognizing, far beyond your imagination, the possibilities of storytelling and originality.












For the record, before you just totally dismiss 'PIRANHA 3D' and all, in your opinion, worthless genre movies that actually undoubtedly gave you the ability to start your career, you should know that 'PIRANHA 3D' had an 82% "fresh" (positive) ratting on Rotten Tomatoes on opening day -

a web site that all the studios, filmmakers and the public use as a barometer of what makes a quality film.









We know that 'PIRANHA 3D' has not achieved a box office that is on the level of many of Mr. Cameron's successes.

To date, 'PIRANHA 3D' has earned over $30 million around the globe with #1 openings in several countries. And, as the "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes indicates, critics and many, many others have embraced and celebrated 'PIRANHA 3D' for the fun and entertaining - and even smart - movie-going experience that it is.












Let’s just keep this in mind Jim… you did not invent 3D. You were fortunate that others inspired you to take it further.

The simple truth is that I had nothing but good things to say about 'AVATAR' and my own experience since I actually saw it and didn’t damn someone else’s talent publicly in order to disassociate myself from my origins in the business from which we are all very fortunate.

To be honest, I found the 3D in 'AVATAR' to be inconsistent and while ground breaking in many respects, sometimes I thought it overwhelmed the storytelling.

Technology aside, I wish 'AVATAR' had been more original in its storytelling.












We have to inspire, teach and mentor this next generation of filmmakers.


It is garbage to suggest that any film or any filmmaker who cannot afford to work to your standards should be dissuaded from following his or her craft by not making 3D movies or not making movies like 'DISTRICT 9', for example, which probably cost the amount of 'AVATAR’s' craft services budget, but totally rocked it in the movie theatre and in the marketplace.

In that case, it was not a 3D movie. But had it been, it certainly would not have been any less original or full of impact.





The enormous worldwide success of 'AVATAR' has been good in all respects for you, your financiers, your distributors and the industry, as well as for the movie going public.


Jim, there is a difference between Maestro which is a word that garners respect, and Dictator or Critic which are words better left for others who are not in our mutual boat or on our team.

You are one of the best, it is reasonable to think that you should dig deeper and behave like it. Young directors should be inspired by you, not publicly castigated by your mean-spirited and flawed analysis.












While we are all awed by your talents and your box office successes - and I compliment you on all of them - why don’t you rethink how you address films with which you are not involved?


You should be taking the high road that is being traveled by so many of your peers, and pulling with them to ensure that we, as an industry, will have a continuum of talented filmmakers that will deliver a myriad of motion pictures both big and small, with 3D or any other technologies yet to come that will entertain audiences throughout the world.

That is the challenge that we face. That is the future that we should deliver.



Please go see 'PIRANHA 3D' in a theatre near you

http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/articlenews.php?id=16378

[Torgo]

My sense is that Mr. Cameron has never seen 'PIRANHA 3D'...certainly not in a movie theatre with a real audience.

That's because there isn't a movie theater big enough for Cameron's head.