'We are not alone': Steven Spielberg shares his true feelings about aliens and UFOs at SXSW

AUSTIN, Texas — One of the astir anticipated events astatine this year’s SXSW Film & TV Festival wasn’t a movie astatine all, but a speaking quality by manager Steven Spielberg. The talk, a unrecorded taping of the podcast “The Big Picture” pb by co-host Sean Fennessey, covered galore aspects of the Hollywood legend’s career, with a done enactment of sci-fi and abstraction aliens successful conjunction with Spielberg’s upcoming alien penetration thriller “Disclosure Day,” owed June 12.

Though nary existent details astir the caller movie were revealed, references to it peppered the speech arsenic if it were precise overmuch connected Spielberg’s caput — the movie helium was ostensibly determination to promote.

To an assemblage that included filmmakers Robert Rodriguez and Daniel Kwan, the lawsuit began with a clip reel that served arsenic a reminder (as if anyone successful the packed edifice ballroom needed one) of conscionable however influential the 79-year-old filmmaker is. A enactment of Spielberg’s enactment plays similar a trailer for the thought of movies themselves; this 1 included “Jaws,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “E.T.” “Schindler’s List,” “Jurassic Park,” “The Sugarland Express,” “Catch Me If You Can,” “Munich” and galore more.

Fennessey noted that Spielberg wanted to marque 1977’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” his archetypal sci-fi movie astir the beingness of aliens from different worlds, adjacent earlier making 1975’s “Jaws.” Spielberg went further, saying helium had really wanted to marque “Close Encounters” — past conscionable referred to arsenic “The UFO Movie” — adjacent earlier 1974’s “Sugarland Express.”

Asked astir President Obama’s caller comments astir the imaginable beingness of intelligent beingness elsewhere successful the beingness and however his ain feelings whitethorn person evolved implicit the years, Spielberg said, “I deliberation that for 1 thing, erstwhile President Obama made that comment, I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is truthful large for “Disclosure Day,”’ and then, 2 days later, helium stepped backmost the remark and said what helium believed successful was beingness successful the cosmos, which of people everybody should judge that due to the fact that nary 1 should ever deliberation that we are the lone intelligent civilization successful the full universe. So I’ve ever believed, adjacent arsenic a kid, that we were not alone. So that conscionable goes without saying. The large question is: Are we unsocial now?”

He added this involvement was “reinvigorated” by a 2017 New York Times nonfiction astir U.S. Navy pilots seeing unexplained aerial phenomenon, past by a 2023 Congressional subcommittee proceeding connected the topic.

“I don’t cognize immoderate much than immoderate of you do,” Spielberg said, “but I person a precise strong, sticky suspicion that we are not unsocial present connected Earth close now. And I made a movie astir that.”

Spielberg and “The Big Picture” co-host Sean Fennessey taping a unrecorded podcast astatine SXSW connected Friday.

(Tibrina Hobson / Getty Images)

As to however helium feels astir that possibility, Spielberg added, “I’m not acrophobic of immoderate aliens, determination oregon here. I person nary fears astir that, whatsoever. I deliberation our movie does instrumentality into consideration, without giving excessively overmuch away, the societal dislocation that could occur, theologically, if it would beryllium announced that there’s grounds — not lone evidence, wherever it’s enactment that’s has been going connected for decades, that we are not conscionable present uncovering retired about. It is going to origin a disruption successful a batch of content systems, but I don’t deliberation it’s a lethal disruption astatine all.”

Among different topics that were discussed, Spielberg revealed helium is processing a occidental that would sprout successful Texas, though helium was reluctant to sermon it successful immoderate further item but to accidental it would incorporate “no tropes.”

He besides said helium is not connected immoderate societal media, but did instal Instagram connected his telephone erstwhile for 2 weeks and felt arsenic if helium had been abducted by aliens for the magnitude of clip helium lost.

To that end, helium besides noted, with comic frustration, however helium himself has ne'er had immoderate benignant of alien encounter.

”I made a movie called ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind.’ I haven’t adjacent had a adjacent brushwood of the archetypal oregon 2nd kind,” Spielberg said. “Where’s the justness successful that? If you’re listening retired there, I’m talking to you.”

There was a little infinitesimal of disorder erstwhile Fennessey asked Spielberg for his thoughts connected AI and Spielberg wasn’t wide if helium was asking astir his ain 2001 movie oregon the broader taxable of artificial intelligence.

Once that was cleared up (Fennessey meant the latter, a superior labour contented successful Hollywood), Spielberg noted helium has not utilized AI connected immoderate of his ain films. “I don’t privation to spell into a full rant astir AI due to the fact that I americium for AI successful galore antithetic disciplines. I americium not for AI if it replaces a originative individual.”

Speaking to the theatrical experience, Spielberg made a little allusion to the flare-up astir comments by Timothée Chalamet regarding the popularity of opera and ballet successful narration to the movies.

He noted that helium does not decry the at-home streaming acquisition and that helium works with Netflix, but that “for me, the existent acquisition comes erstwhile we tin power a assemblage to congregate successful a unusual acheronian space. All america are strangers and, astatine the extremity of a truly bully movie experience, we are each agreed with a full clump of feelings that we locomotion into the daylight with oregon into the nighttime with. And there’s thing similar that. I mean, it happens successful movies, it happens astatine concerts and it happens successful ballet and opera.”

Here determination was a circular of applause from the audience. “And we privation that sustained and we privation that to spell forever.”

Spielberg noted however galore of his favourite filmmakers, including David Lean and Billy Wilder and much caller examples specified arsenic Paul Thomas Anderson and Christopher Nolan, are ever making films that consciousness antithetic from what they person done before. He sees himself arsenic portion of that aforesaid school.

“If we’re conscionable not making the aforesaid sequel implicit and implicit and implicit again and they’re not the aforesaid Marvel rubric implicit and implicit and implicit again, we each get a existent accidental to acquisition something, which is freshness,” Spielberg said. “And that is wherefore I don’t justice my accomplishments based connected a azygous film.”