This article originally appeared at EightiesKids.com.
The film was the second biggest hit of 1996 behind Independence Day
The production budget of Twister was reportedly somewhere between $88-92 million, which made it one of the most expensive movies made in the mid-90s. Happily for studios Warner Bros and Universal (who collaborated on the film), this investment paid off: Twister was a huge hit, with worldwide earnings of $496.7 million, making it the second-biggest movie of 1996 behind Independence Day (which earned $817.4 million).
Steven Spielberg, James Cameron and Robert Zemeckis all came close to directing it
Twister was produced by Amblin Entertainment, the company co-founded by Steven Spielberg, Frank Marshall and future Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy. Excited by the dramatic possibilities, Steven Spielberg contemplated directing the film himself. When he decided against this, several more big-name directors were considered including James Cameron, John Badham and Robert Zemeckis, until Jan de Bont was hired on the strength of his directorial debut Speed.
Filming had to be scheduled around Helen Hunt’s work on Mad About You
When cameras rolled on Twister, Helen Hunt’s main claim to fame was sitcom Mad About You. In fact, Hunt’s commitment to the TV show almost stopped her making Twister, as the shooting schedules clashed. Happily, Hunt’s Mad About You co-star Paul Reiser (also the show’s creator) agreed to delay shooting on the new season for two and a half weeks.
Bill Paxton’s role was originally earmarked for Tom Hanks
Early on, Twister’s male lead Bill Harding was poised to be played by Tom Hanks. Reportedly the Philadelphia and Forrest Gump Oscar-winner remained attached long enough to do script readings with the cast and choose his character’s costume. However, Hanks eventually pulled out; 1996 would instead see him make his directorial debut with That Thing You Do!
Bill Paxton wears the exact same clothes Tom Hanks had picked out for the role of Bill Harding
When Tom Hanks dropped out, Kurt Russell and Michael Keaton were considered for the part before Bill Paxton was finally cast, based in part on the recommendation of his friend and frequent collaborator James Cameron (Paxton appeared in The Terminator, Aliens, True Lies and later Titanic). The clothes Paxton wears in the movie are the very same ones Hanks had selected for his wardrobe.
Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt were temporarily blinded by the lighting in one scene
As it centres on storm activity, some pretty heavy-duty lights were used on set to simulate the weather conditions presented in the film. This proved more hazardous than expected, when both Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt were temporarily blinded by the glaring lights used. The actors were prescribed eye drops, and special filters were placed on the lights to avoid any further injuries.
Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt had to get hepatitis shots after filming the muddy scene under the bridge
In another scene, Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton get covered in thick mud under a bridge. As they were shooting on location with with practical rain and wind FX, much of the dirt was real, and some of the detritus whipped up by the wind got into the actors’ eyes. Because of the risk of infection, both Hunt and Paxton were given hepatitis shots.
Bill Paxton wanted to direct a Twister sequel
Bill Paxton later moved into directing with 2001 horror Frailty, and he hoped to direct more films – including Twister 2. Paxton explained in 2012 that he wanted to make “the Jaws version of that movie. I always felt like we did the Pepsi Lite version.” Unfortunately, Paxton was not able to drum up interest in making a Twister sequel before his untimely passing in 2017.
The prologue scene featuring young Jo was added at the last minute
Twister opens with a prologue scene showing Helen Hunt’s Jo as a child, losing her father in a tornado. This plot point was always part of the character’s backstory, there to help explain her fixation on the destructive weather phenomenon. However, it had not always been the plan for this to be established from the film’s opening scenes.
Young Jo is played by future Spy Kids actress Alexa Vega
For the role of young Jo, the filmmakers cast seven-year-old child actress Alexa Vega. After several other small roles, Vega really broke through in 2001 as Carmen Cortez in Spy Kids, a role she would reprise in three sequels. Now married and known as Alexa PenaVega, her more recent acting credits include Hallmark movie series the Picture Perfect Mysteries.
The entire camera crew quit after director Jan de Bont hit a camera operator
Director Jan de Bont was a hard taskmaster on Twister, putting intense pressure on the crew. Things reached a head when the director angrily struck a camera operator for missing a cue. In protest, director of photography Don Burgess and the entire camera crew quit the movie, complaining the director was “out of control.”
De Bont had to take over when his next director of photography was injured
When the whole camera crew walked out, production on Twister was halted for a week until cinematographer Jack N. Green and his crew took over. Unfortunately, Green also had a bad experience on the shoot: he was injured when a hydraulic set was accidentally turned on with him in it. Jan De Bont wound up doubling up as director of photography to finish the movie.
Van Halen singer Sammy Hagar left the band over the Twister theme song
Rock legends Van Halen were enlisted to record original music for the Twister soundtrack, including the film’s theme song, Humans Being. However, this track wound up being the last thing the band recorded with their second vocalist Sammy Hagar. Tensions had been building in the band for sometime, until finally clashes between Hagar and his bandmates over the song’s lyrics resulted in the singer quitting.
CGI was used to erase a moment where Philip Seymour Hoffman’s privates were visible
Twister features a scene-stealing supporting turn from Philip Seymour Hoffman as the excitable and eccentric Dusty. In one scene, Dusty – wearing loose-fitting shorts – laughs and leans back, lifting a leg. Subsequently, there was a brief moment in this scene when Hoffman’s private parts were clearly visible up the leg of his shorts. Because of this, Twister’s CGI team had to hastily augment this shot.
Real-life storm chasers paid tribute to Bill Paxton after his death
When Twister star Bill Paxton sadly passed away from a stroke in February 2017 aged just 61, among those who mourned his loss were members of the storm chaser community. Around a week after Paxton’s death, a group of over 200 storm spotters paid tribute to the late actor by arranging themselves to spell out the actor’s initials using their GPS trackers.
Helen Hunt may have been concussed after hitting her head in a driving scene
As if temporary blindness and hepatitis shots weren’t enough, Helen Hunt suffered further injury shooting Twister. One risky sequence saw Hunt’s Jo open her car door whilst driving through a cornfield – and when Hunt momentarily lost her grip on the door, it hit her in the head. Some close to the production have said that Hunt wound up with a concussion because of this accident.
Hunt didn’t take kindly to Jan De Bont suggesting the possible concussion was her own fault
When later quizzed about Helen Hunt’s on-set car accident, director Jan De Bont said, “I love Helen to death, but you know, she can be also a little bit clumsy.” Hunt wasn’t happy to hear this, responding, “Clumsy? The guy burned my retinas, but I’m clumsy.” Hunt and De Bont have not worked together again since Twister.
It had one of the most expensive screenplays ever
Hoping for another Jurassic Park-sized hit, producer Steven Spielberg enlisted Michael Crichton (author of the original Jurassic Park novel) to write the Twister screenplay. Crichton signed on to co-write the movie with his wife Anne-Marie Martin, for $2.5 million, which was one of the largest fees ever paid for a screenplay at the time.
At least three more writers worked on the script after Michael Crichton and Anne-Marie Martin
Even after Crichton (who also co-produced the film) and Martin had done their work, more time and money went into the Twister script. Once cameras were already rolling, first Joss Whedon then Steve Zaillian were hired to do uncredited rewrites, both reportedly earning $100,000 a week. Finally, during production Jeff Nathanson was brought on board for more last-minute script revisions.
The filmmakers were sued by two screenwriters who claimed they’d been plagiarised
After Twister was released, screenwriter Stephen Kessler sued, claiming he had written a screenplay called Catch the Wind years earlier which the filmmakers had ripped off. Kessler ultimately lost the case – but later another writer, Daniel Perkins, also sued, claiming his script Tornado Chasers had been ripped off. This was settled out of court, with the details of the settlement kept confidential.
Jan de Bont dropped out of Godzilla to make Twister
Before signing on to make Twister, director Jan de Bont had been attached to a somewhat different large-scale disaster movie: the first Hollywood take on the iconic Japanese monster Godzilla, for studio TriStar. This film would eventually be made by Independence Day director Roland Emmerich in 1998. Since then, Warner Bros and Legendary have rebooted the character as part of their ‘Monsterverse’ series.
Several Oklahoma TV meteorologists appear in the film as themselves
Twister was shot on location in Oklahoma, the Southern US state where the story is set. Given the film’s subject matter it was only appropriate that it feature appearances from a number of real-life local TV weather reporters. Oklahoma City meteorologists Gary England, Jeff Lazalier, Rick Mitchell and Andy Wallace all appear in the movie, playing themselves in TV and radio weather report scenes.
It was the very first film released on DVD in the US
As a big-budget blockbuster boasting an epic visual spectacle, Twister was the ideal film to introduce a brand new home entertainment medium promising an enhanced viewing experience: DVD. Twister was the very first film made commercially available on DVD in the United States, back in March 1997. Within a few years DVD, dethroned VHS as the dominant form of physical media for home entertainment worldwide.
It’s one of only five films that Jan de Bont has directed
When Twister proved an even bigger hit than Jan De Bont’s previous film Speed, it looked like he was set to join the ranks of Hollywood’s biggest blockbuster directors. Unfortunately, De Bont’s next two films – Speed 2: Cruise Control and The Haunting – were critically lambasted flops, and his reputation suffered. After 2003’s Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, De Bont never directed again.
It was the basis for an attraction at Universal Studios, Florida
In May 1998, two years after the movie was released, Twister: Ride It Out opened at the Universal Studios resort in Orlando, Florida. The indoor special effects show, filled with references to the film, gave guests a safe simulation of what tornado conditions might feel like. It ran for 19 years, until declining popularity saw it replaced with Race Through New York with Jimmy Fallon.
Two Twister soundtrack albums were released
The merchandising campaign for Twister saw not one but two soundtrack albums released on CD. Twister: Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack featured the two original Van Halen tracks – Humans Being and Respect the Wind – plus tracks by artists including Tori Amos, k.d. lang, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Shania Twain. There was also Twister: Motion Picture Score, featuring Mark Mancina’s orchestral score.
Daisy Edgar-Jones is set to appear in belated sequel Twisters
In 2020, director Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick) was linked to a new Twister movie. This didn’t happen, but the project was eventually developed into a new film entitled Twisters, which it was reported in March 2023 will be directed by Lee Isaac Chung, with Daisy Edgar-Jones in talks to star. It is currently unclear if the film will have narrative links to the original.