Thanks to his Naperville start and the help of friends, filmmaker/producer scores huge hit with ‘Twisters’

Douglas Seok couldn’t have imagined when he took a photography class at Naperville North High School that one day he’d be producing the big summer blockbuster “Twisters.”

The 2002 graduate, who also attended Beebe Elementary and Jefferson Junior High, says that high school class was one of the things that helped put him on the path to becoming a filmmaker, cinematographer and producer.

“I still can remember and look back fondly on those times, just getting lost in the darkroom,” he said. “I remember one of the classes. At the time, it was a brand-new, state-of-the-art class they offered called digital art.

“I remember learning Photoshop … that kind of laid the foundation. When I look back, I feel very grateful to have been able to go to a school like that that offered a program at the time of that caliber.”

Even in middle school, though, he was experimenting with film. He made a James Bond spoof with his friends using Adobe Premier editing software owned by his friend’s art teacher father, he said.

“I remember going to his house and watching editing for the first time. It felt like magic to me,” Seok said.

At the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, he entered as an art major because he didn’t know what he wanted to do. He started with a digital art class and explored the technical and artistic aspects of digital production, he said.

“I think in college I realized you could be a filmmaker — that was an actual career,” he said. “I don’t know how that works or what that path is, but I realized that was the path I wanted to go for.”

He learned all about film – the award-winning ones, the blockbusters, those that played the indie and art houses or came from other countries.

“The big thing was Asian cinema,” Seok said. “For me, being Korean-America, it was seeing faces that looked like mine and realizing that not only does this exist but it’s really amazing. It was really invigorating and inspiring.”

It was during a Christmas break from school — at the time he was studying abroad in North Korea — that he saw filmmaker So Yong Kim’s “In Between Days” at the Gene Siskel Film Center. It had premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was showing just one time in Chicago, he said. There were just three other people in the theater.

“I was really impressed and I couldn’t stop thinking about it,” he said. “I went home and searched her name.”

He found an email address and sent her a note to say how much he enjoyed the film.

“A few days later she wrote back and said, Hey, I’m working on my next film in Korea and it’s been tough and getting this email injected some energy into the thing,” he said. “I wrote back and said actually I’m in Korea and if you need help, please let me know.”

That was his first big break. He was hired as a production assistant but because it was such a small crew, he was able to be involved in all facets of the production. The film was called “Treeless Mountain.”

Seok so impressed Kim and her creative partner/husband, director Bradley Rust Gray, that they hired him to work on Gray’s next film, “The Exploding Girl.” He stayed with a cousin during the shoot in New York City.

When that ended, they recommended Seok to another filmmaker, Lee Isaac Chung, who would later direct “Twisters.” That introduction led to Seok working as assistant director for Chung’s “Lucky Life” (2010), “Abigail Harm” (2012) and the critically acclaimed “Minari” (2020).

“That was my education into the production world — it was one email,” he said.

In the meantime, he graduated with a degree in international studies and earned a master’s in digital cinema from DePaul University in Chicago.

“I eventually wanted to write and direct myself,” he said. His first feature film, “Turn Left Turn Right,” premiered in 2016 at the Torino Film Festival in Turin, Italy. “That was a dream of mine.”

He was writing his next feature when Chung sent him the script for “Minari.”

“I loved Isaac and believed in him,” Seok said. “The film got picked up really quick. He called me and said, ‘Hey, it’s happening.’ And I said, ‘I’m there.’

“We were in Oklahoma in the summer of 2019. Every day was sort of a struggle but also felt like a miracle. When the film came out at Sundance, I remember thinking it was a special film.”

It won the fest’s U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and the U.S. Dramatic Audience Award.

‘Twisters’ landing

“That started my move to L.A.,” he said. “Isaac and I had talked about collaborating together and that was the start of it. We were getting a lot of scripts … and then ‘Twisters’ came. And I said, ‘Hey, we should do that one. That one looks like a lot of fun.’”

Chung pitched his vision of “Twisters” and by January 2023 they were in pre-production, Seok said.

“It’s been a whirlwind … but this is also 15 to 20 years of my life,” he said.

Seok worked as an associate producer on the film, serving as Chung’s right-hand man.

He had seen the original PG-13 film “Twister,” which came out in 1996, when he was about 12. His older brother, Joe, took him, he said.

“More than the movies, it’s who I watch them with,” he said. “I went with him and his friends, feeling cool because I was seeing a movie I’m not supposed to see, technically. I remember being in awe. It gave you everything — the thrills, the ride and the humor.”

He definitely felt a sense of responsibility to honor the original film and to make a new generation feel about “Twisters” the way he felt first seeing “Twister,” he said.

“Also, as naturally born creative people, we wanted to bring a new take,” he said. “For me, I take a positive approach — this is a way to connect it to the original while coming up with something that’s honoring the original but doing exactly what the original film did for me when we watched it.”

The script was “really great” and Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment, Universal Pictures and Warner Brothers Pictures were attached to the project.

Seok helped oversee all the movie’s visual effects.

“It was quite a ride to see how much work it takes and how many talented people it takes to make a movie like this,” he said.

Blockbuster

As a producer, he watched the film “over and over” in post-production. He thought it was a hit, but feared he was too close to have proper perspective.

“You want to believe that (because) we put in the work, it’s going to work and it’s going to connect emotionally and hit all the action beats, but you just never know,” he said. “You’re kind of preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. But we knew we left it all on the table. We really put everything into it.”

“Twisters” grossed $81.3 million in its opening weekend, far surpassing the $55 million it was expected to earn. As of this past week, it had exceeded $349 million.

Word of mouth spread — along with lots of posts about lead actor Glen Powell on social media — turned “Twisters” was the summer movie to see.

“Glen is extremely charismatic and it was sort of a perfect storm, pun intended, of the actors and the timing,” Seok said. “I felt like fans of the original, even if they felt like you shouldn’t have made another one, would still be interested. And I felt like our young actors would tap into the younger crowd.”

The ending was purposely left open-ended so a sequel isn’t out of the question.

“We wanted that feeling of, the adventure continues,” he said. “We’ll leave it up to the audiences. We had a lot of fun making it, that’s for sure.”

Seok, who lives in Pasadena, California, with his wife, said his hometown is the place that launched his dreams.

“The last time I was (in Naperville was) a few years ago. it has changed to much,” he said. “(But) It’s still Naperville and I feel very blessed to have grown up there.”

Annie Alleman is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.