DALLAS — "Twisters" made its mark as a summer blockbuster hit, raking in more than $80 million in ticket sales across North America on opening weekend.
And while the thriller certainly had its fair share of special effects, the Oklahoma-set movie was (for the most part) actually filmed in Oklahoma, in the towns it depicted in the movie or ones based on real-life locales.
One example of that was Crystal Springs, which was ravaged by a tornado in the movie. There is no Crystal Springs, Oklahoma. But there is a Chickasha, a town of about 16,000 people located southwest of Oklahoma City, and one that's no stranger to severe weather.
Last year, "Twisters," starring Glen Powell and Daisey Edgar-Jones, filmed for several days across several city blocks in Chickasha, all made to look like they were just hit by a tornado.
"Twisters" also filmed in downtown Oklahoma City, El Reno, Yukon, Hobart, Okarche, Orienta and Pond Creek, according to IMBD.
El Reno, which was hit by a large tornado in 2013, was among the tornado-hit towns depicted in the movie. Stillwater -- home to Oklahoma State University -- was also featured in "Twisters." But the filming for that scene actually took place in the Oklahoma City area (Midwest City, to be exact), not Stillwater, according to KOCO.
The Oklahoma filming certainly gave "Twisters" an authentic tornado season look, with stormy skies and wide-open spaces. And if you're from Oklahoma, there's a good chance you recognized the scenery.
But that approach also came with a few complications, as director Lee Isaac Chung explained to Vanity Fair. Filming a tornado movie during storm season was great for stormy settings, but bad for delays.
“I didn’t fully know what the consequences of that would be,” Chung said. “I wasn’t fully thinking about how much we would be shut down by weather. It was just a constant thing for us. I could not pinpoint a specific story about lightning because I felt like our entire shooting schedule was lightning delay after lightning delay. It was just constantly happening. I’d arrive on set, and first thing, we’d have a lightning delay.”
