Daisy Edgar-Jones is starring in one of the biggest movies of the summer, “Twisters.”

The 26-year-old British actress appears in the next chapter of the “Twister” franchise, following the 1996 original, which then starred Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton.

It was only four short years ago that Edgar-Jones had her breakout role in the 2020 Hulu series “Normal People.”

Since then, she’s starred in two films over the past couple of years: “Fresh” and “Where the Crawdads Sing.” She also continued her television work in the limited series “Under the Banner of Heaven.”

Now, with “Twisters” debuting in theaters this weekend, Edgar-Jones is starring in her biggest project to date. Ahead of the film’s release, she spoke with the Star-Telegram in Dallas about it.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Daisy, thanks so much for the time. What are you most excited for people to take from the film?

Edgar-Jones: I think it’s just so much fun. I think it’s quite an adventure and wild ride. I’m excited for people to go and just have a great cinema experience. It’s a film you need to see on the big screen and something you can share with people. Just excited for people to have that experience.

I feel like the original 1996 “Twister” was huge for us here in Texas. I’m curious about what your personal history is to that movie?

Well, it came out before I was born [laughs]. I remember watching it when I was really young, but then I rewatched it around the time I heard that [Lee] Isaac [Chung] was going to do “Twisters.” I mean, it’s just so much fun. It’s a classic for a reason. It’s such a great film with such brilliant actors. Yeah, I loved it.

I feel like in that late ‘90s period, “Twister” and “Independence Day” helped refuel the disaster movie subgenre. We really haven’t seen those movies come back into the fold until now with “Twisters.” But there’s also this feeling of like the human spirit persevering through these disasters. Is this subgenre of film something you respond to?

Well, really, I think as an actor, my hope is to try everything. “Twisters” is so different from anything I’ve done. I love the disaster genre. Like you said, what I like about this film is that’s also very human. There are stories of friendship, how we persevere and community. There’s so much about it that just intrigued me and felt like a challenge I hadn’t done before.

Your character Kate is a former storm chaser. A terrible thing happens to her in the beginning of the movie, and she gets out of the game. She’s then pulled back in at the request of an old friend. I don’t want to get into spoilers, but I love Kate’s journey in the film. She has to face her fears and go through a ton of obstacles. Whenever this project came about, and you read the script, what resonated most with you about the character?

I’m so glad the you saw that in it. I mean, she has such an interesting arc. She’s definitely has a more difficult relationship with chasing than the others. She loved it at one point, and still does, and has this passion and reverence but is also very fearful. Like scared of what it can do. Her arc and the story I thought was just so cool. Also because Isaac is so good at exploring characters in his other films. I really was excited to see him tackle that.

You mentioned Lee Isaac Chung, whose first movie, “Minari,” came out a couple of years ago and was great. How was it working with him?

Well, he was kind of the main reason I wanted to do it really. Because I loved “Minari” as well. I also thought it was so remarkable him tackling “Twisters” and why he chose to do it. I mean, he grew up in Arkansas and has a big love of [Steven] Spielberg. He loves those kind of like epic disaster movies. His enthusiasm and excitement around it was so infectious that it made me want to be involved even more.

First Lee Isaac Chung was attached, then yourself, then Glen Powell and Anthony Ramos. I mean, the names just kept going and going. What was it like being on set with this great group of actors?

I think in the original, one of the things that’s so brilliant is that it’s so many young brilliant actors in some of their first films, like Philip Seymour Hoffman. It’s so cool to see and this cast is similar in having absolutely amazing talent. Everybody in it is so brilliant. All the kind of oddball characters that you meet are so well carved and considered and just brilliant performers. It’s so cool to just be in an ensemble cast. I love actors; I love watching them work. It was so much fun every day to be on set with everyone. I felt very lucky.

Some of the characters have such strong personas, and I guess you have to if you want to chase tornadoes. In preparation for the role, did you speak with any storm chasers or meteorologists?

We had a bunch of them, storm chasers, consulting on our film. A lot of them are background actors as well. I actually became friends with some of them and we recently went chasing with them. There was a guy named Sean who was one of our main consultants. He texted us like a couple months ago saying, “Oh, there’s a supercell. Come and see it.” So me, Glen [Powell] and Brandon [Perea] went chasing. We didn’t see anything, but it was still cool [laughs]. They were very helpful, especially with any technical weather jargon, of which there was a lot. It was helpful whenever they could come in and help us with it.

Yeah, I could see that with the jargon. Was it hard to wrestle with some of that?

It was, especially because sometimes we’d thrown in a bit of improv on the day. Or it would be like, “Improv about this thing you’re seeing.” And you’re like, “OK, I’ll try. It looks like a cloud [laughs]. I don’t know.” That was probably more challenging than being blasted with jet engines. It was just learning the right words.

Making the movie with jet engines, and I assume rain and wind machines, what was that like?

Yeah, it wasn’t the most comfortable filming experience, I would say. Although, we were filming in Oklahoma in the height of tornado season, but also in June and July, so it was hot. So actually, the rain was quite lovely a lot of the time. It was definitely like being on a water park ride the whole time, honestly. I definitely slept well every night.

Filming during tornado season, did that bring its own challenges? Did y’all have to stop shooting for bad weather?

Yeah, a lot. Which was so ironic. We’d have to stop filming to then re-create the weather that we had to stop filming for. Which was strange [laughs]. But, no, filming in Oklahoma was so amazing because you really were immersed in that place. But also, it did pose some challenges for sure with the weather.

I wanted to ask you about this handshake that you and Anthony Ramos’ character do in the movie. Was that something that y’all made up? Or did that come from the director?

I think it was Isaac that suggested it. But me and Anthony were like, “Let’s do it.” Anthony had something I think a bit more elaborate. And I was like, “Let’s do something small.” But it was cool. I like that the tornado wranglers have their own. It’s like we’ve all got our own little thing.

After making “Twisters,” do you look at weather differently now?

Yeah, I mean one of the parts of the job I like so much is that you do get to learn a lot about a subject you might not otherwise explore. In the U.K., it’s comical how interested in weather we are considering how unextreme our weather is. I mean, it’s just gray and then a bit more gray or gray in different shades [laughs]. I’ve definitely become really interested in it. Having gone chasing a of couple months ago, I want to go chasing again. I would love to see a tornado from a very safe distance [laughs].

Alright, last question for you, Daisy. “Twisters” comes out in July, what are you hoping audiences take from it?

I think the film is a real celebration of nature and community and a shared passion for something. While also still respecting it. The thing you pointed out is such a lovely thing of it. [The film] really celebrates our perseverance and how we can come together after something and help each other. There’s lots to take away from the film. The main thing is, I hope people are thoroughly entertained and just sit back and enjoy it. Because it’s edge-of-your-seat type cinema. I think it’s fun to just go to the cinema and be entertained, but there’s also some other deeper things you can take from it too.