‘Twisters’ Director and NOAA Advise Against Storm Chasing for Film Fans

In the new movie “Twisters,” Glen Powell’s character, Tyler Owens, and his team of “extreme meteorologists” from Arkansas burst onto the scene with loud country music, themed T-shirts, and daring stunts aimed to wow their YouTube followers. After unleashing fireworks into a tornado, Tyler looks directly at the camera and cautions viewers, “Remember, you kids, do not try this at home. We are professional tornado wranglers.”

Lee Isaac Chung, who directed “Twisters” and grew up on an Arkansas farm near the Oklahoma border, hopes audiences won’t be inspired to replicate the dangerous activities depicted in the film. “That is an Arkansas thing to do. So, I ask all my fellow Arkansans to stand down and not come into Oklahoma with fireworks,” Chung told The Oklahoman, adding, “I hope they’ll come and watch the movie, and that’ll be their way of chasing — and otherwise stay safe at home.”

The long-awaited follow-up to the 1996 blockbuster “Twister,” “Twisters” follows a new generation of storm chasers played by Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, and Anthony Ramos as they track tornadoes across Oklahoma. Both movies were filmed in the Sooner State.

On the red carpet at the July 15 OKC premiere of “Twisters,” Powell reflected, “We just got such an education on what not only the original ‘Twister’ meant to this community, but storm chasing in general. This sort of cowboy scientist aspect … is really singular.”

The first “Twister” significantly boosted interest in meteorology. “We’re linked at the hip with the University of Oklahoma, and what we noticed was that student enrollment in meteorology went up — it doubled — and it really never came down too much,” said Oklahoma meteorologist Kevin Kelleher, who served as a technical adviser on both “Twister” and “Twisters.” “That brought in this great knowledge base and talent base that helped attack some of the problems in meteorology. And if that comes out of the second one as well, that would be great, because we still have a lot of unanswered questions.”

The original “Twister” is also credited with popularizing celebrity storm chasers, amateur storm chasing, and tornado tourism. These modern phenomena are mirrored in the standalone sequel. “We reflect some of that craziness in this movie, hopefully in a way that makes people realize that we should reduce that crazy and let the scientists do their work,” Chung said to The Oklahoman.

Despite the allure of storm chasing, “Twisters” has had a blockbuster debut, landing at No. 1 at the North American box office with an $81.2 million opening weekend. The original 1996 movie had a $41 million opening weekend, equivalent to $82 million today, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “Twister” went on to become the second-highest-grossing film of that year, earning more than $494 million globally — which would translate to $992 million today — making it the most commercially successful movie shot in Oklahoma.

At the OKC premiere of “Twisters,” Chung commented that he doesn’t like to preach or send messages in his movies. “I just really want to give people an experience,” he said on the red carpet. “The original ‘Twister’ is a nice ride. It’s very fun and entertaining. I hope people come to this, and in a similar way, just have a lot of fun. We try not to take ourselves too seriously, but we try to be a film with a lot of heart and a lot of thrills.”

However, Chung passed along a safety message from the scientists who consulted on “Twisters.” “I’m honestly a little worried that we’re going to clog up the roads if people get too into the idea of becoming a storm chaser,” he told The Oklahoman. “Our science advisers have asked me to please remind people that they should stay at home, and they shouldn’t chase, because there are people who are doing real work out there.”

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) echoes this sentiment in their new online resource about the science behind the scenes of “Twisters,” prominently stating, “While it’s exciting to think of chasing tornadoes, please don’t attempt it yourself. Whether you call them twisters or tornadoes, these storms in real life are far from entertainment: They are deadly forces of nature.”

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Don’t try this at home: ‘Twisters’ director, NOAA discourage film fans from trying storm chasing

Source: The Oklahoman, The Hollywood Reporter