I Can’t Believe ‘Twisters’ Almost Cut Its Best Scene

Lee Isaac Chung has made one of my favorite movies of the year: Twisters. It is action-packed, exciting, and a romantic comedy I didn’t know I needed! But he almost cut the best scene from the movie before his editing room yelled at him to keep it.

While you want to cheer at many great moments throughout Twisters, there is one scene that has everyone shouting: Glen Powell walking in the rain in a white shirt. The scene in question comes after Tyler Owens (Powell) goes to visit Kate (Daisy Edgar-Jones) at her mother’s house. He stays the night in the guest room, of course, and leaves the next morning in the rain.

According to Powell at a recording of Happy, Sad, Confused with Josh Horowitz, the scene came out of Chung telling him that he was just going to carry his jacket and he was going to walk to the car in the rain. Powell made a joke about how it dawned on him what was happening as they were filming and the rest is cinematic history.

Except it almost didn’t make the final cut. As part of the larger Entertainment Weekly cover story that came out prior to the film’s release, Chung talked about how his staff on the editing side of things were the ones who made sure we got to see the rain scene in all its glory. I owe you all my life, whoever you are. You heroes.

“I almost trimmed that shot,” Chung told the outlet (the quote was cut from the original publishing of the interview). “But the funny thing is there were people on my editing staff who told me, ‘You cannot trim that scene.’ They almost rioted.”

Sir, what were you thinking in that moment!?

If you feel it …

I am sure that there are people who do not understand the significance of this scene and think it doesn’t fit but let me explain: This is a romantic comedy. Whether it be the scene where Kate says “she’s gorgeous” about a tornado and Tyler turns around to LOOK AT HER or just how their relationship plays out into the final moments of the film, it has these rom-com beats that really make both Tyler and Kate pop.

Chung talked with /Film about his influences for the romantic elements of this movie, saying, “I was looking at a lot of screwball stuff like Howard Hawks and seeing the way—Capra as well—looking at the way they would tell their stories of various characters and their relationships changing, ultimately to come to the ending that happens in this movie. I kind of give a nod to the rom-com with the airport and that’s all intentional, just to let the ending have a cheeky sort of nod to that genre.”

You might be wondering why all of this is important in the rain scene. Well, these moments exist in rom-coms to bring the audience into what the female lead is feeling. Or at least, that’s how I see them. And so Glen Powell getting wet in the rain wearing a cowboy hat really lends itself to that feeling.

I’m just happy that the editing team all screamed “NO” at Chung because now audiences get to cheer over this scene.