How Star Wars Played A Role In The Making Of Twisters

Oscar-nominated director Lee Isaac Chung is stepping into the realm of summer blockbusters with "Twisters." Hitting theaters this weekend, the film serves as a standalone sequel to Jan de Bont's 1996 smash box office hit "Twister." It's a big step up for Chung, who previously directed the low-budget "Minari," which was one of the most acclaimed movies of 2020. And while this is his feature follow-up, Chung has had some experience working in the blockbuster realm on the small screen in the "Star Wars" universe. As it turns out, that experience directly paved the way for him to land the gig directing this massive summer tentpole.

Chung recently spoke with The Hollywood Reporter in honor of "Twisters" touching down in theaters. During the conversation, the filmmaker was asked if his work on "The Mandalorian" season 3 and the upcoming "Star Wars" series "Skeleton Crew" from Jon Watts were warm-up jobs for something bigger. Chung rejected that notion, and explained that it all came down to doing what he wanted to do:

"I am a big 'Star Wars' fan. I'm a bit of a nerd with that stuff, and I love 'The Mandalorian.' I just felt like it captured Star Wars in this wonderful way. So I asked for a meeting with Jon Favreau, and we talked about 'Minari' a bit. He liked the film, and I asked him at the end: 'Hey, I'd love to do an episode if you would have me.' And he said, 'Yeah.' So I really couldn't believe that he was actually letting me do it. I even had to ask my agent: 'I think [Favreau] said I can do it, but could you double check?' (Laughs.) So that's how all of that came out."

Indeed, Favreau let Chung in on the action. The filmmaker ended up directing "The Mandalorian" season 3 episode "The Convert," which was a well-regarded homage of sorts to George Lucas' "THX 1138." Lucasfilm liked what he did with that, and brought Chung back to direct an episode of "Skeleton Crew," which is expected to arrive later this year. That's when Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy started to become a big fan of his work.

That relationship is what ultimately built the bridge to "Twisters." Kennedy is married to a key "Twisters" producer, the legendary Frank Marshall, which gave Chung an "in" as they were looking for a director to take on the project. That, coupled with his work on "Minari," was ultimately enough to win him the job. As Chung explained:

"Ashley Jay Sandberg at Kennedy/Marshall was specifically looking for a filmmaker who is from the region and could understand the sense of place. So I think that was what they were looking at. I had also worked with Kathleen Kennedy on a couple of Lucasfilm shows, and she served as a reference for what I had done for them, so that helped a lot too."

It looks like things all worked out well. The film has been receiving largely positive reviews, with /Film's Jeremy Mathai calling "Twisters" a satisfying, crowd-pleasing '90s throwback. The film stars Glen Powell ("Anyone But you"), Daisy Edgar-Jones ("Where the Crawdads Sing"), Anthony Ramos ("Transformers: Rise of the Beasts"), David Corenswet ("Pearl), and Kiernan Shipka ("Chilling Adventures of Sabrina").

"Twisters" is in theaters now.