In the lead up to the release of “Twisters,” the stunt coordinator from 1996’s “Twister” spoke to The Independent about the chaos that ensued during the production of the original movie. Mic Rodgers recalled “Twister” director Jan de Bont having an alleged meltdown on set one day that resulted in the crew temporarily abandoning the production.
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Per The Independent : “De Bont’s most notorious outburst nearly scuppered the entire production. The crew was filming in a ditch one day, when the director shoved a camera assistant aside, who tripped and tumbled down the gulley. After the director refused to apologise for the incident, [the] entire camera crew stormed off the set, promptly followed by the audio team, then the wardrobe department.”
“It had been brewing,” Rodgers told the publication about the set tension.
According to Rodgers, none other than executive producer Steven Spielberg arrived the next day to Norman, Okla. to admonish the director over the chaotic production. Apparently Spielberg never made it to set and de Bont met him at the airport.
“The ramp came down on the Learjet and Spielberg walked down it and he never touched the ground,” Rodgers said. “He just stood there yelling at Jan. He never even got off the plane. He was just fucking yelling, pointing his finger at him, screaming at him. I don’t know what he said to him, but he barked at him for, like, 15 minutes and got back in the plane. The plane left without him even stepping off.”
Variety has reached out to Spielberg representatives for additional comment. De Bont did not have a comment on the matter when asked.
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Production got back in order, although it remained full of drama and various injury scares during storm season. Helen Hunt, for instance, got struck in the head during filming, while co-star Bill Paxton was temporarily blinded by electronic lamps. Despite the troubled production, “Twister” was one of the biggest blockbusters of 1996, grossing $495 million worldwide to become the second-highest-grossing film of that year.
“Twister” director Jan de Bont recently spoke to Variety and said making his movie was “a really hard shoot physically” and “draining because we were in a territory where we never knew if it was going to rain or be sunny, so we often had to change location in the middle of the day.”
“Those additional problems happened on a very regular basis,” he added. “And because the movie takes place in one day but shooting takes place over multiple months, in the beginning everything is barren and then slowly the corn comes up and the trees start to grow. And before you know it, you have to look for another location that matches the first one. And that went on and on and on — it was really, really tough.”
“Twisters” is now playing in theaters nationwide. Head over to The Independent’s website to read Rodgers’ interview in its entirety.
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