00:00Peter Gray from the AU Review in Australia. Hello, Isaac.
00:03Yeah, hey, thanks for doing this.
00:05No worries, thank you so much.
00:07Congratulations on Twisters, first of all.
00:10I was someone who grew up with the original.
00:13I was probably 10 or 11 when I saw it in cinemas,
00:17and I feel like we've heard about a sequel for so long.
00:21And when it was announced that you were director,
00:23obviously people kind of thought maybe it's a bit odd because after Minari,
00:27but you've directed episodes of The Mandalorian and The Skeleton Crew,
00:31so it probably feels more natural than we expect.
00:34But was part of the appeal sort of taking this film on because it's not what
00:39people would have expected from you?
00:41Yeah, I guess I don't worry too much about that public perception.
00:45I think people might find it odd.
00:48In fact, when I was working on Skeleton Crew,
00:51I was telling Jon Favreau that I really wanted to do Twisters,
00:56and he was giving me advice on it, and at the end of the advice he said,
01:00you know, people might think it's odd.
01:02And that threw me for a loop.
01:05I didn't know that.
01:06And then now I realize, okay, yeah, people do find it a little odd.
01:10But I was just chasing after what I wanted to do personally,
01:14the things that interest me,
01:15the things that I feel would be really challenging for me,
01:19the things that scare me even.
01:22So this was for me a thrilling choice, and I wanted to chase that thrill.
01:27The importance of how we, like,
01:31treat the earth is sort of one of these things that, like,
01:33disaster films like to push.
01:35But what I really loved about Twisters was that it never felt
01:38like a message movie.
01:40Like, how was it for you to sort of balance the entertainment
01:43with the environmental message?
01:47Well, I honestly felt like this has to be a summer popcorn blockbuster.
01:52Yeah.
01:53That I loved going to when I was a kid,
01:55and I didn't like when anyone preached to me as a kid.
01:58So that's kind of what was in my mind.
02:02And I just wanted to treat climate change and all those things the way
02:07that the characters would look at it.
02:09So that was my baseline of what I thought I would do with this,
02:14and not try to, like, drive home a message,
02:16but just present things as reality and let the characters play
02:20within that space.
02:22And Minari and this, like,
02:24the cinematography beautiful with the landscapes, like,
02:28was that also part of the importance in, like,
02:32showing our relationship with nature through these, like,
02:36really, really beautiful, like,
02:37showcases of land of, like, what we're at risk of losing?
02:41Like, was that part of the look of this film?
02:44Because, like, knowing that this was filmed, like,
02:47on location just makes it just adds, like, so much more to it.
02:51Yeah.
02:52God, I love that question.
02:54Just the way that you framed it was exactly what I would say to people
02:58on the crew all the time.
02:59I'd say we're always wanting to portray the things that we are at risk
03:04of losing and to portray those things with great beauty.
03:07Yeah.
03:09Absolutely.
03:10Filming in Oklahoma was a priority for me.
03:13We looked at other locations even, but I said,
03:16I'd love to go back to Oklahoma where I filmed Minari and to get on the
03:21red dirt roads, get out on the pastures and the fields and shoot it on film.
03:26So all of these things were very much part of the artistic decisions behind
03:32how to present this place.
03:35Yeah.
03:36You can tell that it has been filmed on film because it just has this look
03:42that, like, it brought me back to the original when I was watching it
03:45because, obviously, apart from, you know, the special effects we see,
03:49you can just tell, like, the background's real and that's just, like,
03:53so important in this day and age of filmmaking.
03:56And then as you're talking about what you were talking about on set,
03:59like, you've got this cast.
04:02And, like, like the original, it's just, like, obviously,
04:06Glenn Powell, Daisy Edgar James, Anthony Ramos.
04:08But then you have, you know, Moratini and Katie O'Brien,
04:12and you have all of these, like, little bit players,
04:15but they're just as important as everybody else.
04:17Like, how was it for you to sort of have this cast at your disposal and
04:22realise, like, no actor is small, so to speak?
04:26Like, everybody here has their own personality and their own character,
04:29and, like, that's so important in a film like this,
04:31when we care about these people.
04:33Yeah, it was such a luxury to work with this cast.
04:38I mean, this cast is incredible.
04:41And there were so many scenes where I just wanted each person
04:46individually to add something, do something, just create,
04:50let yourself feel free, and they brought it all the time.
04:56So this cast was incredible.
04:58And what I felt with that first film was that when I watched it,
05:02I just wanted to be friends with all those people.
05:04Yes.
05:05And watch those tornadoes with them and hang out with them,
05:08and you could feel that friendship within that film.
05:11So with this one, I wanted that to come through,
05:14and all the actors knew that that was important,
05:17and they hung out a lot in Oklahoma together.
05:20They were together all the time.
05:22And we just got along like a family,
05:25and I'm hoping that that spirit kind of comes through in this movie
05:28and that people will feel it.
05:31Oh, absolutely, it came through.
05:32Like, that was one of the things when I was watching it,
05:34I'm like, I want to chase tornadoes with these people as much,
05:37as crazy as that is.
05:38So, no, thank you so much for just, yeah, bringing a blockbuster that,
05:43like, this is the reason why we go to cinemas.
05:45So thank you so much.
05:47That's very cool.
05:48Thank you so much.
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