'That's the dream,' Anthony Ramos says of filming 'Twisters' on location in Oklahoma

When Anthony Ramos touched down in Oklahoma to film "Twisters," he quickly learned that the wind does indeed come sweepin' down the plain in the Sooner State — and that the rest of the weather can get pretty dramatic, too.

"(It was) unpredictable every day. Every day was new. Hot, and then we came back in the winter after the (actors) strike, it was cold. And we were still wearing summer clothes," he said on the red carpet at the movie's Oklahoma City premiere.

Best known for originating the roles of John Laurens and Philip Hamilton in the Broadway smash "Hamilton" — he earned a Primetime Emmy nomination for his dual performance in the recorded version of Lin-Manuel Miranda's beloved show — and for his Golden Globe-nominated lead turn in the film adaptation of Miranda's earlier musical "In the Heights," Ramos plays in "Twisters" an ambitious meteorologist and entrepreneur determined to revolutionize tornado tracking.

While working on the long-awaited "Twisters," the Brooklyn, New York, native said he was surprised to learn just how much scientists still don't know about real-life twisters.

"There's so much to find out from the point from when the tornado is actually in the cloud to when it actually makes it down to the ground," said Ramos, whose other cinematic credits include "A Star Is Born" and "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts."

"There's so many (storm) chasers and so many meteorologists creating new technology to really do their best to figure out why this happens and how it happens and also to give more advanced notice."

What is the new movie 'Twisters' about?

Along with Ramos, fellow "Twisters" stars Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell, director Lee Isaac Chung, executive producer Ashley Jay Sandberg and storm consultant Kevin Kelleher celebrated the impending release of the summer tentpole movie by walking the red carpet Monday night at the special invitation-only screening at Harkins Bricktown 16 theater in downtown OKC.

Other attendees 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.

Officially opening in theaters Friday, July 19, the long-awaited follow-up to the 1996 blockbuster "Twister" 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.

With an estimated budget of $200 million, principal photography on "Twisters" got underway in Oklahoma City on May 8, 2023 — right in the middle of storm season. Throughout 60 days of principal photography, "Twisters" engaged with multiple communities statewide, including El Reno, Chickasha, Midwest City, Spencer, Kingfisher, Calumet, Hinton, Fairview, Okarche, Kremlin, Burbank and Pawhuska.

Looking dapper in a black cowboy hat, here's what Ramos told The Oklahoman at the OKC "Twisters" red-carpet event about his experiences with Oklahoma weather, line dancing and action-movie stunts:

Q: What is the one core memory you made from your time in Oklahoma making this movie?

Line dancing for the first time, that's probably my core memory.

Q: Did you guys go down to Cowboys?

We went to Cowboys, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, Cowboys and line dancing.

Q: Did they run the live bull through for you guys?

No, not the time I went. But the other time the cast went, they did; they ran the bull through. Yeah, it was crazy over there. And the weather — the weather here was like something I've never experienced.

Q: Being from New York, I imagine it was different to discover the wind sweeping down the plains is really a thing here?

Yeah. Like if there's wind (in New York), we know it's coming. Here, you just don't know. It's a clear day, and the next thing you know 10, 15 minutes later, you're like, 'Wow, there's overcast (skies), and the wind's blowing right now. What's happening? Nobody knew this was gonna happen.' It's unpredictable.

Q: How was it playing an action star in this movie? By the end of it, you guys look a little bedraggled.

I was draggled. I was draggled, to say the least. Yeah. It was great. I mean, I love this stuff. These kinds of movies, this is the kind of stuff you want to do.

It's so much fun, doing films with visual effects. And doing movies with big, big crews and coming out and shooting on location, as a kid, from the moment you decide to become an actor, that's the dream. So, I'm really grateful that I was able to do that.

Q: Do you have a favorite tornado from the movie?

I think that opening sequence, that first tornado. ... That was one of the sickest sequences I've seen in all of cinema, at least on any movie I've seen in my life.

Q: And you got to be a part of it.

Yeah, it's crazy.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: New Yorker Anthony Ramos took on the Oklahoma weather for 'Twisters'