Despite previous reports, don’t expect the new film Twisters to be connected to the cult classic original from the 90s.
Twisters will be directed by Lee Isaac Chung (Minari) from a script by Mark L. Smith and stars Daisy Edgar-Jones (Where The Crawdads Sing), Glen Powell (Top Gun: Maverick), Brandon Perea (Nope), and Anthony Ramos (Transformers: Rise of the Beasts).
Writer Smith recently spoke to Collider about the project and announced that this film is no longer in the same universe as the 1996 Twister. Yes, don’t expect Helen Hunt or Cary Elwes, says the scribe.
“It was something that [original Twisters director] Joe Kosinski and I came up with,” Smith tells Collider. “Joe reached out. He had this great idea to get back into the Twister world, and so he sent me the pitch, and it was fun. We kind of beat it out and then went to [original executive producers] Steven Spielberg and Frank Marshall, and then they signed off. Universal signed off. So I wrote it, and it was all set, and Spielberg was ready to go, and he was excited, and it was gonna be Joe.”
“It’s a lot of fun. [Chung] did his own thing to the script a little bit because that’s what they do, so I don’t know about some of the changes exactly,” adds Smith. “So, I don’t know the details, but it’s a separate story. It’s not a continuation of the original. But it’s just a real wild ride with some good, fun characters. Hopefully, we can tap into what the original had because that thing is just iconic.”
Smith closes by praising what the filmmaker is cooking up, “But it’s so cool to have a director like Isaac taking on something like this. It’s just so out of his norm, and I think he’s having fun. I was texting with him a couple days ago, and it’s just all craziness of it.”
Twisters is set to release on July 19, 2024.
Originally published December 18, 2023. Updated December 27, 2023.
