I don’t know if the Twisters casting director was thinking this deeply about the casting, but part of me wants to believe that the reason why Glen Powell and Anthony Ramos were cast was because of typecasting. Or, in this case, quasi-against-type casting.
Because a major part of the movie is the double twist that Tyler is actually a good guy trying to raise money for people affected by the tornadoes while Javi is actually working for a real estate mogul who wants to take advantage of tornado victims. So to sell the double-turn, casting is key here.
From what I’ve seen of the actors, Glen is pretty good at playing the jerk based on Top Gun: Maverick while Anthony has that likable persona about him that stems from his roles in Hamilton. I want to believe that the casting director thought the same way. Use the actors’ typecasting to throw off the audience’s expectations.
I’ll say this. Tyler Owens’ turn would not be anywhere near as effective if someone like Chris Evans or Chris Hemsworth played him. Along the same lines, Javi’s turn would not be anywhere near as effective if someone like Tony Revolori (Flash from the MCU Spiderman movies) played him.
