This summer, a new blockbuster spun into theaters, igniting in cinema fans not only a love for the movie itself, but an appreciation for the science and research that went on behind the silver screen
[Twisters trailer audio]
Twisters, a sequel to the 1996 film Twister (no “S”), follows scientist Kate Cooper and tornado chaser Tyler Owens, played by Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell, respectively, as they track down storms in the Oklahoma wilderness. The movie has its fair share of superstars and movie moments, but, also, according to meteorologist Harold Brooks, a sizable serving of accurate scientific information on tornadoes.
Brooks: There’s at least some hints at real research projects that are going on at the lab that are, that are in the movie. There’s some stuff, apparently in Twisters that have to do with, you know, these are actual projects that are seriously going on. The radar depictions that they show are actually depictions from real storms. And so one of the guys who was involved, who actually picked all of the radar out, said, Okay, your challenge when you watch the movie is to name the storm that that radar image is from.
Meteorologist and researcher Makenzie Krocak [PRONUNCIATION], who lives and works in central Oklahoma, said that the film’s attention to the science of tornadoes and the particularities of the Oklahoma setting was appreciated by the community of scientists that live in the area.
Krocak: The community down here, with regard to tornadoes and severe weather, is just so unique into like, even sitting in a theater, not of meteorologists. We didn’t go on the day it opened with all the rest of the weather nerds down here, but just going on a random day and listening to everyone in the crowd react and be like, Oh yeah, that’s how that works. Yeah, look at that. And it was partially filmed in Oklahoma. It’s really it was a cool thing to do.
In fact, scientists from NSSL, or the National Severe Storms Lab, and other research institutions throughout the Midwest and in tornado country had a significant impact on how the science of natural disasters like tornadoes was portrayed in the film. Brooks recalled what the director of Twisters said when he was introducing the film when it screened for an audience of meteorologists.
Brooks: he goes, and I don’t really, he says, I don’t really care very much about what the critics say. The audience I care about is the audience that’s going to be there on the Wednesday night at the Warren or regal now, in Moore (Oklahoma), if they’re okay with the movie, we’ve been successful. Yeah. So yeah. And then most of those people were really, really, really, really, really liked it
That care and attention to accuracy in the movie isn’t a new phenomenon — it actually has its roots in Twisters’ predecessor, Twister.
Krocak: To be honest, the first Twister movie fundamentally changed the field of meteorology. I mean, there were just so many more people interested in this field, and so many more people wanting to go to college and get these degrees, or even just take the intro classes. And so I really think it had a role in shaping our generation’s knowledge of weather and meteorology. And I can only hope that this Twisters movie reignites the field again, because it’s so crazy when I went to college and they would be like, Okay, say your name and your hometown, and then what got you interested in meteorology? I swear probably 60 to 70% of people said watching Twister is what made them interested in meteorology.
Brooks echoed Krocak in recalling the importance of the original Twister movie to the actual field of meteorology.
Brooks: One of the things that was relatively early, early communicated to the big shots. So was that you, you know that someone showed them the the undergraduate enrollment statistics for meteorology after Twister compared to before Twister, and basically told them, you can have an influence on on a generation of students.
Halliday Mafridge, a Medill junior, witnessed those possibilities firsthand when she took two children she was babysitting to see the movie.
Halliday Mafridge: I don’t know, the beginning sequence is really, I think well done. It, it also happens to be when the little boy, I was babysitting was kind of like describing to me what a tornado was., he was like teaching me about tornadoes.He was really excited about it and that’s so cute.
Mika Ellison (on tape): Did he learn what tornadoes were from the movie? or was it like,
Halliday Mafridge: I think he was got interested in them from the movie, which is so precious.
Twisters was a science superstar and a success at the box office – it made nearly $400 million worldwide. But Brooks says there’s one old classic that still has it beat – at least from a tornado depiction standpoint.
Brooks: Certainly up until a few years ago, the best in context tornado and best looking tornado ever done on film was Wizard of Oz in 1939. That thing looks like it belongs in the storm, and it looks, it looks like a tornado. And the and how they got that right is completely beyond me.
This focus on the depiction of these cinematic storms might seem frivolous, especially for career scientists. But Brooks says that the way twisters show up on the silver screen matters, especially for the general public’s attitude towards severe weather, and their own wellbeing.
Brooks: My concerns with any media presentation of tornadoes are, I don’t want you to do anything stupid with safety. And if you do, which apparently they at least do once in the movie, you should say that was stupid. We got really lucky, and we shouldn’t do that again.
Brooks: I get to hear, every once in a while from members of the public who want us to blow tornadoes up or do other kinds of interesting things, and I don’t really want people to try to do that, because I don’t know what’s going to happen, and there’s no reason to believe it’s going to work. Yeah, it may affect be really bad. Some of their ideas, like the atomic bomb into the tornado thing, is probably not a good idea, and and and, so that’s that.
Luckily, despite feats of daring like fireworks and the notable actual fire tornado portrayed in the film, the danger and severity of tornadoes are underlined throughout the movie. As, of course, are the leading man’s abs.
Halliday Mafridge: I, I love me some Anthony Ramos and of course, Glen Powell, you can’t not love Glen Powell.
As for Brooks, he hasn’t yet seen the movie, but nevertheless, filmmakers found a way to give him a shoutout.
Brooks: Apparently my name’s in the credits.
[music!]
For WNUR News, I’m Mika Ellison.
