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Twisters is a box office hit, and audiences are turning out to watch the all-star cast chase tornadoes in rural Oklahoma. A big disaster action film is enough to reel in an audience, but the special effects and cinematography aren’t the only reasons why Twisters’ cinemas are sold out. Glen Powell is having a moment right now, and after leading Anyone But You last year, the 35-year-old actor has become one of Hollywood’s premiere heartthrobs. Of course, the scene in Twisters where he wears a thin white T-shirt in the pouring rain felt like an inevitable way to broaden their audience, but apparently, the sexy factor wasn’t the reason for the moment.
Collider recently caught up with director Lee Isaac Chung and asked him about the visual choices made in the film and the energy he tried to capture in Twisters. The outlet also asked him about the now viral scene of Powell in a wet, white T-shirt, which has found its way into many TikTok compilations. It’s a pretty steamy scene, but apparently, this wasn’t the intention behind the outfit choice or the rain.
Chung explained he initially thought it was just a great way to convey emotion and tone, but the women behind the scenes quickly realized the rain was doing more than setting the mood. The filmmaker explained:
I was thinking about how rain makes things poetic, and my costume person, Eunice [Jera Lee], was like, ‘This is what he’s gonna wear.’ We turned on the rain and I thought, ‘This is gonna be a nice expressive moment,’ and he comes out, and then I was like, ‘Oh, of course.’ I was not putting two and two together until it happened, and I was seeing it on the monitor. I turned to Ashley Jay Sandberg, who’s our executive producer, and she had this smile on her face, and I just said, ‘You’re welcome.’
The scene in question shows Powell walking through the rain with his slightly too-tight shirt before he gets in the truck. It’s not quite as overt as the several shirtless scenes in Anyone But You and Powell’s magazine covers. However, for this movie in particular, it’s a slight nod to the actor’s heartthrob status without being too over-the-top.
While they were shooting the scene, the Top Gun: Maverick actor quickly realized what was going on as well, he told Variety. However, he was a good sport about it, and truly made a meal of the scene for the camera. Powell works out hard, so may as well show it off.
However, when it came down to the final edit of the film, Chung asked for that particular scene to be significantly cut down. Apparently, the female editors advocated for the entire scene to be restored for the theatrical cut. This was a smart move, especially considering a clip from the scene ended up in the Twisters trailer. Chung explained:
The funny thing is I was trying to cut down the film a bit in the edit to bring down the running time, and I entertained us cutting that scene shorter. For a day, that scene was shorter, and then Teri said to me, ‘Sorry, there’s gonna be a riot if you do not restore that footage.’ And I said, ‘From who?’ And she said, ‘The ladies.’ That’s all she said. So, I just know that in our editing office, they were all pressing on Teri to come tell me to restore the scene to what it was, so you’re welcome.
He ended up restoring it, and women everywhere can thank the editing team for looking out for them. The scene’s virality was helpful for the marketing team as well, so Chung probably isn’t regretting his decision.
It was his choice to add rain after all, and it feels like an homage to the movie star-led action flicks in the past. Jeff Goldblum opened his shirt in Jurassic Park and Brad Pitt fights shirtless in Fight Club, so this scene feels like a call back to the buzzy, muscly action stars in the movies that came before it.
You can see Glen Powell’s white T-shirt moment in Twisters by catching the movie in theaters now. Fans can also see the actor’s other sexy movie of the summer, Hit Man, by streaming it with a Netflix subscription. For more information on other films heading to cinemas and streaming this year, make sure to consult our 2024 movie schedule.