[Movie Ticket Giveaway] 6 Storms That Will Sweep Across the Big Screen in July in “Death Spiral”

Six Tornado Scenes Throughout the Film

Throughout the film, viewers will encounter six stunning tornado scenes; moreover, the crew had to create ten different tornadoes. According to the production team, there will be tornadoes that rotate, as well as those with a continuous swirling pattern capable of leveling everything in their path.

With each tornado scene in mind, the director Lee Isaac Chung aimed to create unique settings, each with distinct characters and “personalities” to contribute to the narrative development, while also exploring the transformation of each character following their experiences with the raw power of nature.

At the film’s opening, audiences will join characters as they experience the first tornado, alongside the haunting ghost of the main character, Kate (played by Daisy Edgar-Jones), who has lingered for many years. This tornado is noted as the most powerful, classified as an EF-5 by Fujita Scale, with wind speeds exceeding 200 miles per hour, described as “a monstrous beast” both in meaning and in imagery.

The tornadoes in the film are depicted in various categories of strength and form, presenting different shapes and natural phenomena that will leave viewers in awe and feeling small before the immense power of nature.

From tornadoes rated EF-1 (with wind speeds of 65 – 85 miles per hour) to those that wreak havoc at EF-5 (with wind speeds of 200 miles per hour), all will be showcased on screen by the dedicated team led by director Lee Isaac Chung. Notably, we cannot overlook Patrick Sullivan and Ben Snow – the production designer and visual effects supervisor, respectively, who previously worked on the Oscar-nominated film Twister in 1996.

Purchasing Aircraft to Create Tornadoes, with Realistic Conditions

According to the crew’s breakdown, all tornado scenes in the film were inspired by at least one real-life tornado that occurred in history. The final tornado depicted in the film is described as “a combination of all the tornadoes that have occurred before, from a small tornado that developed into an EF-5 rated tornado with devastating power, originating from a massive supercell that created many tornadoes at the same time.”

To differentiate the final tornado, the team utilized data from three tornadoes that had occurred recently: the tornado that swept through Kansas in 2023, the tornado that struck El Reno in 2013 and developed into a violent tornado with wind speeds reaching 306 miles per hour, and the tornado that occurred in Mayfield, Kentucky, in December 2021, which claimed 76 lives.

To depict the devastation following tornadoes, the film’s crew referenced a photograph capturing the wreckage in a devastated area following the Mayfield tornado. “There’s a very poignant image captured from within a devastated area in Mayfield, documenting the aftermath of the tornado,” director Lee Isaac Chung stated. “This image has become a symbolic representation throughout the filmmaking process. We hope this film will honor all the meanings and emotions of that iconic image.”

Notably, the film’s post-production treatment of visual effects is particularly related to weather conditions, with Scott R. Fisher – the Oscar-winning visual effects supervisor known for his contributions to “Interstellar” and “Tenet” directed by Christopher Nolan.

He shared that to create the tornado effects in Twisters, the team gathered an impressive array of wind machines at Hollywood, while also acquiring two additional aircraft specifically to create wind effects for the “tornado” scenes in the film.

Additionally, to create realistic rain effects as if it were pouring down in the film, the team used around 15 tons of real water, alongside a special type of polyacrylamide material to minimize risks for the actors. According to actor Anthony Ramos, “The scale of the set was as tangible as the tornadoes – the realism created a true environment for the actors.”

TWISTERS – Vietnamese title: LỘC XOÁY TỪ THẦN – is set to premiere on December 7, 2024, in various formats including 2D, IMAX 2D, ScreenX, and 4DX.