This summer, the epic studio disaster movie returns with an adrenaline-pumping, seat-gripping, big-screen thrill ride that puts you in direct contact with one of nature’s most wondrous—and destructive—forces.
From the producers of the Jurassic, Bourne and Indiana Jones series comes TWISTERS, a current-day chapter of the 1996 blockbuster, Twister. Directed by Lee Isaac Chung, the Oscar-nominated writer-director of Minari, the film stars Golden Globe nominee Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell as opposing forces who come together to try to predict, and possibly tame, the immense power of tornadoes.
As the film whirls its way into international theatres, Peter Gray spoke with the acclaimed director about blending an environmental message with entertainment value and the importance of filming on location.
From the producers of the Jurassic, Bourne and Indiana Jones series comes TWISTERS, a current-day chapter of the 1996 blockbuster, Twister. Directed by Lee Isaac Chung, the Oscar-nominated writer-director of Minari, the film stars Golden Globe nominee Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell as opposing forces who come together to try to predict, and possibly tame, the immense power of tornadoes.
As the film whirls its way into international theatres, Peter Gray spoke with the acclaimed director about blending an environmental message with entertainment value and the importance of filming on location.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00Peter Gray from the AU Review in Australia. Hello, Isaac.
00:03Yeah, hey, thanks for doing this.
00:05No worries, thank you so much.
00:07Congratulations on Twisters, first of all.
00:10I was someone who grew up with the original.
00:13I was probably 10 or 11 when I saw it in cinemas,
00:17and I feel like we've heard about a sequel for so long.
00:21And when it was announced that you were director,
00:23obviously people kind of thought maybe it's a bit odd because after Minari,
00:27but you've directed episodes of The Mandalorian and The Skeleton Crew,
00:31so it probably feels more natural than we expect.
00:34But was part of the appeal sort of taking this film on because it's not what
00:39people would have expected from you?
00:41Yeah, I guess I don't worry too much about that public perception.
00:45I think people might find it odd.
00:48In fact, when I was working on Skeleton Crew,
00:51I was telling Jon Favreau that I really wanted to do Twisters,
00:56and he was giving me advice on it, and at the end of the advice he said,
01:00you know, people might think it's odd.
01:02And that threw me for a loop.
01:05I didn't know that.
01:06And then now I realize, okay, yeah, people do find it a little odd.
01:10But I was just chasing after what I wanted to do personally,
01:14the things that interest me,
01:15the things that I feel would be really challenging for me,
01:19the things that scare me even.
01:22So this was for me a thrilling choice, and I wanted to chase that thrill.
01:27The importance of how we, like,
01:31treat the earth is sort of one of these things that, like,
01:33disaster films like to push.
01:35But what I really loved about Twisters was that it never felt
01:38like a message movie.
01:40Like, how was it for you to sort of balance the entertainment
01:43with the environmental message?
01:47Well, I honestly felt like this has to be a summer popcorn blockbuster.
01:52Yeah.
01:53That I loved going to when I was a kid,
01:55and I didn't like when anyone preached to me as a kid.
01:58So that's kind of what was in my mind.
02:02And I just wanted to treat climate change and all those things the way
02:07that the characters would look at it.
02:09So that was my baseline of what I thought I would do with this,
02:14and not try to, like, drive home a message,
02:16but just present things as reality and let the characters play
02:20within that space.
02:22And Minari and this, like,
02:24the cinematography beautiful with the landscapes, like,
02:28was that also part of the importance in, like,
02:32showing our relationship with nature through these, like,
02:36really, really beautiful, like,
02:37showcases of land of, like, what we're at risk of losing?
02:41Like, was that part of the look of this film?
02:44Because, like, knowing that this was filmed, like,
02:47on location just makes it just adds, like, so much more to it.
02:51Yeah.
02:52God, I love that question.
02:54Just the way that you framed it was exactly what I would say to people
02:58on the crew all the time.
02:59I'd say we're always wanting to portray the things that we are at risk
03:04of losing and to portray those things with great beauty.
03:07Yeah.
03:09Absolutely.
03:10Filming in Oklahoma was a priority for me.
03:13We looked at other locations even, but I said,
03:16I'd love to go back to Oklahoma where I filmed Minari and to get on the
03:21red dirt roads, get out on the pastures and the fields and shoot it on film.
03:26So all of these things were very much part of the artistic decisions behind
03:32how to present this place.
03:35Yeah.
03:36You can tell that it has been filmed on film because it just has this look
03:42that, like, it brought me back to the original when I was watching it
03:45because, obviously, apart from, you know, the special effects we see,
03:49you can just tell, like, the background's real and that's just, like,
03:53so important in this day and age of filmmaking.
03:56And then as you're talking about what you were talking about on set,
03:59like, you've got this cast.
04:02And, like, like the original, it's just, like, obviously,
04:06Glenn Powell, Daisy Edgar James, Anthony Ramos.
04:08But then you have, you know, Moratini and Katie O'Brien,
04:12and you have all of these, like, little bit players,
04:15but they're just as important as everybody else.
04:17Like, how was it for you to sort of have this cast at your disposal and
04:22realise, like, no actor is small, so to speak?
04:26Like, everybody here has their own personality and their own character,
04:29and, like, that's so important in a film like this,
04:31when we care about these people.
04:33Yeah, it was such a luxury to work with this cast.
04:38I mean, this cast is incredible.
04:41And there were so many scenes where I just wanted each person
04:46individually to add something, do something, just create,
04:50let yourself feel free, and they brought it all the time.
04:56So this cast was incredible.
04:58And what I felt with that first film was that when I watched it,
05:02I just wanted to be friends with all those people.
05:04Yes.
05:05And watch those tornadoes with them and hang out with them,
05:08and you could feel that friendship within that film.
05:11So with this one, I wanted that to come through,
05:14and all the actors knew that that was important,
05:17and they hung out a lot in Oklahoma together.
05:20They were together all the time.
05:22And we just got along like a family,
05:25and I'm hoping that that spirit kind of comes through in this movie
05:28and that people will feel it.
05:31Oh, absolutely, it came through.
05:32Like, that was one of the things when I was watching it,
05:34I'm like, I want to chase tornadoes with these people as much,
05:37as crazy as that is.
05:38So, no, thank you so much for just, yeah, bringing a blockbuster that,
05:43like, this is the reason why we go to cinemas.
05:45So thank you so much.
05:47That's very cool.
05:48Thank you so much.