Summary
- Twister, a 90s disaster movie, is still considered one of the best of all time and will have a long-awaited sequel directed by Lee Isaac Chung.
- Original director Jan de Bont reflects on the challenges of making Twister and claims that the movie cannot be remade.
- De Bont expresses cautious support for the sequel, Twisters, and raises concerns about big studios wanting to control indie directors and their creative decisions.
The disaster movie Twister has not only become a huge icon from the 90s cinema, it’s also still considered as one of the best disaster movies of all time. Even 27 years later. Now that the story is set to continue with a long-awaited sequel coming once again from Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment, original director Jan de Bont reflects on the legacy of the film. In an interview with Inverse, the acclaimed filmmaker spoke about the challenges of doing Twister when technology was not that well developed within the industry, he also shared his thoughts on the sequel, and much more.
When it comes to they way they made some of the most impactful scenes from the film, de Bont claimed there’s no way the movie could be made that way nowadays:
“When things fell from the sky, there were real things falling from a helicopter,” he says. “If you film a car escaping a tornado in a hail storm, it was real ice that came at us. It’s a movie that cannot be remade… That would never, ever happen again. Every shot was a fortune. It would take three days to transfer all that information onto film. Right now it’s fast, but in the beginning, it was super slow. And we had to be so careful to get the shots done before the movie opened.”
Speaking about the upcoming sequel, Twisters, he showed some cautious support by comparing it to recent blockbuster smash hit, Barbie, but also expressed his concerns about big studios wanting indie directors taking over franchises and the real intentions he thinks are behind that:
“It might be a really different approach. That’s the same with [Greta Gerwig] of Barbie. Nobody would ever have thought she’d direct that movie and make it so successful. […] Don’t forget that the main reason they’re finding younger, inexperienced people is they want to be able to fully control them. They want them to have really good ADs, writers, producers, cinematographers so that they have all the help they can get. But ultimately, the studio is going to tell them what’s in the movie. I know that firsthand.”
Related: The Best Movies With a ‘Character Against Nature’ Type of Conflict
What Can We Expect from Twisters?
Universal Pictures
Coming to theaters in summer 2024, Twisters is directed by Minari’s filmmaker Lee Isaac Chung and has an incredible cast led by Top Gun: Maverick’s Glen Powell and Normal People’s Daisy Edgar-Jones. Joining them will be Transformers: Rise of the Beasts’ Anthony Ramos, Nope’s Brandon Perea, Peaky Blinders’ Daryl McCormack, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’s Kiernan Shipka, and even the next Man of Steel in Superman: Legacy star David Corenswet.
The script was written by Mark L. Smith, responsible for some major hits like The Midnight Sky and The Revenant. The story will focus on Edgar-Jones character, who is the daughter of Jo Harding and Bill Harding, played by Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton in the original movie. She will continue her parents’ legacy trying to hunt some major storms, and will be probably caught in the middle of a big one.
Twisters is currently set to be released on July 19, 2024.
You can view the original article HERE.
