Twisters find a new storm chaser in Glen Powell
Glen Powell; Daisy Edgar-Jones
Who knew this would be the week of Twister sequels both real and imagined? Days ago one Daveed Diggs commented on his scrapped idea for the franchise, which was apparently supposed to follow a group of Black students at an HBCU and potentially be directed by the original film’s star Helen Hunt. Perhaps to sweep away any negative press surrounding Diggs’ remark that his version was rejected for “shady” reasons (read: racism), the actual Twisters movie has announced its male lead. And, um, he’s probably not who Diggs and Hunt would’ve gone with.
That is to say, cinema’s newest storm chaser is a certified White Boy of the Month, Glen Powell. On the come-up for a few years now, Powell is coming off of buzzy appearances in Top Gun: Maverick and Devotion. He’s also a winner of the latest IP parade with a Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid project in the works, in addition to Twisters. Plus there’s Hitman, the action comedy he co-wrote with Richard Linklater, and a buddy comedy with Nick Jonas.
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As previously announced, Powell will star alongside Normal People’s Daisy Edgar-Jones, who went from starring in Where The Crawdads Sing to being cast in an adaptation of On Swift Horses and winning the role of Carole King in the film adaptation of the musical Beautiful. Suffice it to say, these two young stars are both on a hot streak. Between Powell and Edgar-Jones combined, they have almost as many exciting projects in the works as Powell’s rom-com co-star Sydney Sweeney.
As for Twisters itself, this version may not have Hunt’s stamp of approval, but it reportedly does have Steven Spielberg’s. The script was written by Mark L. Smith (The Revenant) and will be directed by Lee Isaac Chung (Minari). According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film is not a straight sequel of the original but a “new chapter,” wherein Edgar-Jones is “a former storm chaser who, after surviving a disastrous tornado encounter, now works a desk job.” One imagines she’ll be drawn back into the field by the allure of a good storm or the allure of Powell. Maybe both!
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