3 min readMumbaiJun 9, 2026 09:00 PM IST
For decades, Steven Spielberg has explored the idea of extra-terrestrial life through wonder, fear, adventure, and even humour. From Close Encounters of the Third Kind to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, the filmmaker has repeatedly revisited humanity’s fascination with what may exist beyond Earth. Now, with his upcoming film Disclosure Day, set to release this Friday, Spielberg is once again delving into the subject.
‘Aliens have been here’
Speaking to CBS News, Steven Spielberg described Disclosure Day as the culmination of his lifelong relationship with science fiction. “The film is a summation of of my life in science fiction, which started when I was 17 years old.” During the conversation, Spielberg was also asked whether he believes aliens exist. The filmmaker said he is convinced that extra-terrestrial beings have visited Earth.
“Based on the circumstantial evidence of everything that I’ve gathered throughout my whole life and all the testimonies in Congress that I’ve heard, I absolutely think that they (aliens) have been here and they are here. And who knows, maybe they’ve always been here.” Despite making some of cinema’s most memorable films about alien encounters, Spielberg admitted he has never experienced anything paranormal himself. He added with a laugh, “Isn’t that terrible? Yeah. I deserved it. I deserved a sighting. And I need a sighting. I mean, I’m an ambassador of these guys and they haven’t shown themselves to me. I don’t get that.”
Also Read | Made on $10 million budget, Backrooms becomes A24’s biggest hit with $212 million
Steven Spielberg also described Disclosure Day as a bookend to Close Encounters of the Third Kind and reflected on the childhood experience that sparked his fascination with the night sky nearly seven decades ago. “About five or six years old, I was living in New Jersey, and when your father comes into the bedroom and wakes you up from a sound sleep and puts you in a car, and I kept saying, ‘Dad, what is it? What is it?’ He said, ‘It’s a surprise.’ And he stopped at the big park, and it was the Perseus meteor shower. And that was the beginning of my love affair with the sky. I remember how shocked I was, but I also remember seeing these points of light darting across the sky, you know, and I just remember thinking that was one of the most extraordinary things I had ever seen.”
