Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones were pelted with “dirt, wind and ice” filming Twisters in Oklahoma during tornado season.

Director Lee Isaac Chung revealed to Empire magazine that he was keen to use practical effects as much as possible while filming his upcoming tornado movie, in which the stars play storm chasers.

“This is an elemental story, so I wanted us to go as practical as possible,” the Minari filmmaker shared. “We really tore things up. We had jet engines blowing. We had fans so massive you’d lose your hearing without earplugs. We were pelting our cast with everything – dirt, wind, ice.”

Going one step further in his quest for authenticity, Chung opted to shoot his movie in rural Oklahoma during actual tornado season, a decision that made for a challenging production.

“It was tough,” he reflected. “The unpredictability of the weather caused a lot of issues and delays. It was my choice to do this in tornado season, but honestly, I still can’t believe we actually did it.”

Elsewhere in the interview, the Top Gun: Maverick actor told the publication that Twisters honours the 1996 film Twister but “stands on its own merits”.

“They were flying drones really close to real tornados,” Powell gushed. “Audiences won’t have seen anything like this… We knocked this movie out of the park!”

Twisters follows the storm chasers as they risk their lives in an attempt to test an experimental weather alert system.

The film, also starring Anthony Ramos, Daryl McCormack and Kiernan Shipka, will be released in cinemas in July.

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