Daisy Edgar-Jones, who broke through with British miniseries Normal People, is in negotiations to star in Twisters, Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment’s reboot of the 1996 tornado adventure movie, Twister.

Minari helmer Lee Isaac Chung is going full studio tentpole with this project, which has a script by Mark L. Smith (The Revenant).

Frank Marshall, known for the outsize Jurassic Park and Jurassic World franchises, is producing via his banner, Kennedy/Marshall Company. Marshall’s wife, current Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, was a lead producer on the original.

Twister starred Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton as romantically estranged storm chasers facing rival storm chasers, a host of tornadoes, and their feelings for each other.

Jan de Bont directed the original, which grossed almost $500 million worldwide and featured ear-vibrating, floor-shaking THX sound design. Steven Spielberg was an exec producer, and author Michael Crichton wrote the screenplay.

The new story is not a sequel, nor is it expected to bring back old characters. The studio is describing it as a “new chapter.”

Edgar-Jones will star in the project as a former storm chaser who, after surviving a disastrous tornado encounter, now works a desk job. However, she will soon be forced to — you guessed it — go out into the breach once more.

Executive vp production Sara Scott and creative executive Jacqueline Garell will oversee for Universal Pictures. Ashley Jay Sandberg will oversee for Kennedy/Marshall.

The film will be co-financed by Warner Bros. Pictures.

Edgar-Jones may be best known to North American audiences for starring in last year’s adaptation of Where the Crawdads Sing from Sony. She gained notices for Normal People, a limited series seen on BBC and Hulu in which she starred with Paul Mescal. The drama earned her a Golden Globe nomination. She also co-starred in Hulu limited crime series Under the Banner of Heaven, which also earned her a Golden Globe nom.

The actress is currently filming the feature adaptation On Swift Horses directed by Daniel Minahan, starring opposite Jacob Elordi, Will Poulter and Diego Calva.

Edgar-Jones is represented by UTA, Hamilton Hodell in the U.K. and Sloane Offer.

EXCLUSIVE: Universal and Amblin Entertainment have rounded out their Twisters cast with the addition of Maura Tierney (The Affair), Harry Hadden-Paton (Downton Abbey), Sasha Lane (American Honey), Kiernan Shipka (Mad Men), Nik Dodani (Atypical), David Corenswet (Pearl), Tunde Adebimpe (Spider-Man: Homecoming) and Katy O’Brian (The Mandalorian).

The actors join an ensemble for the disaster pic, following on the heels of the 1996 storm-chasing blockbuster Twister, that also includes Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Anthony Ramos, Brandon Perea and Daryl McCormack, as previously announced. No character details have been disclosed.

If you feel it, chase it.
#TwistersMovie is only in theaters July 19.
_____

This summer, the epic studio disaster movie returns with an adrenaline-pumping, seat-gripping, big-screen thrill ride that puts you in direct contact with one of nature’s most wondrous—and destructive—forces.

From the producers of the Jurassic, Bourne and Indiana Jones series comes Twisters,
a current-day chapter of the 1996 blockbuster, Twister. Directed by Lee Isaac Chung, the Oscar® nominated writer-director of Minari, Twisters stars Golden Globe nominee Daisy Edgar-Jones (Where the Crawdads Sing, Normal People) and Glen Powell (Anyone But You, Top Gun: Maverick) as opposing forces who come together to try to predict, and possibly tame, the immense power of tornadoes.

Edgar-Jones stars as Kate Cooper, 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 to the open plains by her friend, Javi (Golden Globe nominee Anthony Ramos, In the Heights) to test a groundbreaking new tracking system. There, she crosses paths with Tyler Owens (Powell), the charming and reckless social-media superstar who thrives on posting his storm-chasing adventures with his raucous crew, the more dangerous the better.

As storm season intensifies, terrifying phenomena never seen before are unleashed, and Kate, Tyler and their competing teams find themselves squarely in the paths of multiple storm systems converging over central Oklahoma in the fight of their lives.

Twisters features an exciting new cast, including Nope’s Brandon Perea, Sasha Lane (American Honey), Daryl McCormack (Peaky Blinders), Kiernan Shipka (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), Nik Dodani (Atypical) and Golden Globe winner Maura Tierney (Beautiful Boy).

From Amblin Entertainment, Twisters is directed by Lee Isaac Chung and is produced by Oscar® nominee Frank Marshall (Jurassic and Indiana Jones franchises) and by Patrick Crowley (Jurassic and Bourne franchises). The screenplay is by Mark L. Smith, writer of the Best Picture nominee The Revenant. Twisters will be distributed by Universal Pictures domestically and by Warner Bros. Pictures internationally.