Minari’s Lee Isaac Chung to direct that Twister sequel

In October, Amblin Entertainment gave a green light to Twisters, a decades-later sequel to the classic Helen Hunt/Bill Paxton weather movie Twister, after Steven Spielberg reportedly “flipped” for the script written by The Revenant’s Mark L. Smith. And if Steven freakin’ Spielberg going wild for the script isn’t enough of an indication that Amblin is really hyped on this project, the studio (plus Universal Pictures and Warner Bros., which are both involved) wants Oscar-nominated Minari director Lee Isaac Chung to helm project. Also: They’re trying to lock down Chung before committing to anyone in the cast, which means they went to him before they went to Helen Hunt.

This comes from Deadline, which says Chung is still in negotiations, but apparently “no talent” are even “in talks” yet, because that’s how important it is for the studios to get Chung—and why wouldn’t it be? Minari, his touching family drama that earned a bunch of Oscar nominations, was one of the most well-received movies of 2020, and this would be his first time making a big-budget genre-ish movie (is “tornado attack” a genre?) in a time when decades-later sequels tend to do good business. Deadline also notes that, growing up in rural Arkansas, Chung has actual real-life experience hiding out in a shelter during a tornado, which apparently helped make his case.

The pitch for Twisters involves the daughter of Hunt and Paxton’s characters from the first movie getting into the storm-chaser game, which will presumably lead to a lot of drama if Hunt does sign on. She probably wouldn’t want her daughter chasing storms and feuding with snooty high-tech storm jerks like she did! Speaking of, Paxton and co-star Philip Seymour Hoffman have since died, which limits how much of the central cast can return, but it would be an absolute blast if Cary Elwes came back. He definitely died in the original movie, but… what if he didn’t? Maybe he was just horribly injured and now he’s a tornado-hating villain? Hey, Lee Isaac Chung: Give us a call. We have ideas.