THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 9, 1996 TAG: 9605090038
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 150 lines
HOLLYWOOD IS READY to twist.
The summer season of blockbuster hits opens Friday with a $75 million special-effects ride called ``Twister.'' It arrives with everything from tractors to houses, exploding trucks, and cows falling from tornadoes that are bigger than real life.
``I don't like pauses. This will be full speed ahead. No stops. That's the way I like to make movies - the same way I like to see them,'' Director Jon De Bont was saying.
``When directing, I think as if I was in the theater watching the movie. I ask `What do I want to see next?' I don't like to be bored.''
De Bont, the Dutch-born director who spent years as a photographer before he finally got a chance to direct ``Speed,'' is ready to deliver on what he says.
In a whirlwind of simulated 300-mph winds, Hollywood has chosen ``Twister'' as the opener for a summer of blockbusters that will center on special effects rather than big-name stars.
This is De Bont's first film since the fabled ``Speed.'' The ads are screaming that it's ``from the director of `Speed' and the writer and producer of `Jurassic Park.' '' There's nothing like name dropping to remind the public of past successes. (Writer Michael Crichton and producer Kathleen Kennedy both worked on ``Jurassic Park.'')
Just to keep the pedigreed hit names consistent, Steven Spielberg was a co-producer for ``Twister.''
Warner Bros. is so carried away that it moved up the release date of ``Twister'' - twice.
Sitting in a New York hotel room last Sunday, the blond, middle-aged director shook his head and chuckled as he said: ``Yes, it was a rush, but that's the way films are made - at least my films. We are ready.''
Just 12 days ago, De Bont was still sitting in front of a computer, ``cleaning up'' a few of his tornadoes.
``Twister'' got its first screening for the press a week ago.
The reaction: the plot is a little silly (another triangle - a husband, his current fiancee and his former wife), and the people seem a little rash, always dashing directly into the path of tornadoes. But the special effects! Yes, they are state of the art and, yes, they are awesome.
``Most of what you see is not real - not real at all,'' De Bont said with a Dutch accent that gives him a serious-scientist kind of air. He followed the statement, though, with a mischievous little chuckle, as if he's pulled off another one on the world. After all, if he could fool millions of people into getting excited about a bus that can't go below 50 mph, he can get them frenzied about something as hectic as a tornado.
You half expect this director to be harried and ultra-hyper, looking for something to explode or crash around every corner. He comes across as quite calm.
``There is not one real tornado in the film,'' he said, smiling again, as if he's in no risk at revealing this. He obviously feels audiences will be puzzled at the fact rather than put off by it.
``We had seven wind machines and two jet engines,'' he explained. ``We had all that wonderful flat landscape in Oklahoma. Unfortunately, we had too much sunshine. Usually, when you're making a movie, you want good weather. For me, it was a dismal day if I woke up and saw the sun shining.''
For some scenes, special shades were concocted to make the insides of automobiles look as if it were cloudy outside.
For 15 weeks last summer, he labored in Oklahoma, Iowa and Texas to create the ``live'' part of the film that would later be augmented with computer-generated effects back in Hollywood. ``There are 22 minutes of computer effects in the film,'' he said.
De Bont spent years as a photographer (on such action flicks as ``Die Hard'' and ``Lethal Weapon 3'') before the studio took a chance on his directing ``Speed,'' which was thought to be a minor action entry. It became one of the major hits of all time; now he's in major demand.
``But they only think of me in terms of big, complex films,'' he lamented. ``I'm thought of as something like this general who can organize an army.''
Bill Paxton, who stars in ``Twister,'' said, ``Jon is not the kind of guy who would be involved in hostage negotiations.''
De Bont likes to tell war stories - how he had to find a crane strong enough to lift, and drop, a 120,000-pound house: ``We weighed that house to the last nail. When the time came, we pulled a cable and it fell apart as we dropped it.''
To fool around with mother nature, De Bont's production designer built 30 houses to fill an area two blocks wide and six blocks long to represent the tornado's path of destruction. That wasn't enough. ``We bought 10 additional real houses. They were abandoned. We got them cheap.''
They were all destroyed.
So, almost, were the actors.
Paxton, who starred as one of the astronauts in ``Apollo 13,'' said, ``In the scene when I was running uphill with hail hitting me in the face, I thought it was my Martin Sheen day. I thought I was going to have a heart attack.'' (Sheen had a famous in-production heart attack during the filming of ``Apocalypse Now.'')
Paxton, who got rave reviews for the tiny film ``One False Move,'' said he's willing to take second-billing to a tornado. ``Hey, I know no one's coming to see ME,'' he said. ``This movie doesn't require a lot of action, but it's my chance to look good.
``I worked out a lot to get ready, and I still wasn't ready for what Jon had in mind. Among other things, he wanted my hair longer. I had just come out of `Apollo 13' and I had short hair. The first day, he looked at me and asked, `How fast does your hair grow?' He didn't ask anything about my acting.''
De Bont said he wanted Paxton ``because he's believable as a country boy - a country man. I didn't want a superhero. Bill was born in this area.''
Paxton, a native of Fort Worth, Texas, says he grew up around tornadoes. ``I never actually saw the funnel of one,'' he said, ``but I've been close to a number of them. We had a storm cellar in the school I attended as a kid. The sky gets green. The entire world seems to change. It has a real psychological effect on everyone. The threat is tremendous.''
De Bont wanted Helen Hunt (star of the hit TV series ``Mad About You'') for the role of the tomboy scientist who is Paxton's estranged wife.
``I saw her in `Waterdance' and I perceived her as a strong woman,'' he said. ``I thought she could take the filming. I like women who stand up for themselves. Helen does that. I warned her. I warned all the actors. I told them they'd be pelted by hail, crawl through mud and have trees and dust whirling about them. I wanted them to be IN the scenes, not their doubles. The audience has to see them. I tried to make the filming look as unattractive as possible. Then, if they still wanted to be in it, OK.''
Hunt appreciated the warning. ``I was reluctant about the whole thing,'' she admitted. ``I thought, `This is just going to be another girl role. I'll be the girl with the clipboard - the scientist.' I was won over when Jon and Spielberg took me to lunch and explained the whole thing.''
De Blont is now back in Hollywood, where he's planning ``Speed 2,'' which he won't talk about. He refuses to confirm the rumors that it will be set on a boat. ``It's just in script stage,'' he said.
Hunt and Paxton agreed that the worst scene in the movie was being hit in the face by ice pellets designed to look like hail.
``There were ice machines to crush the ice thin so that it wouldn't be like hitting us with rocks, but the problem was it had to be large enough to be seen,'' Hunt said. ``There were moments when I thought: `What am I doing here? Is this what acting is all about?' There were moments when I had no idea what was going on. Jon was yelling, but I couldn't hear him.''
Hunt and Paxton were eager to end the interview and take off for the Nederlander Theater, where they had tickets for the new hit rock musical ``Rent'' - the most difficult ticket in New York.
Hunt laughs when told that co-star Paxton had called her a ``tornado babe.''
``I'll take that,'' she said. ``I'll be a tornado babe, but I can tell you, every day on this film was a bad hair day.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos by Warner Brothers
Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt run from an oncoming tornado in
"Twister", the big-budget action-adventure movie opening in area
theaters Friday.
Left: Hunt searches debris left by a devastating twister.
by CNB