Twisters Director Took His Cues From Several Golden Age Filmmakers [Exclusive]

For those who may feel that a movie about tornadoes running rampant across Oklahoma is no place for a love triangle subplot, may I remind them that the original “Twister” from 1996 was very much a “rekindled love” story between storm chasers Jo (Helen Hunt) and Bill (Bill Paxton). Dare I say it’s even Shakespeare-esque, with Jo and Bill being akin to Beatrice and Benedict from the Bard’s “Much Ado About Nothing” (a dynamic Glen Powell is intimately familiar with). It’s also literally Hawks-esque: The screenwriters of “Twister,” married couple Michael Crichton and Anne Marie-Martin, deliberately patterned their film’s love triangle on “His Girl Friday,” meaning that screwball comedy is part of the “Twister” DNA. 

In that way and in others, “Twisters” feels like a genuine throwback movie; not one that’s bogged down with winking, meta references to cinema’s past, but one that embraces the way old Hollywood crowd pleasers (including ones from the 1990s, like “Twister” itself) loved to include a charming romance in the mix for good measure.

“Twisters” is in theaters now, and my interview with Chung can be heard on today’s episode of the /Film Daily podcast, along with a chat with /Film editors Ben Pearson and Brad Oman (aka Ethan Anderton) featuring our thoughts on the movie:

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