Twisters Star Talks Being “Terrified” To Follow in Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Footsteps

Twisters was released in theaters this weekend, and while the new film is set in the same world as Twister (1996), the new movie stands on its own and doesn’t feature cameos from the original film. Sadly, two of the main stars from Twitster have since passed away: Bill Paxton and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Despite Twister’s standalone features, it does a good job of keeping the spirit of the first film alive. In fact, Brandon Perea’s character Boone has similar, lovable traits to Hoffman’s Dustin. Perea recently spoke to The Hollywood Reporter and revealed he was “terrified” to follow in Hoffman’s footsteps. 

“When I first got the script, I didn’t know which character I was actually reading for,” Perea explained. “I just got the script to see if I was into it. And then we had the roles mixed up … In the middle of reading the script, I told my partner, ‘Oh man, there’s this funny guy, Boone. He is kind of the Philip Seymour Hoffman type. Shout out to the poor bastard who plays him because that’s going to be so much weight on your shoulders.’ And I ultimately ended up being that poor bastard.”

“Of course, I was terrified, but I was also grateful to be able to play a part that you can make stand out in a sense. That’s what Phil Hoffman did his entire career,” he added. “He stood out in these great supporting roles, and he just brought so much fun to the first film. So I just wanted to bring a pinky-nail amount of fun that he brought to it, and I hope I did.”

“With Boone, it’s all out there, so it’s so much easier to commit to the bits and just throw things at the wall and see what works. So I call Boone the easiest acting performance I’ve ever had to do,” Perea continued. “Just being able to run around and scream and have fun was the easiest gig, and I was so grateful that it just felt that easy. So, shout-out to the cast and crew who dealt with me running around and screaming the whole time.”

What Is Twisters About?

Twisters follows Kate Cooper (Daisy Edgar-Jones), 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 (Anthony Ramos) to test a groundbreaking new tracking system. There, she crosses paths with Tyler Owens (Glen 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. 

Directed by Lee Isaac Chung (Minari), Twisters also stars Brandon Perea (Nope), Sasha Lane (American Honey), Daryl McCormack (Peaky Blinders), Kiernan Shipka (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), Nik Dodani (Atypical), David Corenswet (Superman), Katy O’Brian (Love Lies Bleeding), and Golden Globe winner Maura Tierney (Beautiful Boy).

Twisters is now playing in theaters.