Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1530856
But he mentioned your name as someone I should meet." I'm a firm believer that things happen for a reason, so hearing this from him was incredible. He asked if I would be interested in reading the script. Immediately, I said, "I'd love to, yes, please." Since we both live in Pasadena, we got together for coffee after I'd read it a couple of times and brought some thoughts and questions. We had a great conversation, and by the end of the meeting, he said, "I really would like to work with you on this." And I was like, "I would love to work with you too." CineMontage: Aside from the spectacle of "Twisters," what was it about the script that resonated with you emotionally? Shropshire: While the spectacle was always a key element, our conversations re- ally focused on the characters around whom that spectacle would be built, starting with Kate played by Daisy Edgar-Jones. I felt a strong connection to her—a woman who is confident, intelligent, hopeful, and at one point in her life, fearless. Then something devastating happens and she retreats into herself. She goes from being a shadow of her former self to eventually finding a way to confront her fear, push through it, and re- discover her joy. That's the heart of the film. That journey really fascinated me be- cause fear is something we all encounter and in many ways, the tornadoes symbolize the unpredictable challenges in our lives. Ye s, t h i s i s a m o v i e a b o u t c h a s i n g tornadoes and disaster, but when you're working with someone like Isaac, you know he's going to want to go deeper and add more layers. CineMontage: What was it like being on location in Oklahoma in April 2023? Shropshire: We went out two weeks be- fore principal photography started. Part of that was getting the room set up at Prairie Surf Studios in Oklahoma City, but part of it was to get to know the production crew, the camera department, AD department, script supervisors, and the second unit. I really try to be there for the last big production meeting when we're going through the en- tire script, hearing from every department. As an editor, that is so valuable—just to place yourself where everybody's at and understand what the challenges are going to be before they even go out. It was truly challenging to be shooting a film in Tornado Alley during tornado sea- son. Once you've gone to Oklahoma—and I had never been there before—you'll never look at the sky the same way. It's ever-shift- ing; there are so few obstacles that obstruct your view anywhere you're driving. You're seeing these vast, vast vistas. It's just beau- tiful, quite extraordinary, but production was getting shut down because of weather, lightning, and all kinds of reasons. It was a very unpredictable shoot, especially when we had to stop in July due to the SAG/AFTRA strike. When we returned to Oklahoma in November, fields of green had turned brown, and everything was moving into winter. So there was the challenge of making everything feel seamless and finding the right locations. It was a lot; we completed the remain- ing photography just prior to the holiday hiatus. And if you think about it, Isaac had BIG WINDS: "Tornadoes symbolize the unpredictable challenges in our lives," Shropshire says. P H OT O S : M A R K E D WA R D S 42 C I N E M O N T A G E F E A T U R E