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Twisters director Lee Isaac Chung has addressed a major complaint that fans are making about the natural disaster thriller.
Starring Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones, the film is a standalone story set in the same universe as its 1996 predecessor directed by Jan de Bont.
It follows meteorologist Kate Carter, played by Edgar-Jones, and social media storm chaser Tyler Owens (Powell), as they fight for their lives while battling multiple tornadoes.
Spoilers ahead... you have been warned!
Kate and Tyler bond throughout the movie, flirting endlessly, with viewers praising their “sizzling chemistry” on screen. However, the pair never seal their apparent romance with a kiss.
Leaked footage from the movie shows that a kiss between the two was in fact shot, but not used.
“I’m taking a little offence that they didn’t want to use it. Maybe it’s just my abilities, I don’t know,” Powell joked in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.
Questioned on the subject, director Chung explained the reason that the couple never kiss in the film.
“I feel like audiences are in a different place now in terms of wanting a kiss or not wanting a kiss,” Chung shared. “I actually tried the kiss, and it was very polarising — and it’s not because of their performance of the kiss.
“This [no-kiss shot] was the other option that I had filmed on the day, and I’ve got to say, I like it better. I think it’s a better ending. I think that people who want a kiss within it, they can probably assume that these guys will kiss someday. And maybe we can give them privacy for that. In a way, this ending is a means to make sure that we really wrap things up with it in a celebratory way.”
Normal People star Edgar-Jones seconded Chung’s decision, saying that the absence of a kiss means that Kate’s journey culminates in storm-chasing rather than romance.
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She called the decision “refreshing”, adding that the couple’s “love language” is their thrill of hunting down natural disasters.
“The chase is really what their relationship’s about,” she said.
All the times they could have kissed in #Twisters but didn't, a thread:
— Olivia Truffaut-Wong (@iWatchiAm) July 21, 2024
1. When he brought her pizza and took her to the rodeo.
2. In the pool.
3. In her mom's barn.
4. In the rain outside her mom's barn.
5. "She's gorgeous."
6. After their first tornado experiment. pic.twitter.com/3kj3NFuLWX
Chung agreed, adding: “If it ends on the kiss, then it makes it seem as though that’s what Kate’s journey was all about, to end up with a kiss. But instead, it’s better that it ends with her being able to continue doing what she’s doing with a smile on her face.”
However, not all fans were convinced. One person wrote: “The VERY good Twisters could have been even better had it given us one big sloppy Hollywood kiss in the end. That’s money left on the table…”
