[Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Twisters]

The Big Picture

Collider’s Steve Weintraub talks with
Twisters
director and Oscar-nominee Lee Isaac Chung.
Chung discusses the filmmakers and movies that influenced him for the sequel, the stand-out actor who got more screen time, and deleted scenes.
The director also explains why co-stars Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones share an unexpected final scene together and what it was like filming that intense opening sequence.

Twisters, one of this year’s most hotly anticipated blockbusters, is finally sweeping through theaters. Decades since the first film tore through the box office, this standalone sequel introduces a new audience to this cinematic universe that director and Oscar-nominee Lee Isaac Chung (Minari) describes as just “unabashedly what it is.” In this interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, Chung shares his influences behind bringing this world back to the big screen and how he captured these epic sequences on film. We also discover why co-stars Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones never share that will-they-won’t-they kiss at the very end.

Powell and Edgar-Jones lead the charge in Twisters as YouTube sensation and self-proclaimed Tornado Wrangler Tyler Owens and storm chaser (and whisperer) Kate Carter, respectively. Like Jan de Bont’s Twister (1996), the movie opens with a chilling sequence that leaves Kate devastated and guilt-ridden, driving her states away from her dreams. When Javi (Anthony Ramos), an old friend, tracks her down and lures her back to the field with state-of-the-art tech, Kate and Tyler find kindred souls in one another as they chase down these destructive forces of nature and face the wreckage in their wake.

During their conversation, Chung breaks down how they captured that harrowing opening scene, as well as why the final scene had to change. He discusses the influential filmmakers and movies that inspired this sequel, which stand-out character nearly had a lot less screentime, and deleted scenes. And whether you were hoping for a steamier goodbye between Tyler and Kate or not, Chung explains why he had both scenes ready to go but chose to ditch the kiss.

Twisters An update to the 1996 film ‘Twister’, which centered on a pair of storm chasers who risk their lives in an attempt to test an experimental weather alert system.Release Date July 19, 2024 Writers Mark L. Smith , Joseph Kosinski , Michael Crichton , Anne-Marie Martin

‘Twisters’ Director Explains That Chilling Opening Sequence

COLLIDER: One of the things that is so good about the film and sets the tone is that right at the beginning Daisy loses her friends and her boyfriend in the first act. It sets the stage for anything to happen in this movie. Talk about why it was so important to show that at the beginning.

LEE ISAAC CHUNG: I wanted it to feel like anything could happen in this movie, and also for us to really feel Kate’s shock of what happens in her life, her experimentation. She’s like a kid in that opening section and I tried to film them to all feel very naive in the way that they talk and act with each other, so when that happens we’re really ripped out of childhood into adult life. She’s suddenly on a subway or commuting to work.

Talk a little bit about filming the sequence with the bridge and everything that happens.

CHUNG: There were a lot of logistics in that. I wanted a two-lane highway type of look for that and that’s really hard to find. Janice Polley, our locations person, was incredible in finding that specific road, but it meant that we could only film there for one or two days. Then we had to do that post-destruction moment where she’s walking through the destruction, so what we decided to do is build a copy of that overpass on this backlot area in a giant parking lot. All of the close-up work of them climbing up the overpass ramp, that’s all happening on this backlot, but them running to it, and her afterward, all of that was happening on the day.

Image via Universal Pictures

A huge storm was coming in on that day. We had to stop right at lunchtime because this storm was coming in, so I got a great shot of them running to it while it was windy. Then, starting that initial climb, we headed out, and then we found out that a tornado had actually dropped from the storm that went through, so that was fascinating. [Laughs] But the skies were incredible. When Daisy was walking with all that destruction around her, those are real storm clouds that are coming in. But in our film, of course, we’re playing as though they’re heading out.

Glen Powell & Daisy Edgar-Jones Kiss in Another ‘Twisters’ Universe
Wistful sigh.

I loved that Daisy and Glen don’t kiss in the movie. They have such sexual tension between them, and it’s funny because at the two screenings I’ve been to, that’s something that everyone talks about — “Oh my god, I needed them to kiss!” Talk a little bit about the decision to not have them kiss in the movie because in most movies, they would.

CHUNG: [Laughs] I filmed both versions, to be honest. I had a kiss version, and I had a non-kiss version. I have to say, I like both versions and there were many arguments made to have them kiss. My 13-year-old niece is very mad at me that I didn’t have them kiss because she saw that version and she loved that. But it feels to me that Kate’s journey and the reward at the end for her should not be a kiss, but that she’s found companionship, she’s found community again, and she’s also come back to her sense of purpose, which is chasing these storms. So a storm is coming in, and those two together decide to go out to chase that storm, and I love that ending. So, many apologies to my niece and other people.

I think there are probably a few million women who are gonna be a little mad, but that’s okay. In the sequence you filmed where they do kiss, was it in the airport or was it somewhere else?

CHUNG: It was in the Will Rogers Airport. They were so nice to let us use that space; it’s a very busy area. I chose that spot because the glass goes all the way up, and conceivably you could stand there and see storms coming in, and that’s what Daisy is doing at the end there. But it was interesting, there were actual commuters on the right side of frame who were framing out who were getting into the gate and security was right there. Those people at Will Rogers, really, shout out to them.

Eventually, this film will be released on Blu-ray. Will you include the deleted scene of them kissing, or will you not include it?

CHUNG: I decided to withhold that one. I put in some other deleted scenes but that one I decided to withhold. I’d rather people imagine that.

Image via Universal Pictures

The other scenes that you cut out that will be on the Blu-ray, are they significant scenes or are they little bits?

CHUNG: They’re just little bits. I have a moment of Daisy and Glen together having a slightly more romantic moment that I took out — no kiss. [Laughs] Sorry for that. Then just a funny moment with Brandon Perea that I thought was really great, and Anthony greeting Daisy at the airport when Daisy arrives into Oklahoma. I have a scene there that I cut.

Talk a little bit about how you decided on the final shot, the very ending of the movie. Was it always that ending? Did you ever have something else?

CHUNG: That entire airport sequence was what I put into my pitch when I pitched to do this film because I wanted the stories of Kate and Tyler, Kate and Javi, and Javi and Tyler to all come to a conclusion. I felt like that was something that wasn’t in the ending, and that’s something that producers and people were telling me, that they’d like to see more of an ending. So I just kind of whipped that together and presented it, and they said, “Go for it.”

Why Does a Movie Like ‘Twister’ Stand the Test of Time?

One of the things about Twister, the first one, is that it has stood the test of time. People still love this movie. What do you think it is about the original film that has caused so many people to love it?

CHUNG: It is so unabashedly what it is. [Laughs] I know that sounds weird, it’s a very circular thing to say. It is very singular — I don’t know of many other stories like it in which you have just this group of scientists who are somehow action heroes who are chasing together. They’re really good friends, they love steak and eggs, and they’re chasing tornadoes, which is also a crazy phenomenon that we human beings live with on this earth. It mixes this strange tonal comedy with action-adventure and also serious destruction and devastation, and speaks a lot to us as people in that way. That’s what makes it special for me, and what I loved about trying to do in my own way with this film.

So you find out you get this gig; what are you watching as influences before you start filming to take notes on and say, “This worked great in this film, this worked great in this film, I love the way this was shot?”

CHUNG: There were a lot of those. First of all, story-wise, I did a lot of older Hollywood films. I love Howard Hawks and Howard Hawks was a huge influence on this just in terms of what happens with the characters. [Steven] Spielberg was a giant influence for me; I watched Jaws again, War of the Worlds was really big, and Jurassic Park. That was important. And then, of course, Jan de Bont. I really had to pay respect to what he does and what he did with the first one, so I studied that quite a lot.

What ended up being really important was watching driving movies. I had never really done too much driving stuff within my work. I really loved going back to Gone in 60 Seconds. I just love seeing what they did, and all I can say is “energy.” That scene is just so full of energy. That’s what I kept on studying for this.

This ‘Twisters’ Stand-Out Almost Had a Lot Less Screen Time
We love you, Ben!
Image via Universal Pictures

You can have a script and you can have a cast, but then when you get on set and you see the actors inhabiting the character, it can impact the film because you might be like, “This person is nailing it. We need to get them more scenes.” Which, if any, of the characters ended up with more screen time than you expected just because of the way they were on set?

CHUNG: I had a version of this story where Harry Hadden-Paton’s character, Ben, leaves after that tornado that strikes town, after the third tornado, before the rodeo sequence. He was just gonna stay behind, this is what he’s gonna do, and he says goodbye to Kate. I was watching what he was doing, and the studio was watching what he was doing, and the studio asked me, “Is there any version of this where you can just keep him throughout the entire film?” And I said, “Yeah, absolutely.” So, I just kept him and definitely wanted to integrate him into the entire story.

Twisters is in theaters now. For showtimes, click the link below:

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