Twisters cast battled real storms while filming

The cast of Twisters kept it real as possible while filming the sequel to the ’90s blockbuster.

It was not the most comfortable filming experience for actor Daisy Edgar-Jones shooting new Hollywood blockbuster Twisters.

The stand-alone sequel to Twister, the 1996 film, Twisters has been a long time coming.

“We were out there in actual Oklahoma during storm season so even battling with the actual weather during filming was a real challenge,” she said. “We had a whole set be blown away that we had to rebuild to then blow it away on camera. We had actual aeroplane jet engines that they were using.”

Needless to say and not spoiling the storyline, the cast got messy filming.

“At the beginning of every tornado sequence, it felt very biblical,” Edgar-Jones said. “Our first AD (assistant director) would be like, ‘rain’, and suddenly the rain would come up. And then he’d be like, ‘wind’, and then the fans, and then ‘debris’ and suddenly people would just be throwing all sorts of objects at us. It really felt like we were in the storm and I think it means the film feels really realistic and truthful because so much of it happened practically, we weren’t on green screen very often.”

Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones in Twisters.

Insider caught up with the cast, including Edgar-Jones’ co-stars Glen Powell and Anthony Ramos, via Zoom before they attended the Twisters European premiere at Cineworld Leicester Square in London this week.

“We did a good amount (of stunts) for sure,” said Ramos. “We had a good stunt team, they made sure everybodywas safe and made sure we could do as much as possible because it is always better when you can see us on screen doing the thing, being dragged in the middle of the street, being pelted with I don’t know how many gallons of water. It was cool, they just let us go and sometimes it is not like that.”

Director Lee Isaac Chung, Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Anthony Ramos attend the Twisters photocall in London. Picture: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images

Twisters delivers on all fronts – top action, story, directing and cinematography.

“That’s how we feel, it has got everything this movie,” Powell said. “The movies at least that I grew up on, those sorts of blockbusters, especially the ones in the ’90s, it was well directed, it had great cast, the action was top notch, it was emotional, it just worked on every level so I am … I know we are really proud of this movie because it is a rare one. You don’t have a movie like this come to the cinemas that often.”

Twisters is the first big Hollywood film for director Lee “Isaac” Chung, who was nominated for an Oscar for 2020 independent film Minari.

“We feel so lucky,” Edgar-Jones said. “We put a lot of faith in Isaac as a director. We are big fans of Minari and it is so cool to see an indie filmmaker like that take on something of this scale, and I think it means it retains character, it retains heart as well as having plot and action. It is so wicked.”

The actors, including Sasha Lane and Glen Powell, did many of the stunts themselves rather than use green screens.

Steven Spielberg served as executive producer on the first film back in 1996 and again this time round. Ramos had worked with him previously on films In The Heights and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.

Edgar-Jones met Spielberg briefly at a party before filming commenced while Powell has never met the legendary director.

“But he was really involved, he watched the dailies every day, he gave notes, he was very much a part of our production,” Edgar-Jones said. “We really felt his presence.”

Powell said: “Not in person, I’ve gotten notes from him … he really just has a good barometer of what audiences want and to make a movie like this that is both epic and emotional. When you have a guy like that, the Godfather of the blockbuster, when he speaks you listen.”