Tara Reid accepted the leading role in Sharknado as a joke.

The 38-year-old actress stars alongside former Beverly Hills 90210 actor Ian Ziering in the film, which sees a freak hurricane swamp Los Angeles with hundreds of deadly sharks terrorizing its residents, and admits she never expected the made-for-TV movie to be so successful.

"I'm just as stunned as everyone else. Come on, I did it as a joke! I didn't even think anyone was going to see it. And then what happened has never happened before on any movie. Even now, you thought the buzz was going to stop about 'Sharknado', but it just keeps going."

Following on from its success, Asylum Films - who also made Snakes on a Plane - are now working on a sequel which will also star Tara Reid and she says it will be even more "ridiculous" than the first installment.

"In the scene in the first film, where I ended up in the stomach of the shark, which was so ridiculous that you think, 'How are you going to top that?' Well, we're actually pretty close to topping it. I can't tell too much. I'm not allowed to, to be honest with you. But you can definitely expect it to be as entertaining - if not more, believe it or not - as the first one," she said.

The American Pie star was spotted filming scenes for Sharknado 2: The Second One in New York last week and the movie is set to be released in select cinemas in July.