Hop in the truck, strap in Dorothy, and watch out for the flying cows. Hollywood is getting back into the storm-chasing game with the film that brought the weather to the extreme, Twister. Deadline reports that after producer Steven Spielberg “flipped” out over a new script, his Amblin Entertainment is teaming up with Universal Pictures and Warner Bros. to make a sequel to the 1996 hit called… wait for it… Twisters.
The Twisters script was written by Mark L. Smith (The Revenant, Overlord) and reportedly had Tron Legacy and Top Gun Maverick’s Joseph Kosinski attached to direct. He had to drop to make another movie though and now the studios are in the process of finding a new director. Among the names on the shortlist are Prey’s Dan Trachtenberg, Bumblebee’s Travis Knight, and Free Solo pair Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vaserhelyi. Universal is hoping to have filming going by spring 2023.
According to the trade, the plot will centre on the daughter of Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton’s characters from the first film who has taken up the family business of storm-chasing. The aim is for Hunt to return and reprise her role. Paxton, of course, tragically passed away in 2017.
Released in 1996, Twister was a monster hit and has kept its popularity in the years that followed. I myself still quote it fairly frequently, whether it’s the team talking about “the finger of God,” Paxton’s character as “the Extreme,” or getting the Van Halen song “Humans Being” stuck in my head. This brings to mind that, no matter how good the script is, it will be very difficult to match not just the energy of that first film, but the supporting cast. Twister is all about the supporting cast. Cary Elwes as the villain; Philip Seymour Hoffman, Alan Ruck, and Todd Field as a few of the chasing team; plus Jami Gertz and Lois Smith — everyone is just so so good.
But if Spielberg loved the script and everyone is on board, a new Twister movie with modern-day special effects? We are ready to take the ride.
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