Almost three decades on from the original Twister, a standalone sequel is ready to brew up a storm in cinemas.
Starring Normal People’s Daisy Edgar-Jones, Twisters is set against the backdrop of Oklahoma’s Tornado Alley and follows a young storm chaser’s fascination with taming Mother Nature.
Speaking at the film’s European premiere in London, Edgar-Jones says leading a film feels like her childhood dream becoming a reality.
“I grew up in London and I used to watch all of the premieres that came here so to be here for [my film] is wild. I feel so lucky.”
The film boasts a supporting cast of some of Hollywood’s biggest and future stars.
After starring in Top Gun: Maverick, Anyone But You and Hit Man, Glen Powell has become one of the box office’s most bankable actors.
He says his love for cinema is what continues to drive him in his career.
“When I was a kid I used to beg my parents to stay in the theatre all weekend. I’d wake up, eat a big breakfast and stay and watch films.
“For me, the 90s was such a wonderful time for the blockbuster and for me Twisters is so emblematic of that era and that’s one of the things I’m trying to do career-wise.
“I’m really trying to, not just expect audiences to show up to the theatre but give them a reason to show up”.
Hamilton’s Anthony Ramos, Peaky Blinders’ Daryl McCormack and the Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina star Kiernan Shipka also feature in the weather-based thriller.
Crew hit by real-life tornado
Filming took place in Oklahoma during tornado season and stopped with five weeks to go due to the writers’ and actors’ strikes.
Ramos says despite the tornados onscreen being made with special effects, filming on location meant the cast witnessed some extreme weather in real life.
On his first night, the cast and crew ended up looking for shelter as an EF3 tornado hit a town 30 miles from where they were working.
Ramos describes his time working simply as “three months of everything rattling”.
“We had some close calls for sure. There were some moments where I thought there was going to be a tornado at any moment.”
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Minari’s Lee Isaac Chung is at the helm of Twisters.
The Oscar-nominated filmmaker grew up in Arkansas on the Oklahoma border – one of his most memorable childhood memories was a tornado making landfall a few months after he moved there.
“We moved out to a farm and I remember getting in my dad’s truck and looking for shelter. That definitely had an imprint on me and that’s why Twister, the original, was so important to me.”
Chung says working with a star-studded cast and a directorial hero like Steven Spielberg has been surreal.
“To work alongside industry titans Steven Spielberg and Frank Marshall has been one of the great honours of my career,” he says.
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“Spielberg was really incredible in treating me like a colleague. I’ve always revered him. I’ve always looked at him as the model of exactly what I’d like to do as a filmmaker.”
Twisters is in cinemas from 17 July.
