Steven Spielberg acknowledges that some internet users believe his new film, Disclosure Day, is designed to prepare the public for real UFO revelations. However, the legendary director insists the timing is coincidental.
No Inside Track, Says Spielberg
Earlier this year, U.S. President Donald Trump authorized the release of documents and videos detailing Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAPs). Conspiracy theorists suggest Spielberg's film, conceived in 2017 after reading a New York Times article about the Pentagon's secret UFO program, is part of a soft launch to acclimate people to the idea that we are not alone.
Spielberg, 79, dismisses such theories. "Unlike some popular conspiracy theories that I am the first wave to condition the general public into accepting some disclosure from the highest levels of government, I do not have an inside track. That is not true. I'm a filmmaker; a storyteller," he told Postmedia from New York City.
Plot and Cast
Now playing in theatres, Disclosure Day follows a cybersecurity expert (Josh O'Connor) and a TV meteorologist (Emily Blunt) as they team up to expose the U.S. government's cover-up of extraterrestrial secrets. Colin Firth plays the head of a defense contractor trying to stop them, with support from Wyatt Russell, Eve Hewson, and Colman Domingo.
Blunt, 43, prepared for her role as Margaret Fairchild by studying real UAP encounters. "The fingerprints of this experience were deep," she said. "You know when you are making something rare, and playing someone rare."
Realism and Thematic Bookend
Spielberg describes the film as a thematic successor to Close Encounters of the Third Kind. "During Close Encounters I would say to myself: 'Wouldn't it be wonderful if all of this turned out to be true?' Almost 50 years later, I'm now thinking: 'Wouldn't be it be wonderful for us to actually know that all of this is true?'"
The director, known for blending fantasy with realism, says he prefers "stories that are closer to home." He initially called Close Encounters "science speculation" because of its speculative nature about extraterrestrial visitation.
Real-World Lore Fuels Story
After receiving Oscar nominations for West Side Story and The Fabelmans, Spielberg felt there was "room for one more film" about aliens. In July 2023, U.S. congressional hearings on UAPs solidified his decision. He began sketching the story on his iPhone and turned a 52-page treatment over to screenwriter David Koepp.
The film incorporates real-world lore, including the Roswell incident, crop circles, recovered memories, CIA remote viewing research, and reverse-engineering of crashed UAP technology. "If you go down the rabbit hole of UFO lore, you find all this speculation that various technological advances we have made as a civilization owe their existence to technology that has been salvaged from crashed UAP craft," Spielberg said.
Spielberg's Beliefs and Future Projects
Turning 80 in December, Spielberg hints this may be his last UFO film. Next, he plans to direct a western, his first in that genre. Despite the conspiracy theories, he holds firm beliefs: "I do have very strong beliefs that we're not alone in the universe. And as recently as 2017 I have very strong beliefs that perhaps we are not alone here on Earth, either."
Disclosure Day is now in theatres.
