Filming
Principal photography was initially set for the state of Georgia, outside Atlanta, for budgetary reasons. Instead, it commenced in May 2023 in Oklahoma, where the story takes place, marking Chung's return to the state after Minari. The move cost the crew work days and resulted in the removal of some storm sequences. Filming was to take place at Prairie Surf Studios for 40 days and in metro Oklahoma City for 50 days. Ultimately, the shoot took 60 days, approximately 70 percent of which was spent capturing driving scenes. Other locations included the towns of Burbank, Calumet, Cashion, Chickasha, Fairview, Hinton, Kingfisher, Kremlin, El Reno, Midwest City, Okarche, Pawhuska, and Spencer. Filming was suspended in July due to the SAG-AFTRA strike. As six weeks of prep time were necessary to resume production, despite only having three weeks of material to film, the crew began prepping sets before the strike was over. Production resumed with the strike's conclusion in November and wrapped the following month. Dan Mindel was the cinematographer. Patrick Sullivan, who worked on the original film's art department, was the production designer.
Twisters was shot on 35 mm film, at Chung's request after receiving support from Spielberg and Mindel, with Panavision Panaflex Millennium XL2 and handheld Arriflex 435 and 235 cameras from Arri, using Panavision T-Series, C-Series and Primo anamorphic lenses. In preparation for the film, Mindel watched Westerns, road films, and films produced during the Golden Age of Hollywood set in rural America. He listed The Last Picture Show (1971) as an influence on the film's "Americana" style. Dailies were processed in Los Angeles, so the crew could not review their footage for several days. To maintain continuity, Mindel aimed to film under overcast weather, unless the script asked for blue skies. Because the shoot occurred during tornado season, delays were frequent. "It was happening every three days or so," Chung recalled, "We were always getting shut down—lightning, wind storms, and then storms that were producing tornadoes came through as well."
Challenges arose in El Reno due to heat waves, lightning storms, and strong winds, as well as the presence of "a jet engine on set that you could barely talk over" and the need for a bright, hot key light to produce the "feeling of a storm-like sky", according to Chung. A set of an El Reno farmer's market was destroyed by a storm with 80-mile-per-hour winds, forcing the crew to rebuild it so they could destroy it again for a scene. The farmer's market in El Reno consisted of 40 vendors and market stalls. Many of them were inspired from different local farmer's markets, featuring produce sellers, baked goods and local artisans. The set decorating team manufactured, researched and met with local farmers and vendors from all over Oklahoma. Fake versions of the goods, including pies, vegetables and cakes were created using soft and safe materials to avoid hurting the cast and crew by the wind and water machines. A former military meteorologist was hired to monitor weather conditions with a squad of radar watchers, and film safety experts enforced protocols for shutting down production and sheltering when necessary.
The prologue was shot during the first week. It used practical effects such as hail, rain, and wind machines to simulate the storm, though the overpass that characters hide under was enclosed in blue screen. While parts of the sequence were filmed on location, the overpass was rebuilt on a makeshift studio backlot near Prairie Surf Studios. Three locations—Crystal Springs, Stillwater, and El Reno–are ravaged in the film by tornadoes. Scenes set in El Reno were filmed on location, while a 4-block stretch of land in Chickasha stood in for Crystal Springs and Midwest City portrayed Stillwater. Early versions of the script had the Stillwater tornado surround a college baseball game, but Chung suggested changing it to a rodeo. For the rodeo, a metal-roofed grand stand, a ticket booth, an announcer booth, concession booths and a small marketplace with a few vendors were constructed. The walls were also dressed with faded Hatch Show Print posters that consisted of iconic woodblock prints that promoted music stars such as Elvis Presley and Dolly Parton to suggest history and a faded "Americana" vibe. The pool of the motel where characters take shelter was constructed for the film; a hole was dug out of the motel's lawn and, since the pool is empty, no plumbing was required. After the shoot, the pool was removed and the hole was filled to restore the lawn. The theater sequence was shot on soundstages at Prairie Surf, using vintage seats from a closed Colorado movie theater; exterior shots were filmed in El Reno. It was Chung's decision for the characters to be viewing Frankenstein (1931), a reference to Universal's "monsters" franchise. Kate's mother's farmhouse was located in the town of Howe. The accompanying barn was initially a metal shed, which the art department skinned with wood from Missouri to resemble an Oklahoma barn. The barn's interior was built at Prairie Surf. Two versions of the ending were filmed; one where Kate and Tyler kiss, and the one in the film, in which they do not. Spielberg suggested the non-kiss take to solidify that Kate's character arc was about her returning passion for storm chasing. Automaker Stellantis provided several vehicles for use in the film, including a Ram 1500 TRX and a Ram 3500 used by Powell's character Tyler Owens as a Tornado Intercept Vehicle.
