Don't try this at home: 'Twisters' director, NOAA discourage film fans from trying storm chasing

In the new movie "Twisters," Glen Powell's colorful Tornado Wrangler character Tyler Owens and his ragtag team of "extreme meteorologists" out of Arkansas come storming into the picture with loud country music , theme T-shirts and schemes to thrill their YouTube subscribers with wild weather-related stunts.

After blasting a funnel cloud with fireworks, Tyler looks right at his camera operator — and into the movie camera —and advises viewers, "Remember, you kids, do not try this at home. We are professional tornado wranglers."

When it comes to chasing severe storms and blasting rockets into tornadoes, "Twisters" director Lee Isaac Chung , who grew up on an Arkansas farm near the Oklahoma border , said he hopes that audiences won't come to the Sooner State to try it, either.

"That is an Arkansas thing to do. So, I ask all my fellow Arkansans to stand down and not come into Oklahoma with fireworks," Chung told The Oklahoman with a laugh.

"I hope they'll come and watch the movie, and that'll be their way of chasing — and otherwise stay safe at home,"

How is 'Twister' credited with spinning up interest in meteorology and storm chasing?

The long-awaited follow-up to the 1990s blockbuster "Twister," "Twisters" follows a new generation of storm chasers played by Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Anthony Ramos as they track tornadic activity across the Sooner State. Both movies filmed across Oklahoma .

"We just got such an education on what, not only the original 'Twister' meant to this community, but when I think of storm chasing in general, it's such a beautiful thing. This sort of cowboy scientist aspect ... is really singular," Powell said on the red carpet at the July 15 OKC premiere of "Twisters."

The blockbuster success of 1996's "Twister" is credited with spinning up a veritable whirlwind of interest in meteorology, said Oklahoma meteorologist Kevin Kelleher , who was a technical adviser on both "Twister" and "Twisters."

"We're linked at the hip with the University of Oklahoma , and what we noticed was that student enrollment in meteorology went up — it doubled — and it really never came down too much," said Kelleher, the retired deputy director of the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman.

"That brought in this great knowledge base and talent base that helped attack some of the problems in meteorology. And if that comes out of the second one as well, that would be great, because we still have a lot of unanswered questions."

For better or worse, the blockbuster success of the original "Twister" also is credited with fueling the popularity of celebrity storm chasers , amateur storm chasing , and tornado tourism — and all those contemporary weather-related phenomena are referenced in the standalone sequel.

"We reflect some of that craziness in this movie, hopefully in a way that makes people realize that we should reduce that crazy and let the scientists do their work," Chung told The Oklahoman in a one-on-one interview July 16 in downtown OKC.

'Twisters' director says he's 'a little worried' the movie might inspire people to try storm chasing

"Twisters" proved more powerful than expected in its opening weekend, landing at No. 1 at the North American box office after storming to a $81.2 million debut.

The original movie whirled into theaters in 1996 with a $41 million opening weekend, which would be $82 million in today’s dollars, according to The Hollywood Reporter. "Twister" went on to become the second-highest grossing film of that year, earning more than $494 million at the global box office — the equivalent of $992 million today — making it the most commercially successful made-in-Oklahoma movie to be released to date.

At the OKC premiere of "Twisters," Chung said he doesn't like to preach or send messages in his movies.

"I just really want to give people an experience," Chung said on the red carpet. "The original 'Twister' is a nice ride. It's very fun and entertaining. I hope people come to this, and in a similar way, just have a lot of fun. We try not to take ourselves too seriously, but we try to be a film with a lot of heart and a lot of thrills."

But in case the thrills prove too tempting, Chung passed along a message from the scientists who consulted on "Twisters."

"I'm honestly a little worried that we're going to clog up the roads if people get too into the idea of becoming a storm chaser," Chung told The Oklahoman.

"Our science advisers have asked me to please remind people that they should stay at home, and they shouldn't chase, because there are people who are doing real work out there."

In the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's new online resource about the science behind the scenes of " Twisters," a similar message appears in bold text:

"While it's exciting to think of chasing tornadoes, please don't attempt it yourself. Whether you call them twisters or tornadoes, these storms in real life are far from entertainment: They are deadly forces of nature."

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Don't try this at home: 'Twisters' director, NOAA discourage film fans from trying storm chasing