Do Aliens Exist? Steven Spielberg Believes They Do

The Daily

The New York Times

News, Daily News

4.3 • 107.8K Ratings

🗓️ 14 June 2026

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Almost 50 years ago, Steven Spielberg directed “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” the story of an average man who discovers that humanity may not be alone in the universe. Over the decades, Spielberg has directed several movies about what would happen if humanity made contact with aliens. Would the aliens be kind like the title character in “E.T. the Extra Terrestrial”? Would they be cruel like the murderous aliens of “War of the Worlds”? And regardless of what the aliens were like, would we humans be ready to receive them? Spielberg returns to the question of whether we’re alone in the universe, and what it might mean if we’re not, with his new film “Disclosure Day.” Today, he sits down with Rachel Abrams, a host of “The Daily,” to talk about the film, and about what he has learned over five decades of making movies about aliens.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Do you want to check any shots?
0:01.9	Do you want to check your shots?
0:03.2	If you, if you Steven Spielberg, want to take a look, I... Let's see your shot. Oh, there, okay, so what do you think of that? It's a good shot. I mean, it's like a nice framing. Does it convey seriousness, like serious journalists? Yes, I like seeing all of this. Oh, you don't have meat like that, do you ever? Push back. What was that great line of Jopsy?
0:24.3	You know, how far back Oh, you don't have meat like that, do you ever? Push back.
0:23.1	What was that great line in Tussi?
0:26.1	You know, how far back do you have to go to make it look good?
0:27.8	What about Cleveland?
0:37.0	From the New York Times, I'm Rachel Abrams, and this is the Daily on Sunday.
0:40.9	Stephen Spielberg.
0:45.0	The name is synonymous with big Hollywood blockbusters,
0:47.9	just to rattle off a few of them, jaws.
0:49.2	You're going to need a bigger boat.
0:50.0	E.T.
0:52.0	E.T. Phone home.
0:53.1	Indiana Jones. That belongs in a museum.
0:55.2	Jurassic Park.
0:58.7	This week, he's got a new movie out.
1:00.7	He's 35th.
1:02.0	It's called Disclosure Day.
1:03.8	And it returns to questions that Steven Spielberg has picked at throughout his entire career.
1:09.4	Do aliens exist?
1:11.5	And if they do, how will we react to them?
	...

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