'Star Wars' Helped Director Lee Isaac Chung With 'Twisters'

TV & Film

Jul 18

Lee Isaac Chung BTS — Image Source: *IMDb*

Director Lee Isaac Chung saw a fair bit of success with his semi-autobiographical film Minari (2020), including several award nominations and a decent box office pull of $15.28 million overall. His next big project took place in the Star Wars universe. Chung directed the third episode of The Mandalorian season three; this episode focused on former Imperials participating in the New Republic’s rehabilitation program as well as the redemption of Din Djarin and the subsequent aftermath.

The director discussed how this experience impacted his craft (via Inverse), “[Mandalorian] was a very big learning experience for me. That project is so VFX-heavy, and also those episodes are built upon action beats, and I had never really made a project in which the story is told through action beats, where you kind of structure your story and even your schedule around the set pieces that you're going to have to film.” Chung is also directing an episode of the upcoming Disney+ series Skeleton Crew, making his return to the Star Wars universe imminent.

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The Mandalorian scene — Image Source: *IMDb*

Chung grew up in rural Arkansas, giving him a unique personal connection to the subject of focus in Twisters. He explained, “I just really was excited to go back to that part of the country and to make a film in that area where I grew up, amongst people who I grew up with.” Chung continued, highlighting a specific perspective gap, “I don't think there are many filmmakers working today who grew up in rural America. I do think it is a perspective that is missing often.”

Twisters will hit theaters on July 19, 2024. It is the sequel to Twister (1996), but it stands on its own in terms of plot. The film follows a meteorologist/former storm chaser as she returns to the field to test new equipment. She meets a celebrity storm chaser in the process, and their teams end up fighting for their lives as several storm systems converge and hit the area. The cast includes Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, Anthony Ramos, Sasha Lane, Maura Tierney, and Brandon Perea.

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