{"id":73249,"date":"2026-03-15T13:40:39","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T19:40:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rovidx.media\/unexplainedco\/?p=73249"},"modified":"2026-03-15T14:57:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T20:57:05","slug":"steven-spielberg-breaks-silence-at-sxsw-we-are-not-alone-on-earth-right-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rovidx.media\/unexplainedco\/news\/steven-spielberg-breaks-silence-at-sxsw-we-are-not-alone-on-earth-right-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Steven Spielberg Breaks Silence at SXSW: We Are Not Alone on Earth Right Now"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>The legendary filmmaker opens up about aliens, his new UFO thriller Disclosure Day, and why he believes humanity is on the verge of something historic.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>At 79 years old, Steven Spielberg has spent decades transporting audiences to other worlds. But during a keynote conversation at SXSW in Austin this weekend, the director made it clear he is no longer interested in fiction when it comes to one particular topic.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know any more than any of you do, but I have a very strong suspicion that we are not alone here on Earth right now \u2014 and I made a movie about that,\u201d Spielberg told the audience during a live interview with podcaster Sean Fennessey.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Spielberg on Disclosure at SXSW\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/70Szm7hiZ08?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The moment was electric. Here was the man who defined the modern alien encounter with <em>Close Encounters of the Third Kind<\/em> (1977) and <em>E.T.<\/em> (1982) \u2014 films that shaped how generations think about extraterrestrial life \u2014 now standing in front of a live audience, making what sounded remarkably like a confession.<\/p>\n<h2>\u201cThe Big Question Is: Are We Alone Now?\u201d<\/h2>\n<p>Spielberg\u2019s comments come amid a seismic shift in how the topic of UFOs \u2014 now officially termed UAPs (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) \u2014 is discussed in mainstream circles. The filmmaker acknowledged being \u201creinvigorated\u201d into making his first UFO movie since <em>Close Encounters<\/em> by two major catalysts: <em>The New York Times<\/em>\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/12\/16\/us\/pentagon-program-ufo-x-37b.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2017 expos\u00e9 on a secret government program<\/a> tracking UFOs, and the recent congressional hearings featuring government whistleblowers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe big question is: Are we alone now?\u201d Spielberg said. \u201cAnd have we been alone over the last 80 years? Have we been alone over the last few thousand years?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He also addressed former President Barack Obama\u2019s recent viral comment confirming aliens are \u201creal.\u201d Spielberg\u2019s reaction? Pure, unfiltered enthusiasm for his upcoming project.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh, my God, this is so great for Disclosure Day!\u201d he recalled thinking. \u201cAnd two days later, he stepped it back to say what he believed was life in the cosmos \u2014 which, of course, everybody should believe in. Because no one should ever think that we are the only intelligent civilization in the entire universe.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>A Director Who\u2019s Never Seen a UFO<\/h2>\n<p>Perhaps most striking: Spielberg admitted he\u2019s never experienced a close encounter himself \u2014 despite making an entire career exploring the concept.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI made a movie called <em>Close Encounters of the Third Kind<\/em> \u2014 I haven\u2019t even had a close encounter of the first or second kind!\u201d he joked. \u201cWhy haven\u2019t I seen anything? Half of my friends have seen UFOs or UAPs. Where\u2019s the justice of that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite his apparent frustration, the director expressed no fear about the possibility of alien contact. \u201cI\u2019m not afraid of any aliens,\u201d he said. \u201cI have no fears about that whatsoever.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, he acknowledged that widespread disclosure could cause serious societal disruption. \u201cOur movie does take into consideration that social dislocation that could occur. If it was announced there is interaction [with aliens] that has been going on for decades, it\u2019s going to cause a disruption in a lot of belief systems. But I don\u2019t think it is a lethal disruption at all.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Disclosure Day: The Film Arrives<\/h2>\n<p>The upcoming <em>Disclosure Day<\/em> \u2014 starring Emily Blunt, Josh O\u2019Connor, and Colin Firth \u2014 chronicles what happens when humanity receives undeniable proof that we are not alone. The film opens June 12 and represents one of several high-profile projects currently exploring UFO lore seriously, riding the wave of recent government hearings and media reports on UAPs.<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-news\/steven-spielberg-ufos-disclosure-day-sxsw-1236530186\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Hollywood Reporter<\/a>, the film has resulted in some confusion online given a documentary last year titled <em>Age of Disclosure<\/em>, which interviewed former government officials about UAPs, with some wondering if Spielberg\u2019s fictional movie is part of a larger conspiratorial effort on the topic.<\/p>\n<p>Spielberg reflected on how far the conversation has come since he first tried to make <em>Close Encounters<\/em>. \u201cNobody would let me make <em>Close Encounters<\/em> because it was on the fringes of science and mythology,\u201d he recalled. \u201cWhen I said, \u2018I want to make a UFO movie,\u2019 everybody thought, \u2018You want to make a movie about The National Enquirer?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Now, nearly five decades later, the director is finally being taken seriously on a topic he\u2019s spent his entire career exploring \u2014 both in fiction, and apparently, in life.<\/p>\n<p><em>Disclosure Day opens in theaters June 12, 2026. Read more about the film on <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/2026\/03\/steven-spielberg-disclosure-day-aliens-western-sxsw-interview-1236752564\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Deadline<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The legendary filmmaker opens up about aliens, his new UFO thriller Disclosure Day, and why he believes humanity is on the verge of something historic. At 79 years old, Steven Spielberg has spent decades transporting audiences to other worlds. But during a keynote conversation at SXSW in Austin this weekend, the director made it clear [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":73250,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ufos-aliens"],"acf":{"youtube_url":"","custom_tts_audio":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rovidx.media\/unexplainedco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rovidx.media\/unexplainedco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rovidx.media\/unexplainedco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rovidx.media\/unexplainedco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rovidx.media\/unexplainedco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73249"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.rovidx.media\/unexplainedco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73257,"href":"https:\/\/www.rovidx.media\/unexplainedco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73249\/revisions\/73257"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rovidx.media\/unexplainedco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rovidx.media\/unexplainedco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rovidx.media\/unexplainedco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rovidx.media\/unexplainedco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}