Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Andrew Sanford | Film | July 22, 2024
SPOILERS AHEAD FOR TWISTERS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
Blockbusters need to work on many levels. They have to be exciting, of course. The point is to get people into theaters, so the visuals have to be big. There need to be big movie stars on screen, cracking jokes, falling in love, and persevering against gigantic odds. These may seem like basic ideas, but that makes them easier to mess up. Plenty of blockbusters have tried to check all the boxes of a successful summer film but don’t quite hit the mark. Twisters seems to be avoiding those issues.
The film has landed with a bang. It has already crossed $100 million at the box office. Fans are loving it and critics are at least playing along. Directed by Lee Isaac Chung, the film is a sequel to the 1996 hit Twister. While it may have its roots in blockbusters of the past, the film is trying to avoid some of the same cliches. Luckily, they’re getting a little help from Steven Spielberg.
You may not know this, but Steven Spielberg has a pretty impressive career. His work has spanned decades and changed the movie industry several times. The man practically invented the blockbuster. If there is any director whose advice you should take to heart on a big-budget disaster movie meant to entertain summer audiences, it’s Steven Spielberg. So, listen they did.
In a recent chat with Collider, actors Daisy Edgar Jones and Glen Powell discussed a moment of filming that went viral. Behind-the-scenes footage showed the two actors sharing a passionate kiss in the new movie. Audiences have noticed that the kiss did not make the final cut. There is a very good reason for that. Steven Spielberg recommended they cut it.
“I think it’s a Spielberg note, wasn’t it?” Edgar-Jones explained to the outlet. She was in favor of the cut, explaining, “I think it stops the film feeling too clichéd, actually. I think there’s something really wonderful about it feeling like there’s a continuation. This isn’t the end of their story. They’re united by their shared passion for something.”
Edgar-Jones’s co-star, Glen Powell, agreed that the kiss was not necessary and may have even detracted Edgar-Jones’s character’s story. “I also think that this movie is not about them finding love,” Powell told Collider. “It’s returning Kate to the thing that she loves, which is storm chasing. So that’s what you have at the end of the movie. They share this thing, and her passion is reinvigorated, and her sense of home is reinvigorated.”
Powell concluded the thoughts on the cut kiss, giving Spielberg his props for… being Spielberg. “I feel like a kiss would be sort of unrepresentative of the right goal at the end of the movie. And it is a good Spielberg note. It’s why that kid is still in this game. It’s amazing,” Powell said. Maybe Steven Spielberg can start providing notes for more “blockbusters?”
