Hanna Rantala
LONDON (Reuters) – Nearly 30 years after the blockbuster film “Twister,” deadly tornadoes and the people who chase them are returning to our screens in the latest extreme weather tale.
According to its creators, “Twisters” is a “modern version” of its 1996 predecessor.
The story centers on storm expert Kate Carter (played by Daisy Edgar-Jones) and tracker and superstar streamer Tyler Owens (Glen Powell), who meets when a once-in-a-lifetime tornado hits Oklahoma.
“Twisters,” the big-budget action film debut from “Minari” director Lee Isaac Chung, introduces us to advanced technology and a new generation of adrenaline junkies with huge social media followings.
“This is a new chapter. This is a contemporary portrayal of the same community that audiences responded to in ’96,” said Powell, who premiered the film in London on Monday.
“Audiences can expect plenty of fun and thrills – all they have to do is buckle up and hop on board,” Edgar-Jones added.
Powell plays Owens, a former rodeo star and self-described “tornado tamer” whose rambunctious team braves the danger with gusto. The Texas native, 35, said both the original film and the reboot resonated with him personally.
“When I was about 9 years old, there was a tornado in Jarrell, Texas, and I got caught in it on my way to my aunt’s ranch. It was a really scary thing, but we cleaned up after it. It’s one of those things I’ll never forget,” he said.
“This film is not just about what we do in the face of a storm, but how we bounce back after it,” Powell said. “It’s something that affects a lot of people, and it’s not just tornadoes, it’s all kinds of weather on the planet, so I think it’s a universal film for that reason.”
“Twisters,” written by Mark L. Smith, is based on consultations with meteorologists, climate scientists and real-life storm chasers, Chung said.
“We worked with people who are on the front lines of climate science and tornado science. We tried to bring as much of that into the film as we could to respect what’s actually going on and also to pay tribute to the scientists who are heroes in so many ways. If we’re going to have any solutions, we have to turn to scientists,” he said.
As with “Twister,” Chung hopes his next film will have a lasting impact.
“The first film inspired a lot of people to become interested in weather science and research, and hopefully this film can do that and inspire a new generation of people to want to research and get out and study.”
“Twisters” will be released worldwide on July 10th.
(Reporting by Hanna Rantala and Muralikumar Anantharaman Editing by
