‘We are not alone’: Steven Spielberg calls on governments to end UFO secrecy and embrace full Disclosure Day

Dubai: Oscar-winning director Steven Spielberg has spent decades convincing audiences that aliens could phone home, invade Earth, or hide in suburban closets.

But according to the legendary filmmaker, the latest inspiration for his sci-fi film 'Disclosure Day', out in UAE cinemas now, didn't come from his imagination alone. It came from government leaks, whistleblowers, military footage and a growing sense that what once sounded bonkers suddenly didn't seem so far-fetched.

"When the news cycle started to shift with more and more people from the United States Army, the Air Force, Navy pilots, people in Congress, when they started to release or leak through whistleblowers information that made the incredible almost credible," Spielberg said in a supplied interview with Gulf News.

The 'Schindler's List' hitmaker traced his fascination back to 2017 and the now-famous Tic Tac footage captured by a Navy fighter jet off the coast of San Diego.

"When I saw that footage, when the world saw that footage, I suddenly realised maybe there's a new way of telling a story about the clear and present opportunity to disclose what the government, or what different deep-state contract companies, have been hiding from the general public for 80 years."

In other words, Spielberg looked at a grainy blob speeding across a military screen and thought: Now that's a movie.

The irony? By the time his film was ready, real life had started stealing its thunder.

"I never imagined that after I made the film and got the film all ready for release, the government would actually be starting to not leak but release heretofore never-seen UFO UAP footage," he said.

For Spielberg, however, the real mystery isn't what's in the sky. It's why governments continue to dance around the subject.

"Why should something like an actual disclosure day ever be held in abeyance?" he asked. "We all have the right to know."

And while authorities have released clips and footage over the years, Spielberg clearly feels they're giving the public breadcrumbs rather than the whole loaf.

"The government right now is releasing some very grainy and misty footage that doesn't really prove anything scientifically," he said.

"They're saying we're going to let the American public determine what this is for themselves."

A proper disclosure day, according to Spielberg, would involve a lot less shrugging and a lot more straight talking.

"They're not coming out and saying this is what we have been interacting with, or who we've been interacting with for the last 80 years. They're not saying that. That would be a true disclosure day."

His film imagines exactly that scenario.

"Our film is about a true disclosure day."

Before anyone starts stocking up on canned food and building bunkers, Spielberg believes humanity would probably survive the revelation.

Although not without some drama.

"I think the danger of a disclosure day would be the ontological shock that would reverberate through different countries, different religions," he said.

"It would certainly test your faith."

Still, he's convinced most people could handle the truth.

"Some people don't want to know. Some people would like things to go along just as it is. And there's a lot of people who would like to know, and I think they could live with it."

Then came the quote that is guaranteed to send UFO enthusiasts into orbit.

"God made the heavens and the earth," Spielberg said. "Maybe perhaps made the earth, but also made the heavens."

And in case there was any doubt about where he stands:

"I'm completely certain we are not alone."

While Spielberg was pondering extraterrestrial life, actor Colman Domingo was happily singing the director's praises.

And honestly? The man sounds like he'd follow Spielberg into a spaceship.

"He invites you into this world to help interrogate it with him, to wrestle with it," Domingo said. "He's got a plan for you, but he's also very collaborative."

Domingo described working with Spielberg as equal parts masterclass and playground.

"He's fun. He's a lot of fun," he said.

Not exactly the terrifying Hollywood titan some might expect.

According to Domingo, Spielberg is constantly present, constantly engaged and never hiding behind a monitor halfway across the set.

"He's got his portable monitor and he's right there with you. You feel like you're really doing something together."

The actor also believes audiences will connect with the film because its protagonists aren't superheroes or genius scientists.

They're just regular people trying to process something extraordinary.

"The two characters are just such ordinary men and women. They're us."

And perhaps that's where the film's biggest question lies.

Not whether aliens exist. But whether ordinary people could cope if someone finally stepped up to a podium and confirmed what Spielberg already seems convinced of.

That we're not the only ones looking up at the stars.