Helen Hunt Says Her Multiracial ‘Twister’ Sequel Idea Was Rejected in 2020

“Mad About You” star reveals hopes for Black and brown storm chasers

Twister Sequel
Universal

On the 25th anniversary of the film, “Twister” star Helen Hunt disclosed that she had pitched a follow-up film featuring a multiracial cast  — an idea that was subsequently shot down by an unnamed studio.

Joining Andy Cohen and Julianne Moore on “Watch What Happens Live,” Hunt elaborated that she hoped to direct and co-write the film, but the studio rejected her pitch. 

“I tried to get it made with Daveed [Diggs] and Rafael [Casal] and me writing it, and all Black and brown storm chasers, and they wouldn’t do it,” Hunt said of the potential sequel to the film co-produced by Warner Bros. (which released the film domestically) and Universal (which handled most overseas distribution). “I was going to direct it.”

Diggs and Casal are the creators and writers of “Blindspotting,” a Starz series starring Hunt which premiered Sunday. In the spinoff to the 2018 film, Hunt plays Rainey, the mother of Miles, played by Casal.

Hunt starred in the original 1996 blockbuster alongside the late Bill Paxton, who died in 2017. The original “Twister” starred Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt as two advanced storm chasers in Oklahoma who are on the brink of divorce but must work together to create a weather alert system and can only do so by putting themselves in the way of violent and deadly tornadoes.

This interview marks just a year after the news that a “Twister” remake was in development at Universal Studios. At the time, “Top Gun: Maverick” director Joseph Kosinski was reportedly in talks to direct the reboot and Frank Marshall would produce the film. In late June 2020, the film was seeking a screenwriter.

Hunt revealed the team’s inability to get a meeting in June 2020 —  a timeline that aligns with the remake’s development at Universal.

She explained her shock that the team “could barely get a meeting” in the height of the racial reckoning in summer 2020, stating, “this was in June of 2020, when it was all about diversity.”

She elaborated that the trio had plans for the film to incorporate an HBCU near where they envisioned the film could take place in Nashville.

Watch the full interview here.

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