A new behind-the-scenes featurette for the summer blockbuster "Twisters" debuted Monday, providing insight into how Oklahoma not only served as the filming location but also became a character in the stormy action movie.
"Twisters" stars Golden Globe nominees Daisy Edgar-Jones ("Where the Crawdads Sing," "Normal People") and Glen Powell ("Anyone But You," "Top Gun: Maverick") as opposing forces who come together to try to predict — and possibly tame — the immense power of tornadoes.
"Just another good day — and good weather here in Oklahoma," Powell says in an on-location moment in the featurette. "And the fact that we're getting to shoot this in Oklahoma is really crucial — and, also, it's such a character in the movie. It's all about community. It's all about home. It's all about this mutual love of the way everyone looks up in the sky with reverence and awe."
Directed by two-time Oscar nominee Lee Isaac Chung, "Twisters" opens in theaters July 19.
What is 'Twisters' about?
The new "A Look Inside" featurette includes footage from the movie as well as behind-the-scenes shots of the making of the eagerly awaited film, particularly of a tornado outbreak at a nighttime rodeo and a street scene of storm wreckage in what looks to be El Reno.
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
The latest high-profile movie to be made in Oklahoma, "Twisters" is billed as a new, current-day chapter of the 1996 blockbuster "Twister," which also was filmed in Oklahoma. An Oscar-nominated hit, "Twister" followed Helen Hunt, the late Bill Paxton, Cary Elwes, Jami Gertz and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman as fictional storm chasers tracking a series of powerful tornadoes.
A London native taking on an American accent, Edgar-Jones stars in the follow-up film as Kate Cooper, a former storm chaser haunted by a devastating encounter with a tornado during her college years who now studies storm patterns on screens safely in New York City.
"It's so magic to be here filming 'Twisters,'" says Edgar-Jones in the new featurette. "I'm a huge fan of the original. So, I just kind of can't believe that we've dropped into this world. ... When we were filming in Oklahoma, in summer, we kept having to shut down for actual weather."
In June 2023, Edgar-Jones shared on her Instagram a video clip of actual severe weather happening near Oklahoma City during the making of the movie.
Edgar-Jones' "Twisters" character is lured back into storm season on the open plains by her friend, Javi (Golden Globe nominee Anthony Ramos, "In the Heights") to test a groundbreaking new tracking system. A native of Brooklyn, New York, Ramos describes in the new "Twisters" featurette how his first experiences with stormy Oklahoma weather happened the first day he arrived on set.
"My first night coming here, we go to eat after, and the windows are rattling at the spot. And I'm like, 'yo,'" Ramos recalls.
Who else stars in the upcoming movie 'Twisters?'
Out in the field in the midst of tornadic conditions, Kate and Yavi cross paths with Tyler Owens (Powell), a charming and reckless social-media superstar who thrives on posting his storm-chasing adventures with his raucous crew — the more dangerous the better. From the looks of the featurette, Powell is clearly leaning into his Texas roots in "Twisters."
"We are in the Mecca for tornadoes. So, to have crew members literally leave set and go to storm chase is a really unique thing," Powell says.
"We've all seen clouds over the course of our lives, but very rarely do you understand them. And I think that's the magic of a movie like this: It breeds curiosity and it breeds fascination with stuff that we've been seeing every day for our whole lives."
As storm season intensifies, terrifying phenomena never seen before are unleashed, and Kate, Tyler and their competing teams find themselves in the paths of multiple storm systems converging over central Oklahoma.
The "Twisters" cast also includes Brandon Perea ("Nope") as Boone, Sasha Lane ("American Honey") as Lily, Daryl McCormack ("Peaky Blinders") as Jeb, Kiernan Shipka ("Chilling Adventures of Sabrina") as Addy, Nik Dodani ("Atypical") as Praveen and Golden Globe winner Maura Tierney ("Beautiful Boy") as Cathy.
"People that are background actors are actual storm chasers. So, in between takes, I just got everyone coming up to me just, 'Hey, if you ever want to go on a chase, let me know,'" Perea says with a grin in the featurette.
How did the director's upbringing near Oklahoma influence the making of 'Twisters?'
The movie's director previously filmed his Academy Award-winning semi-autobiographical immigrant drama "Minari" in the Tulsa area in 2019. Just as that film was influenced by his upbringing on an Arkansas farm not far from the Oklahoma border, Chung reveals in the new "Twisters" featurette how much seeing the 1990s blockbuster "Twister" influenced him as a youngster.
"The original 'Twister,' when it came out, it meant a great deal to me, because I was watching a film that took place around where I grew up. I grew up on a farm just outside of Westville, Oklahoma, and that terrain, that landscape, is a part of me," Chung says in the "Twisters" featurette.
With an estimated budget of $200 million, principal photography on "Twisters" got underway in Oklahoma City on May 8, 2023.
Throughout 60 days of principal photography, "Twisters" engaged with multiple communities statewide, including El Reno, Chickasha, Midwest City, Spencer, Kingfisher, Calumet, Hinton, Fairview, Okarche, Kremlin, Burbank and Pawhuska.
In addition to the state’s film program, the production also used local film incentives administered by the newly launched Oklahoma City Film & Creative Industries Office as well as certified soundstage infrastructure at downtown OKC's Prairie Surf Studios, which served as the primary base camp throughout filming.
Mark L. Smith, whose credits include the Oscar-winning 2015 film "The Revenant," starring Leonardo DiCaprio, wrote the script for "Twisters."
Oscar nominee Frank Marshall, known for famed franchises like the "Jurassic Park/World," "Indiana Jones" and "Bourne" movies, is producing "Twisters" via his banner, Kennedy/Marshall Co. Marshall’s wife, Kathleen Kennedy, who is now president of Lucasfilm, was a lead producer on the original "Twister." Marshall has ties to Oklahoma through the charity work he has done for many years in the Sooner State.
"Twisters" also is produced by Patrick Crowley of the "Jurassic" and "Bourne" franchises.
The action-packed disaster epic is being distributed by Universal Pictures domestically and by Warner Bros. Pictures internationally. Deadline reported last week that "Twisters" is tracking for a $45 million to $50 million opening weekend when it debuts in theaters July 19.
Back in 1996, the original "Twister" opened in theaters with $41 million and made $241.7 million in domestic box office.
"This is a film about science. It's about hope. It's about people trying to work together to solve problems, and it's also about revering and honoring, respecting and loving nature," Chung says in the "Twisters" featurette.
Most Popular
Comments / 0