Not only will Oscar- and Emmy-winning actress Helen Hunt appear at the Motor City Comic Con in Novi for the first time, but she also will host a screening of 1996’s “Twister” at the Emagine Novi — both on Saturday, May 18.

Hunt won four consecutive Emmys for the sitcom “Mad About You” and an Oscar for 1997’s “As Good As It Gets,” which co-starred Jack Nicholson, who also won the Oscar for this movie.

“Twister” — directed by Jan de Bont (“Speed”) with Oscar winner Steven Spielberg (“Schindler’s List”) serving as executive producer — was 1996’s second-highest grossing movie (behind “Independence Day”) with a gross of $495 million. In it, Jo Thornton-Harding (Hunt) and her soon-to-be-ex-husband Bill Harding (the late Bill Paxton, “Aliens”) are storm chasers. Just as Jo is about to sign their divorce papers, the two find themselves back in the saddle again as extremely violent tornadoes come their way in Oklahoma.

The couple created “Dorothy” (named after “The Wizard of Oz” character), which is a capsule-like device that contains hundreds of small weather sensors Bill designed. Dorothy could revolutionize tornado research and potentially provide an earlier storm-warning system, but the device must be deployed dangerously close to a tornado in order to work. They manage to do just that but not after a few close calls that terrify their team — which includes Rabbit (Alan Ruck, 1986’s “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”) and Dusty (the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, 1997’s “Boogie Nights”) — and Bill’s fiancée Melissa (Jami Gertz, 1987’s “The Lost Boys”).

Ruck — who recently appeared in Royal Oak for a “Bueller” screening — spoke fondly of Hunt, who could not be reached for comment. “Twister” marked the second time the two worked together. They filmed a TV pilot in 1988 called “Shooter” in Thailand.

“We were way out in the country and one night a hotel band played ‘The Tennessee Waltz.’ Helen looked at me and said, ‘We have to, right?’ So we got up and danced,” recalled Ruck. “(When they worked again on ‘Twister’), she’d become a star because of ‘Mad About You.’ It was just very comfortable working with an old friend.”

“Twister” was a difficult film to make, according to Ruck. The first director of photography, Don Burgess (1994’s “Forrest Gump”), left the production, taking half the crew with him. Burgess was replaced with Jack N. Green, who had been Oscar winner/Hollywood legend Clint Eastwood’s (2004’s “Million Dollar Baby”) director of photography on 1992’s “Unforgiven” and 1995’s “The Bridges of Madison County.” Ruck pointed out de Bont was under pressure from the studio and Spielberg.

During filming, Hunt and Paxton suffered minor retinal burns when flooded with high-intensity klieg lights. They also needed hepatitis shots after filming in an unsanitary ditch. Furthermore, in the scene where Hunt jumps out of the truck into the cornfield, the door was forced back and struck her in the head.

“The shoot did not go well, but the movie turned out great and made a lot of money,” Ruck said.

A sequel called “Twisters” will be released July 19. It features Glenn Powell (“Top Gun: Maverick”) as a tornado wrangler. None of the original cast are connected to it, including Hunt. In fact, Hunt proposed a sequel and wanted to direct.

“I was talking to Helen about it,” Ruck said. “She pitched an idea for a sequel because there’s apparently this young group of African-American storm chasers in real life. She thought it would be interesting to tell their story — a group of African-American kids who chase tornadoes. She thought that would be cool and talked to people who would be interested. She pitched this story because she also wanted to direct it. … Nothing happened.”

Ruck continued: “So now they’ve made this sequel, which is the same movie. It’s basically the same movie but they’re not calling it a remake, but I don’t know what else to call it. The characters have different names, but it’s the same story. We were not invited to be part of it. It would’ve been fun if a few of us from the old gang appeared — at least Helen. It would’ve been nice if there was some sort of nod to Bill Paxton and Phil Hoffman.”