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Helen Hunt Answers Every Question We Have About Twister

The actress on performing with Bill Paxton, what it was like to be temporarily blinded on set, and what her future with the franchise looks like.

It’s the rare ’90s action movie that still holds up, in large parts thanks to the fact that director Jan de Bont famously terrorized his actors by insisting on practical effects, spending upward of $90 million hurling actual pieces of ice directly at stars Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton. Though production was infamously plagued — what with the camera crew walking off set a few weeks into filming, reshoots, endless overtime requirements, and actors getting conked in the head and temporarily blinded — the movie went on to become a massive hit, raking in nearly $500 million and beating out Mission: Impossible at the box office. It’s been over 25 years since Twister touched down in theaters, but Hunt graciously hopped on the phone with us ahead of our Movie Club to talk about her memories of the late Bill Paxton and Philip Seymour Hoffman, what it was like to be temporarily blinded, how she feels about de Bont calling her “clumsy,” and why Jo never wore a ponytail.

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