Twisters losing its final kiss wasn’t Steven Spielberg’s fault, and the director says you should blame test audiences instead

Romanticism is dead.

Image credit:Universal Pictures

Twisters was surprisingly good for a late reboot of a divisive disaster flick released in 1996. Many would even argue it was one of summer 2024’s most effective blockbusters. However, a big point of contention was and still is that damn kiss-less ending.

During a Q&A with director Lee Isaac Chung, it was revealed that no, Amblin’s Steven Spielberg wasn’t the person responsible for cutting out the kiss (which was shot) despite all those rumours that were circulating for months. Actually, it was the test audiences’ fault, which tells everyone once again that filmmakers and studios just shouldn’t trust test screenings so much. You can watch the clip here .

For those who want the quick, written-down version, here’s the full quote:

“That was not true. We shot it. Spielberg wanted the kiss, too. He was like, ‘I hope this works!’ We tested the film, and we were just finding that it was super polarizing… Normally, I want to say don’t be a coward… but this was a tough one. There was a giant team involved, the studios, everybody, and there were quite a lot of people who were doubtful about whether there should be a kiss in this movie… But it was not Spielberg. He’s a romantic like I am.”

Mind you, I feel like the movie’s more ambiguous ending for the two characters works well, but I see the point of the pro-kiss crowd and wouldn’t have minded a much more traditional Hollywood ending for a movie that’s very traditional otherwise.

Twisters

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