Glen Powell is no stranger to an insane stunt in the name of work.
The Top Gun: Maverick star has flown through canyons in an inverted F-18, endured gruelling military training and hung from a helicopter over Sydney Harbour.
So a massive storm sequence in his latest flick Twisters, a scene he describes as one of the most incredible action sequences of all time, should be a walk in the park, right?
But for the Texan born actor, who grew up in Tornado Alley, there was a hint of reality in the eye of the monster storm.
“Growing up in Texas, Twister is an iconic movie that kind of felt like it embodied such a big part of growing up in Tornado Alley, around people that actually experienced this thing,” Powell told STM.
“But I think the more I’ve travelled, I’ve realised . . . how much the original really means to so many people, and how it’s just a universal experience that’s really about who we are in the face of danger, and how we pick up after each other in the wake of disaster.”
Twisters, also starring Normal People’s Daisy Edgar-Jones and Hamilton’s Anthony Ramos, is the long-awaited sequel to 1996 global box office hit Twister.
Powell, also no stranger to playing a cocky leading man with an ego the size of his abs, stays true to character as a self-styled tornado wrangler Tyler, who chases storms to get views on his YouTube channel.
Twisters features six fear-inducing tornado sequences, each putting its actors through their paces with varying levels of death and destruction.
“Every tornado (in the film) is its own sort of monster, and, in an interesting way, none of them feel uniform, they’re all singular, they’re all different, and each sort of embodies their own threat,” Powell said.
The film has been met with mixed reviews, The West Australian film critic Ben O’Shea gave it three out of five stars: “Luckily, Powell steals the show, and provides the sort of performance every popcorn movie needs,” O’Shea wrote.
Read the full story in STM