DISASTER struck several communities as a tornado decimated the homes of the characters from Jan de Pont’s 1996 movie Twister.
Audiences are interested in learning more about Twister and its filming locations, thanks to a cast that includes Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton.
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Where was Twister film?
Principal photography began in May 1995 for Twister, a disaster film about a man who lost his life. It was completed months later, in September 1995.
The cast and crew travelled to many different locations during these months in order to complete the motion picture’s production schedule.
Filming was scheduled to start a month earlier, in April. However, the project experienced a series of setbacks.
Jan de Pont reflected on the steps required to make the movie. VULTURE: “We weren’t sure at the time if we could even make the movie, because of the difficulty of the effects.
“It was a lengthy process, both the hardware as well as the software needed to be designed for the movie.
“It was like two steps forward and one step backward, but it was exciting.”
The director shared the following: “One scene we did as an experiment, to see if it was possible to make it believable, is the opening with the farm and the family moving into the shelter.
“The studio personnel were completely stunned by how efficient it was.
“That ultimately decided whether the movie was made. Nothing else. Not the script.”
Twister was approved for production in Oklahoma and Iowa.
Oklahoma was home to the following production locations:
- Ponca City
- Guthrie
- Wakita
- Norman
- Pauls Valley
- Maysville
- Waurika
- Kaw City
- Fairfax
- Carney
- Ralston
- Pilot Mound
- Dayton
- Stillwater
The crew and cast shot scenes in Iowa while they were there.
- Ames
- Boone
- Eldora
- Whitten
- Rippey
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Additional scenes were also shot in Burbank, California at Warner Bros Studios and the Canadian towns of Bolton & Schomberg.
Where is Twister set?!
Although filming was done in several areas of Oklahoma, the screenplay was only written in one of these towns.
Twister uses a fictional Wakita as its hometown.
Coincidentally, the producers did not consider scouting Wakita until they were made aware of the presence of leftover debris from a major hailstorm that occurred in June 1993.
To add to Du Pont’s vision for Wakita, other principalities were established in Oklahoma and Iowa.
How do I watch Twister online?
Twister was released in theaters all over the world on May 10, 1996.
The movie grossed more than $495million in box office.
The original release was years ago. Viewers can now stream Hulu and Amazon Prime Video for many years.
Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment announced in June 2020 that they are working on a sequel.