Helen Hunt Says Studio Rejected ‘Twister’ Sequel Idea with ‘All Black and Brown Storm Chasers’

Ryan Lattanzio
·2 min read
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Helen Hunt celebrated the 25th anniversary of Jan de Bont’s massive 1996 disaster blockbuster “Twister” by revealing a sequel she pitched that never got made.

During a recent episode of “Watch What Happens Live” hosted by Andy Cohen, Hunt said she showed interest in directing a sequel in June of 2020, right around the time a reboot was announced as in the works at Universal Pictures. (Via Insider.)

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Hunt, who currently stars on the upcoming Starz series “Blindspotting,” said she wanted to make a film with a multiracial cast, but that an unnamed studio rejected the idea.

“I tried to get it made,” the “Mad About You” star told Cohen. “With Daveed [Diggs] and Rafael [Casal] and me writing it, and all Black and brown storm chasers, and they wouldn’t do it. I was going to direct it.”

Diggs and Casal serve as writers and executive producers on “Blindspotting,” a spinoff of Carlos López Estrada’s 2018 film in which Diggs and Casal also starred and served as screenwriters.

Hunt, an Oscar winner for Best Actress for 1997’s “As Good As It Gets,” starred in the original 1996 film “Twister” opposite Bill Paxton. The movie was a major worldwide success, collecting just under $495 million at the global box office.

“We could barely get a meeting, and this is in June of 2020 when it was all about diversity,” Hunt said. “It would have been so cool.”

While the status of the “Twister” reboot remains up in the air, “Oblivion” and “Top Gun: Maverick” filmmaker Joseph Kosinski was originally attached as director when Hunt presented her own idea.

Hunt said whether or not she will reprise her role as Dr. Jo Harding remains to be seen, though she’d love to play “the elder, tired, haggard” Harding in a cameo appearance. When “Watch What Happens Live” host Andy Cohen suggested she die in a tornado in the opening scene, she said, “That’s for sure what I would do.”

A Hunt-directed sequel with a diverse cast already has the support of some fans, including “Cruella” star Paul Walter Hauser, who tweeted, “Make. This. Movie.”

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