Texan Glen Powell brings Red River Rivalry to Oklahoma City premiere of 'Twisters'

While making the movie "Twisters" last year in Oklahoma, Glen Powell was battered by rubble, water machines and even a giant fan that was actually a jet engine while playing his part as a thrill-seeking storm chaser.

"I'd never been on this side of a jet engine. You know, it's a different experience. I will say, we had the best special effects team in the world on this movie ... to create a really extreme ride for audiences," Powell said Monday. "But we really got hit with every element that Oklahoma could muster: We got hit with dust and debris and rogue furniture shot at us."

And the proud Austin, Texas, native was hit with a hefty dose of Red River Rivalry Monday night when he faced a line of Sooner State journalists at the Oklahoma City premiere of his highly anticipated action movie.

"This press line's really a warzone. I forgot, as a Texan coming to Oklahoma City, I should have been prepared for this," Powell told The Oklahoman with a grin.

"I never really ventured much to Oklahoma when I was growing up," he added. "So, to really settle (in) here was so nice. This movie's about Oklahoma, it's about the people of Oklahoma, it's about this community. I can't imagine, looking back on it, shooting anywhere else."

The long-awaited follow-up to the 1996 blockbuster "Twister," which also filmed in Oklahoma, is opening in theaters Friday, July 19. Powell, his "Twisters" co-stars Daisy Edgar-Jones and Anthony Ramos, director Lee Isaac Chung, executive producer Ashley Jay Sandberg and storm consultant Kevin Kelleher celebrated the impending release of the summer tentpole movie Monday night by walking the red carpet at the special invitation-only screening at Harkins Bricktown 16 theater in downtown OKC.

Along with the movie's stars, attendees at the event included U.S. Sen. James Lankford, Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell, OKC Mayor David Holt, "Reservation Dogs" star Lane Factor and frontman Max Rainer of the acclaimed Tulsa-based folk-rock band Wilderado, who has a cameo in the film and a song on the soundtrack.

How did Glen Powell remember fellow Texan Bill Paxton at the OKC 'Twisters' premiere?

"Twisters" is a new, contemporary chapter that follows in the path of the 1990s smash "Twister," which starred Powell's fellow Texan the late Bill Paxton, Helen Hunt, Cary Elwes, Jami Gertz and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman as fictional storm chasers tracking a series of powerful tornadoes.

Best known for his roles in "Twister," "Aliens" and "Apollo 13," Paxton, who died in 2017 at the age of 61, was "a great pal" to Powell, who co-starred with the beloved actor in the 2013 Western "Red Wing."

"He was a great buddy. He helped me on 'Hidden Figures' to really focus on the space training," Powell said on the OKC red carpet. "Then, on this one, I just thought about him so often, because when he was shooting 'Twister' ... he was obsessed with the weather. And this movie really changed his life and really made him feel a part of this community. So, I really felt like I was a part of this world."

The new "Twisters" stars Edgar-Jones as Kate Carter, a former storm chaser haunted by a devastating encounter with a tornado during her college years who now studies storm patterns on screens safely in New York City. She is lured back into storm season on the open plains by her friend, Javi (Ramos) to test a groundbreaking new tracking system.

Out in the field in the midst of record tornadic conditions, they cross paths with Tyler Owens (Powell), a charming and reckless social-media superstar who thrives on posting his storm-chasing adventures with his rowdy crew.

"This is why you make the summer blockbuster; it contains everything you need: It's thrilling. It's adventurous. It's fun. It's funny. It's directed so well, and the performances are beautiful. It's emotional. And it's about the people of Oklahoma. It's about this community," Powell said.

How did Texan Glen Powell cope with so many Sooners while filming in Oklahoma?

Directed by Chung, who previously filmed his Academy Award-winning semi-autobiographical immigrant drama "Minari" in the Tulsa area in 2019, "Twisters" was made on an estimated budget of $200 million.

Principal photography on "Twisters" got underway in Oklahoma City on May 8, 2023. The production engaged with multiple communities statewide, including El Reno, Chickasha, Midwest City, Spencer, Kingfisher, Calumet, Hinton, Fairview, Okarche, Kremlin, Burbank and Pawhuska.

"We just got such an education on what, not only the original 'Twister' meant to this community, but when I think of storm chasing in general, it's such a beautiful thing. This sort of cowboy scientist aspect ... is really singular. And I really can't wait to unleash this thing on the world, because I really think people are gonna have a newfound respect for all of it," Powell said.

Working on "Twisters" also had an unforeseen downside for the one-time University of Texas at Austin student: He was surrounded by University of Oklahoma fans.

"I will say I have respect for the people of Oklahoma, but I will never be an OU fan. Get out of here. That's one of the things that keeps me alive, honestly, is the (OU-Texas football) rivalry. That is my favorite day of the year. I think I might look forward to that day more than Christmas, or my own birthday. I love that rivalry more than anything — and I think Sooners fans feel the same way," Powell said.

"But I remember going to the National Weather Center at the University of Oklahoma, and I was tempted to wear my Longhorns shirt. And I didn't: I was a gentleman, and just remember that."

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Texan Glen Powell brings rivalry to red carpet at OKC 'Twisters' premiere