‘Twisters’ trailer: Lee Isaac Chung follows ‘Minari’ with blockbuster sequel starring Glen Powell [Watch]

Christopher Rosen
·3 min read
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Filmmaker Lee Isaac Chung broke out with 2020’s “Minari,” which landed multiple Oscar nominations including two for Chung (Best Director and Best Original Screenplay) and Best Picture. (The film won an Oscar for Yuh-Jung Youn in Best Supporting Actress.) Now, four years later, Chung is back and with an expected follow-up: “Twisters,” a sequel to 1996’s blockbuster hit “Twister.”

Universal debuted the first trailer for “Twisters” during Sunday’s Super Bowl, and the spot immediately spiked online interest in Chung’s first studio picture thanks to the way the spot teases the film’s massive set pieces and star appeal courtesy of Glen Powell. The actor, who helped “Anyone But You” become a sleeper hit and pops off the screen in Netflix’s “Hit Man” (out June 7), plays a storm chaser named Tyler Owens who helps “Twisters” protagonist Kate Cooper (Daisy Edgar-Jones) regain her mojo after a tragedy. Here’s the official synopsis from Universal:

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This summer, the epic studio disaster movie returns with an adrenaline-pumping, seat-gripping, big-screen thrill ride that puts you in direct contact with one of nature’s most wondrous—and destructive—forces. 

Edgar-Jones stars as Kate Cooper, a former storm chaser haunted by a devastating encounter with a tornado during her college years who now studies storm patterns on screens safely in New York City. She is lured back to the open plains by her friend, Javi (Golden Globe nominee Anthony Ramos, In the Heights) to test a groundbreaking new tracking system. There, she crosses paths with Tyler Owens (Powell), the charming and reckless social-media superstar who thrives on posting his storm-chasing adventures with his raucous crew, the more dangerous the better.

As storm season intensifies, terrifying phenomena never seen before are unleashed, and Kate, Tyler and their competing teams find themselves squarely in the paths of multiple storm systems converging over central Oklahoma in the fight of their lives.

In addition to Edgar-Jones, Powell, and Ramos, the film stars “Nope” breakout Brandon Perea and Sasha Lane, Daryl McCormack, Kiernan Shipka, Nik Dodani, and Maura Tierney.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Chung said the entire process of creating a blockbuster sequel was “surreal,” particularly the Super Bowl ad. 

“I never would have imagined,” Chung said. “When the first ‘Twister’ was released, I remember just being blown away by the trailer. I remember feeling how realistic that tornado looked. I’d never seen anything like that. I still remember that trailer, and I know that with this one, we need to try to top it.”

He added, “What was essential to me was that it always felt like in that first movie, which didn’t necessarily feel like a disaster movie. To me, it felt like an adventure movie, and I always loved how that movie inspired a generation of meteorologists and people who were interested in science and weather just because it made that study feel like it was an adventure. That’s something that I wanted to retain with this one.”

The original “Twister,” directed by Jan de Bont, starred Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt (as well as Philip Seymour Hoffman in a supporting role). The film received two 1997 Oscar nominations, including Best Visual Effects and Best Sound.

“Twisters” is due out in theaters on July 19.

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