Here’s What the Cast of Twister Is up to in 2024

Jan de Bont only directed five movies after serving as a respected cinematographer on numerous iconic classics, including Die Hard, Ruthless People, Flatliners, Basic Instinct, The Hunt for Red October, and Cujo. And, in terms of critical reception and/or commercial reception, his first two movies (Speed and Twister) were as much winners as the best of his cinematography career. Speed 2: Cruise Control, The Haunting, and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life…not so much.

• Twister

  Release Date

  May 10, 1996

  Runtime

  113

• 

  Twisters

  A follow-up to the 1996 original film Twister, Twisters is a sequel set years after the original, said to be fast-tracked by Steven Spielberg and Mark L. Smith, with Frank Marshal as producer. Little details exist about the film, but Helen Hunt is expected to reprise her role as Jo, with the film likely to pay homage to the late Bill Paxton. 

  Release Date

  July 19, 2024

  Director

  Lee Isaac Chung

  Runtime

  2h 2m

But Speed and, to a lesser extent, Twister, still stand as two of the 1990s‘ most revered and oft-viewed action movies. And for good reason. The characters are as enjoyable as the set pieces and the duo show an incredible reverence for fast (but not too fast) pacing.

The director’s career may have taken a nosedive with Speed 2, and he’s since retired, but we’ll always have his first two movies. So, since we’ve covered the director and Twisters is about to tear up the box office, what is the cast of the original Twister up to these days?

Helen Hunt

Helen Hunt has been a prolific performer ever since the early ’70s, but it wasn’t until Mad About You (1992-1999) that she broke big. And, when that happened, it was inevitable that she would start landing roles in major Hollywood films. Twister was the first of these, save for a minor role in the previous year’s Kiss of Death, and her performance as Dr. Jo Harding is tender, believable, and one of the film’s best elements.

One of the Queens of the ’90s

After having a few more critical and/or commercial hits with As Good as It Gets, Pay It Forward, Cast Away, and What Women Want, however, things started to slow down for Hunt. She’s had notable roles in film over the years, e.g. 2012’s The Sessions, but it’s fair to say the peak of her bankability was the ’90s. And, yet, television has been kind to her as of late, with recurring roles on the highly-rated Blindspotting and Hacks proving to be as great displays of her talent as her most revered films.

Cary Elwes

Twister has just one unlikable character, and that’d be the lovable Cary Elwes‘ rival storm chaser, Jonas Miller. Relegated to just a few scenes of throwing hiccups in Jo and Bill Harding’s way, Miller is a fairly stereotypical arrogant antagonist. And it’s that arrogance that gets him killed in one of the film’s most memorable scenes.

Busy Busy Busy

For such a likable performer, Elwes often plays the villains. Other ’90s examples include Kiss the Girls and, to a lesser extent, Liar Liar. He even ended up going from victim to killer in the Saw franchise.

But at least he’s stayed busy, from playing a duplicitous government official in the latest Mission: Impossible to the one-two Guy Ritchie punch of Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre and The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. And, in the latter film, he was far from a villain, considering he was playing the real-life inspiration for the 007 saga’s “M.” Toss in a part in Zack Snyder’s two Rebel Moon movies and Elwes has never worked more frequently.

Jami Gertz

The main emotional hook of Twister, save for Jo’s childhood trauma, is her crumbling marriage with Bill. And, worse yet, the latter has moved on. Specifically, with Jami Gertz‘s Dr. Melissa Reeves, who is blatantly out of her element from the moment the first gust of wind is felt. She tries to be supportive and show interest for her fiancé’s sake, but as it turns out, he and Jo were just meant to be together.

Nothing in 2024, but Plenty of ’80s Cult-Classics to Binge

Gertz was a major presence in the ’80s, with roles of various sizes in Endless Love, Sixteen Candles, Quicksilver, Crossroads, The Lost Boys, and Less Than Zero. Her role as Star in The Lost Boys remains her most iconic to most fans. Her work throughout the ’90s was more sporadic, and Twister was without a doubt her biggest project of the decade. Unfortunately, she also received a Golden Raspberry nomination for her work in it, though it’s more about the writing of the character than it is any fault with Gertz’s performance. Since Twister, she’s worked even less frequently, though she did have a supporting role in the Charlie Day and Jenny Slate-fronted rom-com I Want You Back in 2022.

Lois Smith

Twister is a film populated by characters that are more likable than believable, and the peak of Mount Likable is Lois Smith‘s Aunt Meg. The aunt to Hunt’s Jo, Meg lives in the small town of Wakita and is always there when her niece and the storm chasers need a home-cooked meal. And, by the film’s end, she’s partly responsible for Jo coming up with the best new way to track the storms’ trajectories.

A Legend, and Her Role in Twister is One of Her Most Iconic

Smith made her film debut all the way back in 1955 with the classic James Dean film East of Eden, and she hasn’t really slowed down at all since that point. In the 2010s she had roles in Run All Night, The Nice Guys, Lady Bird, and even co-lead (alongside Jon Hamm) Marjorie Prime. Then, in the 2020s, Uncle Frank, Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch, and has a role in 2024’s The Uninvited, starring Walton Goggins and Pedro Pascal. She’s equally prolific in television, with the most recent, and notable, example being her three appearances in NBC’s ratings hit Law & Order: Organized Crime.

Alan Ruck

Alan Ruck‘s Rabbit was basically second-in-command of Twister‘s storm-chasing team. And that’s a decent way to explain the actor’s roles over the years. Not quite name-on-the-poster level, but far from a background character. This started when he was playing second fiddle to Matthew Broderick in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and continued through the ’90s with Speed (where he was the one on the bus who spoke the most besides Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock).

Always Buoying His Projects

And, some things never change. But his roles have continued to be in prominent projects, most notably in HBO’s ratings juggernaut and critical smash Succession. What’s up next for Ruck? A sequel to Taylor Sheridan’s wonderful and heartbreaking Wind River.

Todd Field

Todd Field‘s role as Beltzer in Twister is not one of the most prominent. He’s a member of Jo Harding’s team and, like Philip Seymour Hoffman and Alan Ruck, his presence is a likable one. Field’s acting career has almost always had him on the sidelines…but his directing career? The diametric opposite.

An Amazing Director

Field stopped acting right around the exact same time he made his directorial debut with In the Bedroom in 2001. And that wildly impressive debut wasn’t the only one of his films to receive an Academy Award for Best Picture nomination. Tár, his third and, potentially, final directed film, also received that nomination. His second film, Little Children, was also masterful, and also an awards darling.

Those We’ve Lost: Bill Paxton & Philip Seymour Hoffman

Bill Harding stands as one of Bill Paxton‘s most iconic roles, and the super-enthused Dusty Davies was one of the first roles Philip Seymour Hoffman inhabited in a blockbuster motion picture. It would be great to expound on what both actors are doing these days, but that’s not possible. Fans can merely look at each of their expansive filmographies and remember what talents they were. Thankfully, Paxton receives a shoutout of sorts in Twisters.

Gone Way Too Soon

Paxton passed away in 2017 of a stroke following two surgeries to tend to an aortic heart valve. That condition had been with him since he was a child after contracting rheumatic fever. As for Hoffman, he struggled with substance addiction ever since his college days and, while he remained sober for 23 years, he relapsed in 2012. On February 2, 2014, he was found in his Manhattan apartment. Upon searching the scene, police found heroin and prescription medication.