Twister

Movie Twister

***Twister*** is a 1996 American epic disaster film directed by Jan de Bont from a screenplay by Michael Crichton and Anne-Marie Martin. It was produced by Crichton, Kathleen Kennedy and Ian Bryce, with Steven Spielberg, Walter Parkes, Laurie MacDonald, and Gerald R. Molen serving as executive producers. The film stars Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, Jami Gertz and Cary Elwes, and focuses on a group of storm chasers trying to deploy a tornado research device during a severe outbreak in Oklahoma. *Twister* was officially released in theaters on May 10, 1996. It is notable for being the first film to be released on DVD in the United States.

*Twister* grossed $495 million worldwide and became the second-highest-grossing film of 1996; it sold an estimated 54.7 million tickets in the U.S. It received mixed reviews from critics, as some praised the visual effects and sound design, but others criticized the screenplay. The film received Academy Award nominations for Best Visual Effects and Best Sound, but lost both to *Independence Day* and *The English Patient* respectively.

## Plot

In 1969, Jo Thornton and her family take shelter from an approaching tornado, however, her father is killed when the tornado tears the shelter door off. Twenty seven years later, Jo is a meteorologist, obsessed with chasing tornadoes and leading a ragtag team of storm chasers. She is on the brink of divorce from retired storm chaser-turned weatherman Bill Harding. Bill travels to rural Oklahoma to get Jo to sign their divorce papers, also introducing his new fiancé, therapist Melissa Reeves. Though Bill has no intention of sticking around, he is intrigued by Dorothy, an invention he conceptualized but never saw realized. Dorothy would be revolutionary for tornado research, but it has to be deployed very close to a dangerous storm. Jo's team rushes off to chase a developing thunderstorm, but Bill and Melissa are forced to pursue them when Jo mistakenly packs the papers. On the way, Bill runs into Jonas Miller, a rival storm chaser, and is forced off the road by Jonas's team.

While getting his Dodge fixed at a repair shop, he discovers Jonas has stolen his idea for a Dorothy device and plans to deploy his corporate sponsored version first and receive sole credit. Enraged, Bill agrees to give Jo one day for her team to successfully deploy Dorothy. The team continues their pursuit of the tornado, this time in Jo's Jeep. In a fit of impulsiveness, Bill maneuvers the truck into a ditch and gets stuck as the twister closes in on them. They seek shelter under a bridge as the tornado destroys the Jeep and Dorothy 1. With more storms developing, Bill uses his own truck to pursue. Once again they encounter Jonas's team, but Bill outsmarts them by accurately predicting a sudden change in the tornado's direction, leading them to a lake. Two waterspouts catch their truck and thrash it about violently before disappearing. Bill and Jo are unharmed but Dorothy 2 failed to deploy and Melissa is left terrified by the ordeal.

The team talk Jo into visiting her Aunt Meg's house in the nearby small town of Wakita, Oklahoma. Over steak and eggs, Bill explains Jo's childhood story to Melissa, while Aunt Meg realizes Jo is still in love with Bill and advises her to stay with him. The team scrambles to find another twister. With Dorothy and the truck badly damaged, Bill retreats against Jo's wishes. An argument ensues, causing Jo to break down and reveal she became a stormchaser to prevent what happened to her father from happening again. Bill reveals that he still has feelings for her, not realizing that their entire conversation is overheard by Melissa through the CB radio. That night, the crew repair their vehicles in a shop next to a drive-in screening of *The Shining*, where Jo finally agrees to sign the divorce papers. However, the sudden formation of an F4 tornado forces the team to seek shelter in a nearby garage. The tornado devastates the theater, and proceeds to head directly towards Wakita. Before they leave to try and rescue Aunt Meg, Melissa severs her relationship with Bill and wishes him the best.

Wakita is left in ruins, and Aunt Meg is rescued with minor injuries from her collapsed house. With a record-breaking F5 tornado predicted to hit the next day, Bill and Jo are inspired by Aunt Meg's wind vanes to add tin "wings" to Dorothy 3 and 4's sensors, making them more aerodynamic. The next day, the team pursue a massive, mile-wide F5 tornado. Bill and Jo attempt to deploy Dorothy 3, but it gets destroyed by an airborne tree and they discover that it is too light. Meanwhile, Jonas attempts to deploy his device but drives too close to the storm. Bill and Jo try to warn him via radio but Jonas ignores them. He and his driver Eddie are killed by the storm. With Dorothy 4 mounted in the truck's bed, the two sacrifice Bill's Dodge by placing it on cruise control and jumping out at the last second. With the truck as an effective anchor, Dorothy 4 is successfully deployed with positive results. Jo and Bill are then forced to outrun the tornado on foot. They enter a farm shed and after strapping themselves to deep pipes, they survive the storm. Finally, they rekindle their relationship and celebrate their success with the rest of the crew.

## Cast

* Helen Hunt as Dr. Joanne "Jo" Harding, an eccentric meteorologist and storm-chaser.
* Alexa Vega as Young Jo Thornton
* Bill Paxton as Dr. Bill "The Extreme" Harding, a former storm-chaser known for his bizarre "tornado whispering" methods, now a TV weather reporter.
* Jami Gertz as Dr. Melissa Reeves, a reproductive therapist and Bill's fiancée.
* Cary Elwes as Dr. Jonas Miller, a storm-chasing rival of Jo and Bill's who also leads a team of storm chasers.
* Philip Seymour Hoffman as Dustin "Dusty" Davis, an outgoing and excitable member of Jo's team.
* Alan Ruck as Robert "Rabbit" Nurick, a member of Jo's team; specializes in maps and roads.
* Sean Whalen as Allan Sanders, Rabbit's assistant.
* Todd Field as Tim "Beltzer" Lewis, Jo's Doppler radar operator.
* Wendle Josepher as Haynes, Beltzer's assistant.
* Jeremy Davies as Brian Laurence, Jo's photographer.
* Joey Slotnick as Joey, Jo's technical advisor.
* Scott Thomson as Jason "Preacher" Rowe, a member of Jo's team nicknamed "Preacher" due to his previous profession.
* Lois Smith as Aunt Meg Greene, Jo's loving aunt
* Zach Grenier as Eddie, Jonas's right-hand man and driver.
* Richard Lineback as Mr. Charlie Thornton, Jo's father
* Rusty Schwimmer as Mrs. Alice Thornton, Jo's mother
* Abraham Benrubi as Bubba, the Mobile Lab Driver
* Patrick Fischler as Landers, The Communicator
* Anthony Rapp as Tony
* Jake Busey as Mobile Lab Technician

Three one-time Oklahoma City television meteorologists Gary England, then-chief meteorologist at CBS-affiliated television station KWTV; Jeff Lazalier, then a weekend meteorologist at NBC-affiliated television station KFOR-TV; and Rick Mitchell, then-chief meteorologist at ABC-affiliated television station KOCO-TV—all appear as themselves within the movie's local television news reports. (The opening scene in which England appears via archival footage provided by KWTV, takes place in 1969, when England was an oceanographer for New Orleans-based A.H. Glenn and Associates; he would not be hired by KWTV until October 1972.) Additionally, the weather radio operator heard toward the beginning of the movie was voiced by Andy Wallace, then-chief meteorologist at ABC-affiliated television station KSWO-TV in Lawton. Lisa Sanderson claims that Garth Brooks was offered a role but turned it down as he didn’t want to be outshone by a tornado.

**Behind The Scenes**

This may sound a little crazy, but *Twister* has always been one of my favorite movies to watch. While it's not the best movie to come out in the past 30 years, the 1996 disaster film remains on the list of movies that I will watch under any circumstance. In the theater with my grandma the summer before third grade? Yep. On CMT on some random Tuesday night? Why not. And over time, I've become what could describe as obsessed with the movie and am constantly digging around to find all sort of behind the scenes facts about this classic.

And wouldn't you know, there are so many crazy stories about how *Twister* came together (both good and not so good) that I think everyone who's obsessed with the movie, or at least seen it once or twice on cable, should know. So, without wasting any more time, let's load up Dorothy, grab a bag of food from Aunt Meg's house, and go find us some *Twister* facts.

## Twister Was Given A Green Light Before A Script Was Even Written

*Twister* was one of the most successful movies of the '96 summer blockbuster season, bringing in $494 million at the global box office before everything was said and done. But if we're being honest, no one bought a ticket for the movie because they were interested in the love triangle between Bill Paxton, Helen Hunt, and Jami Gertz's characters. We were all there to see tornados wreck the Oklahoma landscape and figure out how Dorothy worked. And it seems that millions of moviegoers who flocked to theaters weren't alone. In a 2015 Wired roundtable discussion highlighting the successes of Industrial Light And Magic (the team who designed the special effects for *Twister*, producer Kathleen Kennedy revealed that a script hadn't even been written when ILM submitted test footage to Warner Bros., stating:

## Joss Whedon Turned In His Rewrites On The Day Of His Wedding

Joss Whedon helped fix the *Twister* script because, well, he was Joss Whedon in the '90s. Much like how the writer-director was brought in to help with reshoots on *Justice League* more than 20 years later, the creator of *Buffy The Vampire Slayer* was tasked with rewriting the story. After working extensively on the script for several months (except for when he came down with bronchitis), Whedon eventually turned in his final revisions on what was the happiest day of his life.

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In an extensive EW profile on the tumultuous production the 1996 disaster movie, Joss Whedon said he worked on the changes up to the last possible moment, stating: https://youtu.be/ozIDKuHKjIY