COMIC CON 2010: Piranha 3D footage that was too hot for the Con, Q&A with Cast & Crew!

By Jim Law

July 23rd 2010, 3:37pm

Last Updated on July 23, 2021

It’s Thursday night at the San Diego Comic-Con and instead of partying our asses off, JoBlo Movie Podcast host Jim Law and I hit up a screening of the footage from PIRANHA 3D… the footage that was apparently “too hot for Comic-Con.” And let me tell you… it didn’t disappoint!

The 10-15 minutes of footage was shown in glorious RealD 3D in a theater just a few blocks from the convention center. Surprisingly much of what they should was highly SPOILERy, as we saw the demise of a number of bigger characters in the film, all of which took us by complete surprise. I won’t go into those, but I’ll name off the laundry list of highlights from what we saw:

We’re ready for the 3D like you wouldn’t believe.

During the piranha attack during a spring break boat party, a chick is trying to swim away to safety. During this struggle her hair gets caught in the propeller of a motorboat. When the motorboat roars to life, the chick’s hair gets ripped off… along with her face from the chin up!

A bikini-clad hottie gets sliced in half between her boobs, and we watch in awesome horror as her bikini top falls off (letting her boobies free)… followed by the rest of the chick’s torso (think FINAL DESTINATION 2 style) falling into the water.

Ving Rhames takes out a horde of piranhas with AC/DC rockin’ in the background. This was probably more epic than it should have been, but I wasn’t complaining!

Chaos, blood, boobs, piranhas, 3D… all of it was in epic proportions!

After the footage I couldn’t help but think of two things: 1) while some of the 3D looked cool, this could have all easily been in 2D and it would have been just as enjoyable. In other words, the 3D didn’t look ‘all that,’ but it didn’t look horrible either. And 2), the footage showed a lot of bloody violence and boobs, but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen far worse at the Con before. Not only that, the tone was cheeky and light during the violence, so I’m really surprised it didn’t make it past the Comic-Con sensors.

When the lights came up, the cast and crew flooded to the front for a Q&A session with the audience. Director Alex Aja was there, as well as Eli Roth, Jerry O’Connell, Elisabeth Shue, Adam Scott, Kelly Brook, Steven R. McQueen, Riley Steele, and Paul Scheer. They all came up and talked some PIRANHA 3D, and they were just about as entertaining as the footage itself! Everyone there seemed to be having a really good time, they kept it light and fun, and cracked a buttload of jokes about pretty much everything. It was great. They obviously ‘got’ what the film is and what it’s going for, and they weren’t shy about discussing it.

We learned the following tidbits during the Q&A

All of the piranhas in the film are CGI piranhas. And all the ‘little’ piranhas you see in the trailer… those are just the babies!

The amount of blood used on the film about quadrupled the amount of blood used in HOSTEL.

The plan was to always have the film released in 3D, so they were very aware of the lighting and the camera work with 3D in mind.

Eli Roth thought the 3D in THE LAST AIRBENDER looked like a bird shit all over your 3D glasses and you simply didn’t get around to wiping it off.

The naked ballet scene with Brook and Steele took weeks to prepare, as holding your breath and making out with someone as hot as they are under water is really challenging. And yes, they screened that footage as well, and it’s f*cking hot!

Richard Dreyfus’s character’s name is Matt. He’s essentially the same Matt Hooper character in JAWS, but for legal reasons, he’s simply Matt in the film. He hums the same tune (you know the one!), he has many of the same mannerisms… there’s no doubt it’s the same guy!

Afterwards Jim Law and I took some pics (some secret, some not), and had a fun time discusses how awesome we thought the film looked. This is the summer movie to end all summer movies! PIRANHA 3D hits theaters everywhere August 20, 2010. And stick around for our video interviews with cast in the next couple of days!

Jim Law and Jerry O’Connell have one thing in common: their crazy eyes!

Where’s Ammon? Oh, he’s just hanging out with the cast of PIRANHA 3D (whether they know it or not)!

Jim Law and Kelly Brook: A match made in heaven.