Original Twister director says he wasn't consulted about upcoming sequel

Jan de Bont, who delivered one of the '90's quintessential blockbusters as the director of 1996's Twister, revealed that he hasn't been contacted or consulted about the film's upcoming sequel, Twisters.

The director, who also helmed '90s classic Speed, doesn't sound too miffed about it in a new interview with Inverse, but he nevertheless asserted that the film "cannot be remade" in today's Hollywood.

Twisters was announced last year with Minari director Lee Isaac Chung at the helm. The sequel is said to take place after the events of the first film, which starred Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt as soon-to-be-divorced storm chasers. Because of technological advances, de Bont believes that the film wouldn't be made the same way now. "When things fell from the sky, there were real things falling from a helicopter," he told Inverse. "If you film a car escaping a tornado in a hail storm, it was real ice that came at us. It's a movie that cannot be remade... That would never, ever happen again."

The filmmaker is optimistic about Chung as a director, noting that he enjoyed Minari, but said that he'd "have somebody else see [Twisters]" before he'd buy a ticket. He also expressed skepticism about the trend of indie directors getting scooped up to handle major studio tentpoles and sequels. "Don't forget that the main reason they're finding younger, inexperienced people is they want to be able to fully control them," he said.

Twisters is slated to be released in 2024.

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