Since 1975 when “Jaws” redefined the Hollywood blockbuster, Steven Spielberg has led the film industry, mixing the serious and the smart, making films his way, without compromise. His latest film about aliens and UFOs, “Disclosure Day,” arrives this week and rates as an excursion into his perhaps favorite field.
After all, “Disclosure” is this filmmaker’s fifth film on the subject. Impeccably cast – Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth, Eve Hewson, and Colman Domingo star – “Disclosure” is notable for Spielberg’s screen credit for coming up with the “aliens are here” story. David Koepp, a frequent collaborator, scripted.
It’s apparent that science fiction occupies a truly special place in the director’s psyche. Extravagantly productive for over 50 years as a director-producer, Spielberg is officially credited for writing or story on just six movies with half sci-fi.
The sci-fi Spielberg began spectacularly, when he conceived, wrote and directed 1977’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” the first movie he made after “Jaws.” And it was the first movie where he had the clout to do it exactly his way.
It was an enormous gamble. And it paid off in the same year that saw “Star Wars” dominate every box-office list.
As for what the third kind of encounter is, it refers to an astronomer’s theory that the third kind is when a human is able to see an alien/extraterrestrial up close.
In 1982 Spielberg made another career-defining hit, “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.” The story, which he developed with two screenwriters, is about an alien stranded on Earth, befriended by a lonely boy, hidden by the suburban kids who have bonded with and want to protect E.T. It leads to what can only be described as a magical conclusion.
Spielberg’s “A.I. Artificial Intelligence” in 2001 has a bizarre origin story. Stanley Kubrick, the legendary filmmaker behind “2001” — he was also a special effects pioneer — had the rights to a short story about a boy who is an android. After years of development with various screenwriters and believing no child actor could play the role, Kubrick passed the rights to Spielberg.
Inspired by Brian Aldiss’ short story “Supertoys Last All Summer Long,” with a story credit going to Ian Watson who had worked for Kubrick, Spielberg, taking the screenplay credit, created a chilly, perhaps anti-E.T. alien movie starring Haley Joel Osment, the “I see dead people” child star of “The Sixth Sense.”
In his final sci-fi entry until “Disclosure Day,” Spielberg teamed up with box-office titan Tom Cruise for a no-brainer remake of H.G. Wells’ classic “War of the Worlds.” It was a period when both needed to rekindle a bit of box-office clout, if not prestige.
The1953 Hollywood version, also a hit, was set during the Cold War. Spielberg’s take emphasized post-9/11 dread.
Come Friday, we will see what kind of disclosures the aliens on planet Earth are going to reveal.
“Disclosure Day” opens Friday
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.bostonherald.com ’
