He's written about mutant vampire zombies, a warship and an oil rig-devouring sea monster.
Now, Thunder Levin is known simply as the guy responsible for " Sharknado."
Levin - who wrote the screenplay - says he'll take it.
"Even a couple months ago, as the buzz was starting to build, I said that someday I'd win an Oscar, but that all anybody would want to talk to me about would be 'Sharknado,' " he says. "That's weird, but fun."
A Syfy channel movie that blazed onto social media earlier this month with all the fury of human-hungry sharks funneling out of tornadoes, "Sharknado" is already getting a sequel. Though Levin says nothing is official, he's excited at the prospect of being involved.
Before Levin, a writer based in Los Angeles, dreamed up one bloody scene, the title, "Sharknado," was already there, along with the concept of shark-filled tornadoes.
Levin, who says his own weather-related first name is a product of '60s culture - that's all he'll say about his age - believes the movie's name probably had much to do with the hype.
When pitched the idea, he actually heard "Shark NATO."
"What are they doing?" he thought. "Invading Europe?"
The concept came to Levin from Syfy, who gave it to the Asylum, a production company Levin has worked with on other projects. It's the group responsible for "Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus," "Nazis at the Center of the Earth" and "Snakes on a Train" - one in a series of "mockbusters" that play off big theatrical releases. A recent DVD film that Levin wrote for - "Atlantic Rim" (spoofing "Pacific Rim") - stars Anthony "Treach" Criss, of East Orange hip-hop group Naughty by Nature. Levin also wrote and directed the Asylum film "Apocalypse Earth," a sendup of "After Earth."
As for "Sharknado," Levin knew it had a catchy name, but " the Twitter thing " - as he calls it - "that was unexpected."
Directed by Anthony Ferrante, the Syfy movie aired July 11 and trended on Twitter that night through the following day. Set in Los Angeles, the film stars Ian Ziering as Fin, a bar owner who chain-saws his way through chaos as sharks come inland in a storm and rain down out of tornadoes.
In the breakout scene, Ziering actually chain-saws his way out of a shark, after being swallowed in dramatic fashion by one that dive-bombs him from the sky.
It's that kind of awe-inspiring ridiculousness, says Levin, that kept the tweets coming.
"I think it was a sense of fun," he says. "That's got to be what it boils down to, I think. A lot of these B movies, they take themselves too seriously ... If you played it entirely straight, it wouldn't work."
The cast has to convey the belief it's in danger, while managing to not wink at the camera, he says, which ensures the whole enterprise won't become farce ... even if the "Sharknado" fallout has sometimes seemed to be just that.
"In the most surreal moment of this entire surreal #sharknado trip, I just shot a segment for tomorrow's Good Morning America," Levin tweeted on July 14. "I'm stunned."
To write the script, Levin says he started with a simple question: "What would I do if I were in Los Angeles and a hurricane hit?"
He read reports of fish - perch - falling from the sky in relation to a storm. That's all he needed for the "science." The idea that you could somehow use a bomb to "equalize" not just sharks but also a tornado came from Ferrante, he says. And a whole lot, he says, was borrowed from "Jaws." ("We're gonna need a bigger chopper!")
As for the actual "Sharknado" protagonist, Levin can't praise him enough.
Wife's throwing aan impromptu Sharknado viewing party at the house.. stop by for a 8pm screaming! #SharkNado @syfymovies
- Ian Ziering (@IanZiering) July 19, 2013
"Ian Ziering was a revelation to me," says Levin of the actor from West Orange - best known to most as Steve in the original "Beverly Hills, 90210."
"In this movie, he's really reinvented himself as an action star," he says.
The other "Sharknado" Jersey connection is Tara Reid, who hails from Wyckoff.
"I haven't met any of the cast," Levin says.
While the TV ratings for "Sharknado" weren't exactly stellar, with 1.4 million viewers - the week's top program was "Under the Dome," with 10.7 million - the movie and its stars were all over Twitter. It's hard to say the last time Reid ("American Pie," "Van Wilder") and Ziering trended worldwide, or for such a duration.
Nielsen's SocialGuide reported that during its premiere and the hours before and after, "Sharknado" was the subject of 318,232 tweets, calling the Syfy production the "most social TV movie of 2013."
Yet "TV movie" is key. The explosion of tweets ranked "Sharknado" as only the fifth-most social TV program for the week of July 7. That Monday's "Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta," a reality series on VH1, actually topped the SocialGuide chart with 629,436 tweets.
Still, the exposure was nothing to scoff at - especially for the people at Syfy.
Before "Sharknado" aired again the following Thursday, the network announced there would be a "Sharknado 2," set in New York City, and that Twitter would help.
In a bid to acknowledge that social audience, Syfy asked the public to tweet its suggestions for the movie's subtitle to @SyfyMovies. (The tagline for the first was actually "Sharknado: Enough said.")
Many entries embraced the New York theme - "Fuhgetta-bite-it!" "Shark-hattan." "The Great White Way." (Levin, who's from New York, can't wait to give the city's landmarks a "Sharknado" gloss.)
Before Discovery Channel's Shark Week hits Aug. 4, Syfy has ensured plenty of shark screen time, with a 9 p.m. airing of "Sharknado" part of an all-day "Sharkathon" that starts 9 a.m. Saturday.
As "Sharknado" got its encore broadcast Thursday - at 1.9 viewers, it bested the premiere - Syfy displayed viewer tweets on screen. ("I don't know that it's really necessary," says Levin, of the live-tweet scroll.)
However, the man who helped launch thousands of tweets says he would like to see his sharks hit the big screen. To hear exclamations shouted in a theater, says Levin, not just typed on a mobile device.
"But that's just me."
"Sharknado" re-airs Saturday at 9 p.m. as part of Syfy's "Sharkathon." RELATED COVERAGE
* 'Sharknado 2': New York sequel swims ashore with a Twitter contest
* Trending: 'Sharknado' summons Twitter's bloodlust, hatching a social TV beast
* It's a shark, it's a tornado, it's a 'Sharknado' (video)
* Ratings reboot: How Twitter and YouTube are changing TV and music
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