“Twisters” Star Glen Powell Recalls Surviving F5 Tornado in Texas as Kid: 'Something You Don't Really Forget'

Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones costar as storm chasers in the upcoming movie 'Twisters,' in theaters July 19

Before Twisters whirls its way into movie theaters, Glen Powell is reflecting on his first-ever real-life experience with a tornado.

While speaking with The Hollwood Reporter for a feature story published May 22, Powell, 35, recalled that he and several of his cousins were driving with an aunt when a category F5 tornado struck near Jarrell, Texas in 1997.

"I must have been like 8 or 9... we were almost a part of the Jarrell, Texas tornado. If anybody knows about the Jarrell, Texas tornado, it's an F5, which is the biggest and largest tornado," Powell said, recalling that he and his family members took shelter in a nearby store.

"I remember looking at my aunt for guidance on how to feel," he added. "It's something you don't really forget. Obviously, as a Texas boy, growing up to go on and make Twisters, it's a movie that as I watched as a kid, [it] really had a big impact on me 'cause it felt like a monster that was living in my backyard."

Related: Everything to Know About the Twisters Movie

A National Weather Service report indicates that an F5 tornado touched down in Jarrell on May 27, 1997, along with as many as 10 other tornadoes that wreaked havoc on Central Texas. The agency's report describes the storm system as "one of, if not the most, powerful tornadoes in Texas history."

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 

More than 25 years after Powell's first experience with that tornado, the actor is starring in the upcoming film Twisters, a sequel to the 1996 movie Twister. Trailers for the upcoming film show the actor is playing a "tornado wrangler" named Tyler Owens, who partners with Daisy Edgar-Jones' storm chaser character to try and prove they can disrupt a tornado.

Related: Top Gun Inspired Glen Powell to Do Blue Angels Doc: 'You Never Look at the Skies the Same' (Exclusive)

"So to make [Twisters], again, with Steven Spielberg, who I did my first school project on, it was all very full circle," Powell, who shared elsewhere in his THR interview that Spielberg's Jurassic Park was the first movie he saw that made him want to work in the film industry, said of the project.

Despite bearing a similar name to its 1996 predecessor, Powell said in December that the film is neither a reboot nor a sequel to the original film, which starred Helen Hunt and the late Bill Paxton.

Anthony Ramos, Brandon Perea, Daryl McCormack, Maura Tierney, Kiernan Shipka, Sasha Lane and David Corenswet costar in Twisters alongside Powell and Edgar-Jones; the movie is directed by Lee Isaac Chung (Minari).

Twisters is in theaters July 19.

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.