Steven Spielberg — "'Disclosure Day' isn't science fiction" (AP interview, 2026)

Source: Associated Press, interview by AP film writer Jake Coyle with Steven Spielberg, on his film Disclosure Day. Published: 2026-06-03. Duration: 13:51. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eO3t2z0H7nc Extraction: youtube_transcript.py (auto-generated captions; speaker labels approximate, >> marks a turn), captured 2026-06-03. Verbatim auto-transcript. Analysis: ../../sources/disclosure-day-spielberg-2026.

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[00:00:00.000] Those are Froot Loops.
[00:00:01.280] >> Froot Loops.
[00:00:03.040] My favorite. I've been a believer since
[00:00:04.880] I made Close Encounters 50 years ago.
[00:00:07.279] Um, but and I wouldn't call that science
[00:00:09.120] fiction. I called it science
[00:00:10.160] speculation. Whenever Harrison was on a
[00:00:12.320] horse, it made me wistful for for
[00:00:14.960] wanting to direct a full western, a real
[00:00:17.119] western.
[00:00:18.240] >> We interrupting our coverage.
[00:00:20.880] >> How will disclosure change us? I believe
[00:00:23.920] for the better.
[00:00:25.119] >> Thank you so much for doing this. Uh, I
[00:00:27.119] I'm a fan of I was always a fan of
[00:00:29.039] Richard Shikl, including his interviews
[00:00:31.039] with you. So was I.
[00:00:32.160] >> And I I know from those interviews how
[00:00:35.040] you often viewed, I think, The Color
[00:00:36.800] Purple as a kind of turning point for
[00:00:38.320] you where you
[00:00:39.600] >> began making films about quote unquote
[00:00:41.360] more serious or or darker material.
[00:00:43.920] >> And so I wonder if this this movie is in
[00:00:47.440] some ways I tend to see it as a a return
[00:00:51.039] to some of the subject and material that
[00:00:53.760] drove you as a younger filmmaker. maybe
[00:00:55.440] some of the wonderments, but made by the
[00:00:57.920] filmmaker who's made all those movies
[00:00:59.440] since.
[00:01:00.239] >> Uh, how would you describe it?
[00:01:02.800] >> Well, it's it's hard for me to describe
[00:01:04.239] it in in in those terms. It's easier for
[00:01:06.479] me to describe it as um, you know, my
[00:01:11.520] first film that will be, you know,
[00:01:13.600] considered science fiction that I do not
[00:01:17.040] consider to be science fiction. you
[00:01:19.680] know, it's much more reflective of the
[00:01:21.600] world as it is evolving and discoveries
[00:01:24.799] that are being made as we speak.
[00:01:26.720] >> Well, just to take aliens out of it for
[00:01:28.960] a second, I was moved by how much your
[00:01:32.240] film is about empathy and seeing
[00:01:34.320] directly into someone's eyes. Yes. Uh I
[00:01:38.240] you open the movie with
[00:01:40.320] >> American flags, little American flags. I
[00:01:43.280] I I'm curious if there's something about
[00:01:45.360] American life today that drove you to a
[00:01:47.920] to tell a story about empathy.
[00:01:50.479] >> Well, you know, I think every movie
[00:01:53.040] should have a have great empaths
[00:01:57.200] emphasis on empathy because empathy
[00:02:00.479] sometimes feels like it's in short
[00:02:02.079] supply. Uh we all have it. Sometimes
[00:02:05.200] we're we we can't use it. uh um
[00:02:08.479] sometimes it's not allowed to be used if
[00:02:10.479] you want to you know stay aligned with
[00:02:12.400] uh you know your friends and your belief
[00:02:14.239] systems but um but I think empathy is is
[00:02:17.680] there for all of us I certainly think we
[00:02:20.480] all have it for our children we all have
[00:02:22.080] it for our friends we just sometimes
[00:02:24.319] don't have it for each other and uh and
[00:02:27.440] so I I thought that disclosure day could
[00:02:30.959] be a a way to talk about that
[00:02:34.400] >> the was it 2023
[00:02:36.800] all those uh videos uh uh came out of
[00:02:41.120] different possible
[00:02:42.720] >> encounters with UFOs, Navy videos. How
[00:02:45.760] how did you respond when you first saw
[00:02:47.440] those reports? It was really 2017 when
[00:02:49.599] the New York Times came out with the
[00:02:51.120] story where they basically a
[00:02:52.480] whistleblower had had given them the
[00:02:55.200] flare footage of the tic tacs and uh
[00:02:58.879] that were that were moving
[00:03:00.319] anti-bballistically through the air
[00:03:02.080] against two you know you know 120 mph
[00:03:05.040] headwinds and doing things that were
[00:03:07.040] impossible for any conventional aircraft
[00:03:09.519] to fly. And and that's where, you know,
[00:03:12.879] that's where u for me all the reports
[00:03:16.640] and all the UFO flaps in the 50s and the
[00:03:20.319] 60s and the 70s and the 80s from Roswell
[00:03:23.360] in 1947 to the the alleged abduction of
[00:03:26.879] Betty and Barney Hill in the 1950s and
[00:03:30.000] and to the Pasigoula incident and to
[00:03:32.879] then the aerial school in Zimbabwe that
[00:03:36.000] John Mack from Yale did extensive
[00:03:38.159] interviews and research about and all
[00:03:40.560] the documentaries that have been made
[00:03:42.480] and suddenly uh uh uh Congress is
[00:03:45.440] talking about it and senators are asking
[00:03:47.840] questions and uh you know there there
[00:03:51.280] there are the subcommittees are being
[00:03:53.360] convened and in 2023
[00:03:56.560] it was the House Intelligence Committee
[00:03:58.799] had hearings where they interviewed uh
[00:04:01.439] Grush, Fraver and Grush, Fraver and um
[00:04:07.439] Graves
[00:04:09.200] um who who were basically blowing the
[00:04:13.439] whistle on on on things they knew that
[00:04:17.680] uh they thought it was time to speak
[00:04:19.919] under oath to both Congress and the
[00:04:22.160] American people and that really
[00:04:25.840] turned everything on its head.
[00:04:27.759] >> So there was no epiphany for you
[00:04:30.000] necessarily. I believe it was maybe an
[00:04:33.680] ongoing kind of revelation. Yeah, I I I
[00:04:36.720] I look, I've been a believer since I
[00:04:38.560] made Close Encounters 50 years ago. Um,
[00:04:41.040] but and I wouldn't call that science
[00:04:42.639] fiction. I called it science
[00:04:43.680] speculation. When I did press on Close
[00:04:45.680] Encounters, I refuse to call it science
[00:04:47.199] fiction. But I I I I was certainly a
[00:04:50.080] believer of life elsewhere. But I was I
[00:04:52.560] would always say until I see a UAP or a
[00:04:55.040] UFO with my own eyes, I'm not going to
[00:04:57.440] categorically state that there's proof
[00:05:00.240] that there's life that life from out
[00:05:02.160] there has come here. But I that I have
[00:05:04.720] changed that because I'm now willing to
[00:05:07.360] to change my mind because of the
[00:05:10.320] circumstantial evidence which is
[00:05:12.000] overwhelming.
[00:05:12.880] >> There's a great deal in this movie about
[00:05:14.960] faith and
[00:05:16.240] >> a lot of it because that's what it would
[00:05:17.520] shake up
[00:05:19.120] >> and and I I my impression is that your
[00:05:22.320] faith in film making is as strong as
[00:05:25.120] ever despite the concerns people have.
[00:05:28.400] Uh what what what gives you despite
[00:05:31.759] industry changes, despite AI, despite
[00:05:35.039] all the things that make people fear the
[00:05:37.520] doom and gloom in the movie industry,
[00:05:40.000] what gives you the faith in the movies?
[00:05:42.560] >> The audience gives me the faith faith in
[00:05:44.479] the movies. the uh I the audience that
[00:05:47.759] after co started to trickle back into
[00:05:49.680] movie theaters and and and and even
[00:05:52.639] though the numbers are still not precoid
[00:05:55.440] level numbers for any films that are
[00:05:57.759] being released now they it's it's robust
[00:06:00.560] more than it has been in in many years
[00:06:02.720] and the audience gives me belief that
[00:06:04.400] people still want to congregate in a in
[00:06:06.080] a dark space you know and in the company
[00:06:08.960] of strangers to share an experience of
[00:06:11.600] of a film that is made by storytellers
[00:06:14.000] and and that gives me faith to continue
[00:06:15.919] making films. I'm I'm not against
[00:06:17.840] streaming. I'm not against movies made
[00:06:19.680] for for streamers. I support that, you
[00:06:22.080] know, and I've made movies for
[00:06:23.199] streamers. I haven't directed one yet,
[00:06:24.960] but I I support that. But I am of the
[00:06:27.680] firm belief, which is why we released
[00:06:29.680] Hamnet in movie theaters and not on on
[00:06:33.360] on a on a streaming platform because I
[00:06:35.919] believe there was an audience for Hamnet
[00:06:38.080] that needed to share that grieving
[00:06:40.560] together in in a comm in a in a in a
[00:06:43.520] form of communion and and I thought it
[00:06:46.400] would be a more healthy experience to
[00:06:48.160] have that in a movie theater than on a
[00:06:50.000] streaming platform.
[00:06:51.199] >> I think people will say the same about
[00:06:53.039] disclosure day. it from the moment the
[00:06:55.919] hail turns to the uh cereal falling into
[00:06:59.199] the bowl. I feel like it's it's just
[00:07:02.240] it's a grammar that is only yours.
[00:07:04.080] >> I love that you caught that. That's
[00:07:06.880] great. Thank you.
[00:07:09.199] >> Well, of course. I mean, it's it's it's
[00:07:11.120] it's
[00:07:12.800] maybe the first moment we know it is you
[00:07:15.199] making this movie. The uh I So,
[00:07:18.560] >> those are Froot Loops.
[00:07:19.680] >> Froot Loops.
[00:07:21.440] >> My favorite.
[00:07:24.000] I I have spoken spoken to uh Marty
[00:07:26.960] Scorsesi before about around when he was
[00:07:29.440] turning 80, he started to think, "How
[00:07:31.039] many more do I have?"
[00:07:32.319] >> Yeah.
[00:07:32.960] >> I'm guessing that's not your mentality.
[00:07:35.280] >> I never think about how many more I
[00:07:36.880] have. It's just I'm just hopeful that I
[00:07:40.639] will be, you know, inspired uh when
[00:07:44.080] something comes along as I was with this
[00:07:45.919] closure day and I as I was with
[00:07:47.520] Fableman's and as I was with Westside
[00:07:49.440] Story before that. I'm just hoping that
[00:07:51.280] that that a subject comes along and I I
[00:07:53.840] always have something in development,
[00:07:55.360] but a subject comes along that grips me
[00:07:57.599] as tightly as this closure day did so I
[00:07:59.919] can go on and make another movie. I I I
[00:08:02.639] think there could be something about a
[00:08:04.479] character who is just compelled almost
[00:08:06.879] out of body towards some action in this
[00:08:10.080] Emily Blunt in this movie, but you know,
[00:08:12.479] Richard Drifus in Close Encounters, I I
[00:08:15.360] wonder if that's a type of character
[00:08:17.120] that you maybe identify with if filmm is
[00:08:20.879] something almost like like it is for for
[00:08:23.440] them for for you. Well, I identify with
[00:08:25.520] characters who aren't afraid of
[00:08:28.960] mysterious things happening to them and
[00:08:31.520] who are fighting for their survival by
[00:08:35.279] trying to discover what they don't know.
[00:08:38.159] and Emily Blunt's character and Joshua
[00:08:40.479] Connor's character, Margaret Fairchild
[00:08:42.800] and Daniel Kellner
[00:08:45.279] uh ha are having things happening to
[00:08:47.680] them in real time that that they can't
[00:08:51.839] explain and they are desperate to find
[00:08:54.399] out what's the matter
[00:08:56.399] >> and that sort of fuels a lot of the
[00:08:58.160] story.
[00:08:59.519] I I spoke to David uh uh yeah around
[00:09:03.920] when you had just finished production on
[00:09:05.600] this and he was sort of buzzing from the
[00:09:08.000] experience. He had never seen He said
[00:09:09.600] that for a guy who's always extremely
[00:09:12.480] engaged, you were engaged in a way on
[00:09:14.399] this that he had never seen you before.
[00:09:16.560] Did Did you feel that way?
[00:09:18.240] >> Yeah. I I would never let David sleep on
[00:09:20.320] this thing. He got more notes from me on
[00:09:23.839] his phone than I've ever sent to anyone
[00:09:26.000] in my life.
[00:09:28.000] And because David loves the process, he
[00:09:31.200] loves the fact that, you know, we don't
[00:09:33.680] sculpt and then we don't sculpt in
[00:09:35.519] steel. We we sculpt in and in and in and
[00:09:38.080] warm wet clay and it's always moving and
[00:09:41.120] changing and evolving. And because David
[00:09:43.760] is so hungry to continue to discover
[00:09:49.279] what is not, you know, what is not um,
[00:09:53.200] you know, uh, you know, sacrosan and and
[00:09:56.959] and because of that, he's just a perfect
[00:10:00.080] partner for me to write with. It it's a
[00:10:03.040] wonderful collaboration you two have and
[00:10:05.120] I I I think that what you're describing
[00:10:08.240] of of that kind of curiosity is
[00:10:10.720] obviously in you and in this movie. Did
[00:10:13.839] did uh I I it's a bold way that you end
[00:10:18.399] it. I would say it's really uh
[00:10:20.399] enthralling. I think I I feel like you
[00:10:23.360] are you are hoping to start a
[00:10:26.000] conversation with this movie. I am I'm
[00:10:27.920] hoping to have people have a
[00:10:29.120] conversation to think about it a lot
[00:10:31.120] even perhaps see it again. I'm not
[00:10:32.959] talking about commercial reasons to see
[00:10:34.720] it again because there are so many
[00:10:36.480] questions people are going to have
[00:10:38.240] coming out of disclosure day and by
[00:10:40.240] seeing it again they are going to get
[00:10:41.760] some of those questions asked but not
[00:10:43.200] all of them answered but not all of them
[00:10:45.600] and I just want to start conversations
[00:10:47.680] about this
[00:10:49.279] >> I subject
[00:10:50.480] >> I'll be seeing it again with my
[00:10:52.079] daughters that uh for how old are your
[00:10:54.000] daughters
[00:10:54.320] >> 10 and 13.
[00:10:55.120] >> Oh that's a good age.
[00:10:55.760] >> Old enough. at a good age. Yeah,
[00:10:57.920] >> they they love you, by the way. Thank
[00:10:59.839] you. But I would say there's also real
[00:11:02.480] admiration for what a whistleblower is
[00:11:04.640] in this film. Uh I I mean uh uh I I tell
[00:11:09.279] me about that. What what what interests
[00:11:11.440] you about
[00:11:14.079] >> whistleblowers have been foundational to
[00:11:15.839] many of the biggest news stories of the
[00:11:17.839] past 10 years. Uh what draws you to to a
[00:11:21.680] character who is, you know, essentially
[00:11:23.440] a whistleblower? Well, because a
[00:11:24.880] whistleblower is risking risking
[00:11:27.279] everything. They're risking their
[00:11:28.640] careers. They're risking gainful
[00:11:30.720] employment. They're risking their
[00:11:32.480] reputations. And there some some of them
[00:11:34.720] risking their lives.
[00:11:37.120] >> The I I I think I've heard you talk
[00:11:39.920] about a western being what you want to
[00:11:42.560] >> Well, I would like to do a western and
[00:11:44.160] I'm working on one right now. I don't
[00:11:46.240] have any, you know, I I can't talk too
[00:11:48.320] much about it, but it's a genre that
[00:11:49.920] I've always loved. And um I I always
[00:11:54.000] feel that parts of the Raiders adventure
[00:11:56.160] movies are like westerns. Whenever
[00:11:58.000] Harrison was on a horse, it made me
[00:12:00.160] wisful for for wanting to direct a full
[00:12:02.720] western, a real western whenever
[00:12:04.959] Harrison was riding a horse.
[00:12:07.360] >> I I I think it's probably uh surprising
[00:12:10.000] that you haven't in a way that
[00:12:11.760] >> Yeah, me too. I think of your every time
[00:12:14.160] I take a photograph I think of your John
[00:12:16.480] Ford's story about the horizon. Uh
[00:12:19.360] >> well that's true story.
[00:12:20.480] >> Yeah it's in the Fableman.
[00:12:21.839] >> He said that to me word for word. I that
[00:12:23.519] that is word for word my first and last
[00:12:25.839] meeting with John Ford.
[00:12:27.519] >> I don't think about every frame I take I
[00:12:30.079] I remember that story. Um I I'll end by
[00:12:33.760] just asking I I imagine the Fable Mins
[00:12:35.920] was just an extraordinary capstone. I
[00:12:38.240] was there in Toronto when you premiered
[00:12:39.600] it when your sisters stood up.
[00:12:41.279] >> Yes. uh a movie unlike any you had made.
[00:12:44.560] The transition from I imagine after that
[00:12:47.120] it's it's a it's a hard question. What
[00:12:49.360] do I do next?
[00:12:50.480] >> It was it was the it was the hardest
[00:12:52.320] question I ever had to ask myself
[00:12:55.120] because there was such completion
[00:12:58.320] uh uh in resolving so many personal
[00:13:01.760] issues that I've never aired in public
[00:13:03.760] before the Fableman's. And I didn't care
[00:13:06.240] whether people thought the Fableman's
[00:13:07.920] was just a a tail, a yarn, or whether
[00:13:10.560] they they cared that it was actually all
[00:13:13.920] true. I didn't care about that. It was
[00:13:16.000] something I did for myself. I always
[00:13:17.440] used to say it was $40 million of
[00:13:19.040] therapy that I didn't have to pay for.
[00:13:20.800] Universal did,
[00:13:23.120] but um but it was it was something that
[00:13:25.839] I needed to to to make when I made it. I
[00:13:28.800] couldn't have made it a year before and
[00:13:30.160] I couldn't have made it a year after. It
[00:13:31.600] was something that had to happen. It
[00:13:33.440] wouldn't have happened without Tony
[00:13:34.639] Kushner who prodded me during Westside
[00:13:37.600] Story to tell that story and wouldn't
[00:13:39.680] leave me alone until I sat with him and
[00:13:41.279] wrote it.
[00:13:42.560] >> And and this came along and and and you
[00:13:45.279] >> after after a little bit of a break.
[00:13:48.240] >> Yeah.
[00:13:49.680] >> We got Okay.