Daily TribuneThe new film revisits themes Spielberg famously explored in ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind,’ which became one of cinema’s defining science fiction classics.
FILMMAKER Steven Spielberg.
Photo courtesy of Valerie Macon/Agence France-Presse
Legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg is revisiting the science fiction genre with Disclosure Day, a new extraterrestrial thriller that examines humanity’s search for truth in an age of secrecy and misinformation.
Opening in Philippine cinemas on 10 June, the film stars Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth, Eve Hewson and Colman Domingo.
Spielberg directed the project from a screenplay by longtime collaborator David Koepp, who previously teamed up with the director on major films including Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, War of the Worlds and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
The new film revisits themes Spielberg famously explored in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which became one of cinema’s defining science fiction classics.
According to Spielberg, the story was inspired by his lifelong fascination with the universe, which began during childhood after watching the Perseid meteor shower with his father in New Jersey.
“Overnight, I developed a real curiosity about what is happening up there in the stars, on some planet orbiting in any number of countless solar systems, and if one of them might have a civilization that was advanced enough to travel the universe,” he shared.
Although Disclosure Day is not a direct continuation of Close Encounters, Spielberg said both films tackle similar ideas surrounding extraterrestrial life and hidden truths. Recalling reactions to his 1977 classic, the director cited a past exchange involving the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
“I really found my faith when I heard that the government was opposed to the film,” Spielberg said in a previously published interview. “If NASA took the time to write me a 20-page letter, then I knew there must be something happening.”
The filmmaker also described the project as a reflection of modern-day anxieties surrounding disinformation and power.
Disclosure Day is a movie about misinformation and the challenge of finding truth in a culture when powerful people have tools to blur the lines of fact and fiction, of what is real and unreal, in service of protecting and advancing their agendas.
Despite its cosmic mystery and political undertones, Spielberg said the film ultimately centers on compassion and collective understanding.
“Ultimately, though, I think Disclosure Day is a story about empathy as an extraordinary resource, and how it needs to be shared globally, with the entire world, not hoarded for self-interest or reserved for those closest to us.”
