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Where does one even begin when describing the career of David Hasselhoff?
During the 1980s, he was untouchable, with the power of Knight Rider and Baywatch behind him, and then, through a series of professional and personal shortcomings, his star faded massively. Now, he is something of a semi-tragic cult hero; he’s beloved, but nobody’s quite sure why… Saying that, he did single-handedly bring down the Berlin Wall, so that’s something.
While he’s had multiple hits on the small screen, ‘The Hoff’s movie career leaves a lot to be desired. Before Samuel L Jackson made the character his own, he played Marvel character Nick Fury in a TV movie that was absolutely slated by critics. In recent years, he’s found a niche playing versions of himself in various comedies, from Dodgeball to The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie to the god-forsaken Keith Lemon: The Film.
In 2015, Hasselhoff became one of the first celebrities to recognise the power of the Sharknado franchise – he appeared in the 2017 film Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! as Gilbert Grayson Shepard, a former NASA official and the father of the main character Fin Shepard...yes, the main character in a film about sharks is called Fin.
The first movie became a quintessential example of the ‘so bad it’s good’ subgenre of cinema. Hasselhoff made no effort to hide this fact while promoting Oh Hell No! to celebrity.land. “It’s the worst movie you have ever seen,” he stated. “The first one was the worst. The second one was even worse. I’m so honoured to be in Sharknado 3.”
The core of the Sharknado empire revolves around the idea of freak weather events picking up sharks from the ocean and depositing them on land. In the third instalment, the action is transported to Washington DC and features Fin (Ian Ziering) battling his multi-toothed foes alongside the President of the United States. The role of Commander-in-Chief was played by eccentric businessman Mark Cuban, but was actually offered to none other than Donald Trump. He turned it down to focus on an actual Presidential bid. Wonder how that turned out…
Not satisfied with just one appearance in “the greatest made-for-TV movie franchise of all time” (his words, not mine), Hasselhoff reprised his role as Colonel Shepard in Sharknado 4: The 4th Awakens. Set five years after the previous movie, the world has enjoyed a period of Sharknado-free bliss. However, that peace is shattered when an aquatic armageddon besets the planet.
Shepard spends most of the runtime building a mechanical suit that will be used to fight the sharks. He also gets swallowed whole by a shark, when he gets swallowed by three more sharks, who then get swallowed by a blue whale. He and his fellow victims are eventually saved when the various beasts are cut open by a chainsaw. You love to see it.
In the long and proud history of shark movies, the Sharknado series certainly has a special place. Hasselhoff has more than played his part in this cornerstone of B-movie history. It almost makes up for Keith Lemon: The Film… almost.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source faroutmagazine.co.uk ’
