Where are the Twister cast now?
There aren't many movies as explicitly linked to the 1990s as Twister. Jan de Bont's disaster movie classic cemented the entire Twister cast as icons of the era on the way to a massive box office haul. It has taken almost 30 years for a sequel to get off the ground, but Twisters is now on the way.
Sadly for fans of the original, Twisters largely eschews the original cast members for a new ensemble of buzzy big names, including Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, and Anthony Ramos. Expect some slightly more advanced visual effects than we got last time around.
So now is a great time to look back at the biggest names from the original Twister and see what they've been up to in the years since. Let's chase that particular storm.
Helen Hunt
Helen Hunt was one of Twister's co-leads in the role of storm-obsessed weather expert Jo Harding. Prior to Twister, Hunt was best known as a TV star. She'd won three Golden Globes and four Emmys for leading the sitcom Mad About You. A year after Twister hit cinemas, Hunt won an Oscar for Best Actress thanks to her role alongside Jack Nicholson in the romcom As Good As It Gets.
Read more: Helen Hunt is thrilled by the ongoing appeal of Twister (BANG Showbiz)
Hunt continued to star in big movies as the 21st century began, appearing in Cast Away and What Women Want. Her film acting career has since become less high-profile, but she has embraced directing, making several films and getting behind the camera on TV shows including The Politician and This Is Us.
Bill Paxton
Bill Paxton was arguably the biggest name in the Twister cast, playing weatherman and former storm chaser Bill Harding — Jo's estranged ex-husband. By the time Twister came around, he was already a genre movie star, having been in Aliens, Near Dark, and Predator 2. To this day, he's the only actor to have been killed on screen by a Terminator, a Xenomorph, and a Predator. That's sci-fi royalty.
Read more: Bill Paxton's Son James Did “Twisters” Cameo Because 'I Wanted to Be a Conduit for His Spirit' on Set (People)
After Twister, he took on a role in the Spy Kids series and later appeared in a pair of brilliant 2014 films with his work in Edge of Tomorrow and Nightcrawler. He later played John Garrett aka The Clairvoyant in Marvel TV series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Paxton sadly passed away in 2017 at the age of just 61 as a result of heart damage he had suffered since contracting rheumatic fever as a child. He has an enormous and powerful legacy in genre cinema.
Cary Elwes
Much like Paxton, Cary Elwes had made his name as a genre movie stalwart by the time he showed up as Bill's rival storm chaser Jonas Miller in Twister. He had already played the lead role of Westley in the stone-cold classic The Princess Bride, as well as showing up in Bram Stoker's Dracula on taking on the titular role in Robin Hood: Men in Tights.
Read more: Cary Elwes 'hit the jackpot' with Princess Bride role (BANG Showbiz)
He has been a prolific character actor in the decades since Twister, with one of his most notable roles involving hacking off his own foot in the first Saw movie. Most recently, he's showed up in several enormous blockbusters. He was intelligence boss Denlinger in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One and played The King in both parts of Zack Snyder's Netflix sci-fi opus Rebel Moon.
Jami Gertz
In the early part of her career, Jami Gertz sat on the periphery of the Brat Pack with roles in Endless Love and Sixteen Candles. She played a main role in the sitcom Square Pegs and broke out in the big screen with roles in Crossroads and The Lost Boys. In Twister, she plays Bill's new fiancée — therapist Dr Melissa Reeves.
Read more: Is Hollywood’s summer of sequels doomed to fail? (Yahoo Entertainment)
After Twister, her big screen career played second fiddle to her success on the small screen. Though she apparently turned down Jennifer Aniston's role in Friends, she got an Emmy nomination for a guest spot in Ally McBeal and later appeared in every episode of sci-fi sitcom The Neighbors. Her most recent role came in the 2022 romcom movie I Want You Back.
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Now known as one of the best actors of his generation, Philip Seymour Hoffman was still relatively early in his career when he played storm chaser Dusty Davies in Twister. He would spend the rest of the 1990s and early 2000s establishing himself as one of Hollywood's most reliable supporting players, appearing in Boogie Nights, The Big Lebowski, and Almost Famous.
Read more: Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Sister Pens Emotional Tribute 10 Years After His Death (People)
He was at his best as a character actor, but also shone in leading roles — most notably with his Oscar-winning turn as Truman Capote in the biopic Capote. He received three further Oscar nominations, recognising his supporting work in Charlie Wilson's War, Doubt, and The Master. Hoffman was also no stranger to blockbusters, playing Plutarch Heavensbee in the Hunger Games movies.
Hoffman died in 2014 at the tragically young age of 46 with his death put down to intoxication with a combination of different drugs.
Twisters is released in UK cinemas on 17 July.