They also have DOROTHY, their version of TOTO(and acronym for the TOtable Tornado Observatory, a very real piece of equipment used by scientists to measure wind speeds in a tornado. Unfortunately, a TOTO was never deployed in the path of a tornado, in spite of their best guesses. DOROTHY I and II (in the hands of rival fictional Oklahoma colleges) ejects hundreds of pingpong-ball-sized transmitters which glow inside the tornado. The script creates good personal conflicts with many excellent set-ups for the special effects. It is going to be a wild ride! Storm chasers and viewers of TVC I, II, and III are going to have a hard time with some terminology: "increase the P.R.F.," "suck zone," "thirty miles up the dry line," "Have we got a D-O-4 on this?" "the jet max is stable," "possible sidewinder," "distinct W-bend" and "we got a jumper here." Oh well! These are terms that do not exist in the real world of storm chasing. But this problem will be lost on 99% of the audience, and some real terms are used perfectly. But, NSSL doesn't issue warnings !!!!
The story of Twister actually began 1991, when the town of Wakita, Oklahoma applied for a demolition renewal grant from the state. There were many old and abandoned buildings (unoccupied for about 15 years) in the downtown area. The application was denied.
In November, 1993 shortly after completing TVC-II, an order for TVC-I and II arrived from Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, the first of several sets they would order....one of which would eventually end up at Industrial Light and Magic. Soon after, an order for the video set came from Michael Crichton's office (Constant-C Productions) and we knew something big was going on.
In the meantime, the Oklahoma Film Commission put Amblin and Universal Studios (and eventually Warner Brothers) in touch with Wakita ..... a match made in heaven.
It wasn't until February, 1995 that details started to fall into place. At that time we received phone calls from Producer Ian Bryce, special effects designer John Frazier, and set design researcher Carla Nemec. They were looking for names of people to contact for technical advice, chase vehicle design, video of large hail, damage photographs, and a copy of Significant Tornadoes. We learned that the budget was about $30,000,000, with no big budget name stars. Jan De Bont had been hired as director and Steven Spielberg would be executive producer, with close hands-on ties with the entire production. It was obvious that this was a very serious effort, certainly the ultimate tornado movie and on a scale with Jurassic Park. Jan De Bont was the director of the action-packed Speed and the cinematographer for such films as Die Hard, Lethal Weapon 3, and The Hunt for Red October. He has a great eye for action and is very demanding. That eye for detail and quality should be right up there on the screen.
Location scouting by helicopter, automobile, and interview began in earnest. After one conversation with Ian Bryce (who wanted storm clouds in June), I phoned storm-chasers Dave Hoadley and Jim Leonard, as well as El Nino experts at the Climate Analysis Center. All expected the same thing, a high pressure ridge would build (without a lot of clouds) over the Great Plains and that the best chasing might be at the west edge of Tornado Alley in the Texas Panhandle. That forecast proved to be right on the money. The production was plagued by a lack of clouds and the best tornado photography was in the Texas Panhandle June 2nd to June 8th. The high pressure ridge built on June 9th, and cut off chase season.
At that time, I suggested Tim Marshall as the most likely person for technical advisor, along with Chuck Robertson, Bob Prentice, Gene Rhoden, Jon Davies, and Marty Feely ...all for different reasons of availability, forecasting expertise, knowledge of the entire Great Plains... etc. As it turned out, they wanted a professional meteorologist who could devote three to four months of 18-hour days to the project. Tim was already working full time as an engineer, Bob was teaching at the NWS NEXRAD school in Norman, and Jon was starting an entirely new career. However, Vince Miller(formerly of The Weather Channel) had just finished up at KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City. With a storm forecasting specialist available, the choice was obvious. The three-month-long shooting schedule would take place in and around three Oklahoma towns: Wakita, Pauls Valley and Guthrie. Newspapers reported that as many as 600 people would work on the film.
The studio rented 250 rooms in Enid and 570 in Ponca City. On April 7th a casting call at Ponca City brought out hundreds of people who wanted to be extras. They got a Polaroid taken, an interview, and the familiar words "Don't call us, we'll call you." At 5:00 PM, when the doors closed at the Ponca City Chamber of Commerce, there were still 50 people outside in line. There were two other casting calls, one in Pauls Valley, the other in Oklahoma City.
One official press release said that Twister is about two groups of scientists tracking the massive destructive power of multiple tornadoes in the biggest storm to hit Oklahoma in 50 years. Another press release noted that "two teams of scientists are tracking the awesome power of tornadoes as their own stormy lives, ambitions, and personal relations converge around them." I wonder if the publicity department realized how appropriate the word "converge" was.
Newspapers report that "Twister, a big budget Hollywood film, is expected to carve a 70-mile strip of economic activity from the Kansas state line to Pauls Valley."
The cast and crew sent money and equipment to help with the Oklahoma bombing rescue effort. Ponca City had a "meet the stars and crew" benefit, with proceeds going to an Oklahoma City bombing relief fund. Several members of the Twister crew personally brought cash and supplies to the bombing site.
Mother's Day plants were in short supply as the entire stock of some nurseries were bought out for set decoration. Construction proceeded at a hectic pace at all sites in Oklahoma, while location scouting continued in Iowa. Truck loads of wrecked cars were being hauled to the edge of Wakita.
Wakita itself was turned into a quaint, post-card community. Facades, new buildings, and businesses and shops were under construction. The post office and several other buildings got second floors .... but those wouldn't be there for very long. Five major buildings on Main Street, and about 30 other buildings would soon be destroyed.
In newspapers, Wakita residents reminisced about the old days and about the landmark "Loop House" where Jo (Helen Hunt) comes home to visit her aunt. This key house is dead center in the path of a tornado, of course.
As with any film, problems abound ... too few cloudy days, the wheat harvest traffic had to be rerouted, too many tourists. Most people were very happy about having their yards planted, garages painted, and lawns mowed. Some were paid "a tidy sum" for the choreographed destruction of the home. A steel frame work surrounded some houses, and debris build on top of the framework. Others complained about the near-immobilization of the town.
Business in the Wakita-Enid-Ponca City area was booming. One dealership sold six pickup trucks to Twister one morning. Other people sold t-shirts, hardware, anything and everything needed to create the ultimate tornado motion picture. There was talk of a Twister museum for Wakita. It would be a tourist attraction like the Rosemond bridge in The Bridges of Madison County and the Field of Dreams baseball field. T-shirts included "I was an extra in Twister but my part got cut" and "I survived the making of Twister."
On June 7th, Warner Brothers closed the set to both tourists and the media as two jet engines begin to roar, fires burn, and camera-loaded helicopters hovered in the brightly-lit night. Vince Miller reports that jets engines can really make a tree sway in the wind. Security was easier for law enforcement in Wakita because the town is at the end of a road, rather than at a crossroads.
Cary Elwes, who played Jonas and has starred in The Princess Bride, Robin Hood--Men In Tights, and The Jungle Book became the cast member most bitten by the tornado bug. He orders both TVC videos and Significant Tornadoes. It will be interesting to see if that real interest comes across in the part.
Smrcka's Restaurant in Medford started serving the Twister sandwich in honor of Mariann Smrcka's chicken-wrangling experiences in the movie. The sandwich has a funnel-shaped piece of fried chicken breast on a bun. She was asked to bring about 30 chickens to a filming site west of 11-A on Crooked Fork. Filming began at 11:30 AM and ended at 2:00 AM. The chickens were put out near the "fraidy hole" storm cellar. (This might have been for the opening scene of the movie... watch for the birds when Jo, as a six-year-old child, heads for the storm cellar with her parents. The fans blew, the jet engines roared, and lightning flashed as the family ran through the flock of chickens (take... after take... after take) to the storm cellar. The dog, chased by "Strutter," the rooster, also made it to the shelter. It was a long day, but the chickens were safely rounded up.
Filming in Wakita ended in late June. The jet engines and helicopters were finally quiet and residents could finally sleep. Clean-up took about a month. The aftermath scenes probably was reminiscent of Gone with the Wind after the burning of Atlanta... fires... destitute people... etc.
Most of the debris ended up in an Enid or Tonkawa land fill. But a pile of bricks remained. Those bricks were engraved Twister Wakita 95 and sold by the town's beautification committee. See the address at end of this document.
By early July, the buildings at 5th and Vilas started to take shape -- work on the "Rocket" hamburger stand, the drive-in theatre, motel, and gas station took all month. They would all be destroyed in August. At the drive-in was a triple feature ...a night of horrors...Psycho....The Shining... and The Town That Dreaded Sundown. Little did they know how horrible it would really get.
While Twister crews were still preparing sets, some streets in Guthrie were closed for the filming of The Bloody Barkers.
After filming at Wakita, it was time for chasing and other location scenes in the Pauls Valley area. Security was tight. Even mail deliveries were delayed and local traffic had to make a seven-mile detour around the filming sites. Shooting lasted about 10 days.
West of Maysville, one reporter counted about 200 people working on the set for one 16-hour day. Part of the action was around the Blue Tulip restaurant, serving the best pies in Oklahoma It was on Hwy 19, but exists only in the movie.
On July 7th, USA TODAY featured an article on "Bill Paxton in a Whirlwind"... the first national article on the movie.
The ladies in Wakita absolutely loved this man... pictures of him are in many family albums and on the walls of a number of shops. He posed freely with local residents. Bill was the Apollo 13 astronaut who got sick. In True Lies, he was the car salesman that tried to seduce Jamie Lee Curtis. In Aliens he was the gonzo soldier who couldn't wait to start shooting. Bill was also in Tombstone and Predator 2. He says his performance in One False Move was what got him the lead in Twister. Boots and jeans fit him (figuratively) very well. Not all the stars embraced the locals.
After Pauls Valley, it was on to Iowa. The Oklahoma crops had matured faster than the story could be filmed and scene continuity required that they move north. Filming centered in and around Hardin County (south of Eldora) and Story County (near Ames).
Notable scenes filmed in Iowa were a picket fence segment in which the pickets go flying off one by one, in a row. There were spectacular fields of sunflowers, planted just for the movie. In search of even more sunflowers, camera crews headed for South Dakota.
The most spectacular scene filmed in Iowa was the explosion of a tanker truck. Extra film crews were brought in from Chicago for two spectacular takes with 11 cameras. Some of the experienced camera people noted to Vince Miller that the Twister stunt crew were doing some of the most spectacular stunt work they had ever seen.
The town of "Newkirk" at 5th and Vilas in Guthrie was completed and destroyed in several nights of shooting.
The last outdoor Oklahoma location scenes were filmed in Norman, at a large parking lot within sight of the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL). I believe the scene was of a chase vehicle driving through the second floor of a house that was tipped on its roof and blown onto the road. In March or April 1996, the Wakita Fire Department's fire truck was loaded onto a flatbed trailer and trucked to Hollywood to be used in one more scene.
Then it was back to Hollywood for an indoor re-creation of NSSL, which I am told will have the Tornado Project posters and Significant Tornadoes book somewhere in the set.
Indoors, at a Norman airplane hanger, they recreated the aunt's house in Wakita. The house was on hydraulic lifts with every basement cob web in perfect position.
Further north, Ponca City realized that its 3% rooms and meals tax bonanza was not going to be as great as expected. Twister personnel technically became residents after 30 days, and the tax no longer applied.
Moyer Car Sales in Ponca City had a "cars used by the stars" promotion. This "good buy to Twister" sale was on cars rented to the Twister crew.
My personal visit to Wakita was in September, while in Oklahoma gathering VORTEX film footage for TVC-III. I purchased a Twister brick, took the walking tour, and looked at the before-and-after pictures.
I just missed the 73rd Annual Cherokee Strip celebration in Wakita with Twister as the theme of the parade.
A September 15th article in the Wall Street Journal featured computer animation pioneer Dennis Muren. He outlined the history of difficult computer animation challenges during his career .... each one pushing the envelope a little further. His list of eight truly pioneering movies included some unlikely titles:
Young Sherlock Holmes, Howard the Duck, Willow, The Abyss (the moment you saw the great water creature, you knew a breakthrough had been made), Terminator II, Jurassic Park, Casper, and now Twister. The challenge of Twister was making reality. Walking windows, ghosts, a duck puppet without strings, fairies, an alien made of water, a morphing policeman, ghosts, and dinosaurs are not exactly reality.
In December, Twister posters began to appear in theatre lobbies and the remaining production problems were in the hands of Industrial Light and Magic.
To order an official engraved Twister brick send $32.00 ($25.00 postage and $7.00 shipping) to:
Beautification Committee
c/o Linda Wade
First Bank of Hennessey
101 South Locust
Wakita, OK 73771
(allow 6 weeks for delivery)
To order a commemorative issue of the Wakita Herald with 44 pictures (it looks like minimal F4 to me) send $5:00 to: Wakita Herald, Wakita, OK 73771
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