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The Cast of Twisters Tips Their (Cowboy) Hats to Classic Twister in New Film
Daisy Edgar-Jones, Anthony Ramos, and Glen Powell connect their favorite dots back to the classic Twister.
It's been 28 years since director Jan de Bont's Twister became one of the biggest blockbusters of the summer of 1996. Starring Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt as scientists chasing tornados in Oklahoma, Twister was a huge hit that perplexingly never got a sequel. Until now.
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Director Lee Isaac Chung (Minari) grew up in Arkansas and knows what it's like to live with tornado threats. So he devised a pitch for Amblin Entertainment's Steven Spielberg and Frank Marshall about the next generation of storm chasers. Voila! Here comes Twisters. In the follow-up sequel (out July 19), three contemporary storm chasers — played by Daisy Edgar-Jones, Anthony Ramos, and Glen Powell — race across tornado alley in Oklahoma to try and break apart tornados growing worse than ever due to climate change.
NBC Insider recently sat down with the core trio of Twisters to ask them about their favorite subtle callbacks to Twister that are woven into the fabric of their sequel.
Daisy Edgar-Jones Honors Bill Paxton
In Twisters, Edgar-Jones plays Kate Cooper, a scientist at the National Weather Service and a former storm chaser in Oklahoma. On paper, it seems like her character aligns more with Helen Hunt's ambitious Jo Harding. But Edgar-Jones said that there's a deeper connection between Cooper and Paxton's former meteorologist Bill Harding that's softy alluded to in the sequel.
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"There's a line which Kate says to Javi [Ramos], and it's very subtle,'" she said. "It's a line that Bill says in the original. I remember [thinking] it would be nice to include that because for him in that story, he's taken himself out and he's being encouraged to come back into chasing. And it's kind of the same for Kate. So, for me, that was quite nice."
Anthony Ramos Feels the Rhythm of the Tornado Movies
Actor Anthony Ramos knows a lot about the importance of music, starring in the film adaptation of In the Heights and co-starring in the Broadway stage production of Hamilton. In Twisters, Ramos is Javi, a former colleague of Cooper's and the leader of a privately financed storm research project. Asked what connector he appreciated most between the films, the actor said it was the strength of the curated soundtracks.
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As a reminder, back in '96, the Twister soundtrack included original songs by the Van Halen brothers, Stevie Nicks, and Shania Twain. Now the Twisters soundtrack has gone full country rock with 26 original tracks — many of which appear in the movie — featuring artists like Luke Combs, Lainey Wilson, and, yes, Shania Twain.
"Yeah, it was the attention to the soundtrack, which was something that they really worked on to nail for the first one," Ramos said. "I think that this soundtrack really feels like an extension of the heartbeat of the movie, which I think the first one did."
Glen Powell Gets His Weather Geek On
Last but not least, Powell said he's got mad appreciation for the unabashed love for weather and those who study it that appears in both movies. His character Tyler Owens, an Oklahoman storm chaser and social media star, seemingly represents the good ol' boy approach to research. However, Owens proves to have some deeper secrets than expected. And that crept up in Powell's answer.
RELATED: Glen Powell Adopted His "Son" Brisket While Filming Twisters in Oklahoma
"The thing that I really took away from the first one was just the infectious sense of joy about the weather," he shared. "When I look at our film, we're just really proud of that same sort of joy that kind of emanates throughout all of it."
To find your own connections between Twister and Twisters, check it out in theaters on July 19. Click here to pick up tickets for early access screenings on Wednesday, July 17.
