‘Twister’ Reboot in the Works at Universal

[JamesCaruso]

Analogous to the “who was the real hero” question might be who, really, was the more attractive heroine, Helen Hunt or Jamie Gertz? Sort of a Ginger or Mary Ann question for those old enough to remember Gilligan’s Island. Sure, Hunt appealed to all of us because she was a chaser, and Gertz was the uptight one, but out of character I think it’s a different story... Unless I am thinking too much of her turn in ”Seinfeld” as the alleged sex-phone operator LOL although Kramer was right when he described her voice as “flinty”

 

[B. Dean Berry]

Dr. Melissa Reeves was a bad fit for Bill Harding, no doubt. Dr Jo Harding was a much better fit. Jamie Gertz's character had that 1990s pantsuit power broker thing going on, and the styling that came along with it. Helen Hunt's character was also a doctor, getting things done in her field, but wasn't as pretentious, and looked comfortable in what she was doing, which went a long way toward attractiveness, in addition to being a flat-out better written character.

Hunt FTW.

 

[Jeff Duda]

You know Dean has a point. Jonas got the job done.

I certainly see the point of Dean and others that Jonas was demonized in the movie to an almost comical level, and that Jonas much more closely resembles modern severe storms research (and contemporaneously, the first VORTEX project). However, I saw the competition between the rag-tag Bill/Jo team with Jonas as an illustration that science and discovery can sometimes be advanced by great brain power and determination as much as by pouring money into a venture. Both approaches have valid points. Both approaches have fallibilities, too.

However, as the story went, Jonas did not get the job done. His story draws parallels to the late Tim Samaras (except Tim was more of the rag-tag style chaser). Jonas never deployed DOT3 in a tornado and ultimately died unsafely pursuing a particularly violent tornado at much too close of range. Bill & Jo had their close calls, too, but they did manage to get an instrument pack into a tornado and got data back.

I think a modern tornado chasing story should include 1) the politics behind getting grant money to chase (Congressional lock-up leaving scraps for researchers to get money, especially in a future scenario where anthropogenic climate change happens to be causing a decadal surge in violent tornado outbreaks, especially if they occur along the Atlantic seaboard so that DC sees some personal events happening close to home); 2) interference in actual chases from hordes of regular chasers, locals, and storm chasing tourists clogging roads; 3) personal human toll from bad events (akin to Aunt Meg being hit in Wakita, except with a more brutal outcome); 4) less emphasis on the character vs. character struggle, more emphasis on character vs. nature.

A good story needs to have a good conflict and satisfying resolution. I learned about several types in school, but according to this website article, a few new types have arisen since then: Types of Conflict in Literature | External & Internal Conflict

A similar silver screen storyline trend can be found by comparing the sometimes-annoyingly campy moments from many of the Brosnan Bond movies also of the 90s (minus Goldeneye...that was a great movie IMO) and the much darker and grittier Bond movies with Daniel Craig since 2006.

 

[Jeff House]

Yes Jeff the politics part reminds me of a Mars mini-series. It is not the Mars on Nat Geo. Maybe PBS or something. At any rate the plot spends plenty of time on the politics of funding.

Another thought on Twister is about the Jamie Gertz character. She served the purpose of educating the audience. Nobody would know what the chasers are talking about, except for her questions for Bill Paxton. She's a necessary part of the movie.

 

[B. Dean Berry]

Is it strange to anyone else that with the buttoned down style and military precision of Jonas' team, they chose to have him die like that? That part seemed like bad writing.

 

[Marc R. O'Leary]

Technically, Jonas got his instrument pack into a tornado first. Unfortunately it wasnt activated and apparently full of dynamite.

 

[GPhillips]

Is it strange to anyone else that with the buttoned down style and military precision of Jonas' team, they chose to have him die like that? That part seemed like bad writing.

Yeah, but he was portrayed as arrogant and extremely competitive as well. He couldn't imagine that the ragtag group was actually trying to help him by warning him. He thought it was a trick. You can be smart and still do stupid things if emotion or ego get in the way.

 

[Joey Prom]

This is a great thread. I really hope that Universal consults with Chasers and/or meteorologists and really try to at least get the storm mechanics to closely match how we understand it working. Ie have tornados rope out instead of just vanishing, show the rfd cut, etc. I think doing either a 4/27 theme, or a Joplin theme would be good. Having a rain wrapped monster tornado that no one wants to believe is actually there could be pretty compelling.

 

[B. Dean Berry]

Why do I already know there will be a lot of the Inception foghorn sound?

NB4 You Heard It Here First - They will tie in with Chrysler again. Jo gets a yellow "Honcho package" Gladiator when?

 

[Rob Wadsworth]

Sorry to say, that I can't share all of the optimism of making another movie of this type - as some of you do.

Remember, the Hollywood scene is bent with politics first; then secondly to write your story to fit that narrative. Surely, the beauty and science of the storm may well take a distant third place in their thinking. I think the first Twister did just that tastefully enough; the beauty and relative power of the storm. Perhaps if they were more interested in the amount of hay bales that could stay suspended with a tornado, without making the poor cow a target of morbid fascination - might be a better event measure (laughs).

I want to say more about the political agenda they would want to make of it; but I'll leave that alone and leave it to your own imaginations.
But I do think that the CGI they can now give such a film as this will be at a level that would be hard to separate from reality.
That is, if they manage to take all of their cues from the chaser community and not what they can possibly cobble together in order to repackage it as a television sequel - to accomplish the same commercial ends.
eg: the Dr. Jack Ryan reboot - ugh!

 

[Jeff House]

Could be another Mandalorian. Coming behind a paywall near you!

 

[Warren Faidley]

What usually happens when one studio or production company announces a remake, others start looking over treatments and ideas for similar "sniper" projects. This happened during Twister when two other studios and a couple of well-known producers explored separate projects. I would not be surprised if a "paywall" production was rushed through in advance of Twister II.

 

[Bill Hark]

Here is a more recent article on the subject. No new info but an interview with the old director. There are several versions of the interview floating around the internet. Link below:

Jan de Bont

 

[B. Dean Berry]

What usually happens when one studio or production company announces a remake, others start looking over treatments and ideas for similar "sniper" projects. This happened during Twister when two other studios and a couple of well-known producers explored separate projects. I would not be surprised if a "paywall" production was rushed through in advance of Twister II.

What was the horrible off-brands for Twister? Night of the Twisters and Tornado! I believe.

Funny thing about Night of the Twisters - that was a PaxTV exclusive and then aired on TFC, so even though it was a knockoff, Bill Paxton still got paid!

 

[Warren Faidley]

The new Twister will likely be >50% CGI. Given computer generated, motion picture advancements since 1996, a lot of the scenes could be produced w/o a Wakita type setting while allowing social distancing.