STEVEN SPIELBERG

ince ou are criptwriter and

director of thi. film, . ou mu. t
from maJor ,,irline . air traffic
controller . . ir orce
ha,·e a certain atlitud to th te en pielberg ' lo e Encounter of the Third officer , e en four ecurity people
UFO phenomenon. Do . ou Kind i at pre ent outpacing ' tar War ' at the at the Pentagon ho. during the
belie e in clo e encounter ? box-office and ma po ibl becom the bigge t earl 1950s. had worked m the
gro ing film of all time. If o, Spielberg will ha e intelligence corp and ere
J believe in the po ibilily, in twic achie ed that feat· the other time being with round hen FO buzzed the
the 30 years of evidence. l am not capital~ there great nap in
100 per cent con inced, and I Jaw Washington It ound like a
ha en l had any direct pielberg graduated from LA in 1970 and went onderful 1ence fi tion film. but
experience ; my attitude ha traight to niver al wh re he directed epi ode for \: a hington too it ery eriou I .
always been "Prove it '. But l am e eral tele i ion erie , including: Marcu Welby, The be l people I talked to,
more con inced now than l as MD ' olumbo and am of the Game' . He howe er, were the average family
three year go. t pe who never e pect anything
al o directed two televi ion feature Duel extraordinar to happen until it
\ a it our intention to make (1970 and ' omething E ii" (1972) - the former actually does. That was the best
other p ople aware a: your. elf? b coming a cult film and being re-relea ed part of the re earch, becau e it
theatrically in the U.S. upported my feelings about the
Ye ; aware that this wa one Teaming with producer Du·id Brown and Richard fir t t o-thirds of the film. The
an wer to the U my tery that la t part i ju t m vi ion, my hope
UF are e tra•terrc trial entitie D. Zanuck pielberg then made 'Sugarland nd philo oph . It never reall
and not ju t projections of the E pre in 1973 and 'Jaw in 1975. Clo e happened.
collecti e imagination of the Encounter " for producer Michael and Julia
world. Phillip , i hi third feature. The people who come out from
While in Denmark for the recent opening of 'Clo e the pace hip are imilar to
There appear to be a trong drawine done b e witne
relation hip between thi and Encounters pielberg poke to Cinema Papers' Was tbi intentional?
your other film , in that ·ou take candinavia corre pondent Gail Heathwood about
a horror that i alwa with u , the exi tence of extra-terre tial being and the Yes. While ollecting
and bring It ut into the open, problem involved in mounting thi . . 19.2 de criptioos from all o er the
pre enting it in reali tic million project. world I re3lized that everybody
term ... reported the same thing. You
would think that somebody in the
b olutcly. In e ery film I ha e Generally, l am much more For 40 year life as probably the U. . would report something
made I ha e taken something intere ted in tho e things when mo t popular magazine in the more chrome-plated than
which is very uncommon to our they a ect ordinary people, than I .S., and it was very intere ted in someone in ma be S itzerland
everyday Ii e . and therefore hard am in, ay, piderman or FO . ll followed them more who would report omething like
to believe, and tried to make it uperman. clo ely than any other publication a grandfather clock. But all the
believable a po ible. l enjoy and printed large photo , a well reports are the ame - the
creating a re3lity from a kind of How· did ou r earcb • lo e a tories from different ienti t . vehicles the pher in the sky.
fantasy. In Duel for example, Encounter "? J traced the e author and nd the e tra-terrestr-ial looked
there was the challenge of creating di covered that many had written like they do in film ather than
a character out of a truck and I went to the magazine and book . I read a number of them, fire-breathing dragon .
making it appear like the eta ic newspaper section of the public and began to m et the author .
villain in the Western. library and read old copie of Life. Tben I talked to four or Ii e pilot Do ou think that the film ould
31 - Cinema Paper . pril/Junc ()ppo ite. The child (Gary Guffe ). "I
would descnbe what he as reacting to
and he would ma e pictures from my
wo ll and re:act to I oi.e • ur "
STEVEN SPIELBERG

have been stronger if you had not

shown these extra-terrestrials?
Not for most people, because
they would have been frustrated at
not having seen the vision
completed. A lot of people think I
should not have shown the shark
in Jaws, that I should have
continued the mystery of the
water, so that the water itself
became the threat. But that's my
duality - the philosopher-
Francois TrufTaut as the French scientist.
filmmaker and the commercial- Claude Lacombe. and Bob Balaban as his
filmmaker-entertainer. I try to interpreter. Clo.sr Encounrtr~ of thr Third
make those two things work for Kind.
each other. up of the film were you more in
doubt than not?
Did you consider not showing the
creatures? Sure, when I met a lot of kooks
whose stories weren't consistent
Yes, for a long time, and I 1hesecond and third time round. I
personally felt a great felt very disappointed, suspecting
disappointment in not knowing that maybe only the more
what piloted those things. In 2001 intelligen1 people knew how to
Stanley Kubrick considered the make up a good story. But
same thing because he shot many fortunately i1 didn't happen too
aliens - but he never used them often.
in the final film. That was fine for I really found my faith when I
2001, because from the beginning heard that the government was
it had promised an esoteric payoff; opposed to the film. If 1' ASA took
you didn '1 ever expect to see an the time 10 write me a 20-page
extra-terrestrial. letter, then I knew there must be
My film isn't so technologically something happening.
intellectual, and because of this it I had wanted co-operation from Who·~ d1rcrnn11"ho' The two 'd1rcc1or\' - rr,,nw" TrulT.out ,,nd Stc~cn S(l..:lbcri;
would be wrong not to show the them. but when they read the
creatures. script they got very angr) and felt
that i1 was a rilm that would be admi11ed that UFOs exist, and Today it's just the opposite I
Why did you choose Or Allen dangerous. I think they mainly 1ha1they are interested. knew that if 1his film was lo be
Hyneck as technical ad,•isor on wrote the letter because Jaws popular it wouldn't be because
the film? convinced so many people around Was it at any point a moral issue people were afraid of the
the world tha1there were sharks in for you - that you might cam,e phenomena. but because 1he
I knew of Hyneck when I first 1oile1s and bathiubs. not just in panic? UFOs are a seductive alternative
began researching the film the oceans and rivers. Thev were for a lot of people who no longer
because he was famous for saying afraid the same kind of epidemic ot really. When Orson Welles have faith in an)thing.
how it was all a bunch of bunk. He would happen with UFOs did his famous "War or the
had been hired by"the Air Force to It was the same with the Air Worlds., broadcast in 1938. he Did you rec1uire your actor~ to
give easy explanations to Force; they gave us no co- \\3S not so much ,, riting a rndio haH• a similar degree of belief as
complicated phenomena and he operation at all. So when I was program about Martians invading yourself?
was very good at it. shooting the scenes with the army New Jersey as about America's
Hy neck would say a phenomena and air force, I had to do it the old- fear of im asion from Europe. War o. Melinda Dillon believes,
was a meteor or swamp gas or fashioned way and go into a was just a few months away, but but Terri Garr doesn·1. Neither
Venus. Then he began coming costume store and buy the army Welles· inva ion was not the does Richard Dreyfuss nor
across reports that were too suits and gear. Stuka, it was the Martian: 11 Truffaut. When Trauffam was
extraordinary to be discounted preyed on the vulncrnbility of that asked if he believed in UFOs, he
easily. He found he could explain Apparently President Carter has time. said. "I believe in the cinema".
away 80 per cent of reported seen the film ...
sightings, but there was still 20 per
cent he couldn't, and he became Yes, Carter likes ii very much.
fascinated by it. Finally, he went He has reported UFOs on two
to the Air Force and said, "Hey, T occasions. and I 1hink he's a
think there's something here; this believer. In fact. one of his
isn't just public psychosis." campaign promises was that he
The Air Force got very nervous would try and find out what UFOs
and told Hyneck to mind his own were all about. But the minute he
business and just do his job. He took office and was asked whether
got very angry and quit. He then he was going 10 follow through the
wrote a book attacking the promise, he side-stepped the
department. issue.
I met f-lyneek because he was a Since then. the White House
man who had suddenly learned to has been very quiet concerning
believe, and that was a very UFOs. Jt seems that every
uncommon thing to do. I felt he president, including Gerry Ford,
was a very valuable man to have who is interested in UFOs, stops
on my team because he could give being interested the minute they
me the feeling that I wasn't just get to the White House.
making a film about chiffon; that There is something going on
it wouldn't be something that which many governments in the
couldn't stand up under a hot world feel that people should not
light. be made aware of yet. France and
Brazil are the only two countries The mysterious light generated by a UFO While a mother (Melinda Dillon) is terrified
At any point during the setting whose governments have her son (Gary GufTe)) is more trusting. Closr Encounters of the Third Kind. '

320 - Cinema Papers. April/June

 STEVEN SPIELBERG

twice, there is a 50-50 chance it

will gel done your way. If you say
it three times, it might be there
when you want it. 13utif you say it
four limes, it will be there. ow if
I have 10 say it five times, the
person I am saying it to goes home
on the next plane.

Did you change anything as you

went along?

A lot. The script is only a

blueprint. I plot everything ahead
of time and before the first piece
of film is shot; you can see the
entire film on cards. So, when I
eventually hired Doug Trumbull,
all Doug had to do was look at the
ships I had painted, the colors and
structures, and duplicate them
technically That's why I took a
credit on the screen for visual
concepts.

What scenes did you change?

In the original there were many

more family scenes which I shot
but didn't include. There were
also more encounters in the first
half, bu1 that was changed because
I felt I had to save - I couldn't
have a jolt every JO minutes
Driven by a nighlm.ire he doesn·1 comprehend. Roy Neary (Rirhard Dre)<fuss) recreates the Devil's Tower. Wyoming. because it would have hun the
Clo,1> Encounter~ or 1he Third Kind
drama1ic construction. The
elimination was necessary to
Why did you cast Truffaut? before TrufTau1 would say, "I seen the old Hollywood being run concentrate on the final arrival.
know, I know, too much over- by the new. I think if you had
It occurred 10 me that of all the acting; I'll bring it down." II was walked on the et of Clo e Speaking of dramatic tructure,
French people I knew, Truffaut easier directing TrulTaut than the Encounter you would have do you have a special formula for
was the most humane. There is a others. thought of Busby Berkeley, creating tension? It seems that
humanist view of Truffaut that I because it was so technically you rely on under-informing the
have always held - of his films Truffaut wrote a book during the confusing. Lots of technology, but audience, letting them be
and of him as an actor in his films. shooting called 'The Actor'. very old-fashioned. unaware of certain things ...
He has the face of the young boy Have you read it?
grown up. Is it difficult to alwa)'s be in Yes, I'd agree with that. I
It's not finished, but when it is, control? believe in not giving the audience
Isn't it difficult to direct a I'll get the first copy. Truffaut wha1 they want, because their
director? often looked lost on my set It's hard, but then that's my job. collective imagination is much
because he was not used to 200 Close Encounters was the first greater than mine. Thal was why
No, because most of the time extras, 90 arc lights and all the time I ever managed a produc1ion in Jaws I decided to leave the
Truffaut knew what I was about to noise and confusion. He is used 10 this large. Jaws was a very 'Enemy of the People' part of the
say before I said it. After a take small, personal crews and casts; intimate film - jus1 lhree men, a story not that well told.
that Truffaut and I didn't like, I low budgetS. When he came on boat and a shark. This film was I felt the same way about Close
couldn't even open my mouth the set it was the first time he had large from the very first day, and Encounters. The military cover-
that's what confused Truffaut. I up. for example, I didn't want to
am sure his book on lhe actor will beat to death because in the U.S.
have an extra chapler in it. il's passe. We have lived through
Watergate, the CIA, and people
already find them redundant.
Given a lot of the film's special
effects were done in laboratories, Yet the film is made for an
were the actors often called upon international audience, one not
to react to non-existent effects? necessarily versed in American
lore. Did you find it hard to
Yes. Richard Dreyfuss was very decide where the point of balance
upset with several moments in his was?
performance because he feels that
had he seen the effects, he might I always consider the inter-
have reacted differently. national market when I make a
film. It was obvious to me that I
Did you ever feel insecure about would discuss the film more
being in control of all these overseas than in 1he U.S. In the
people and effects? U.S. I merely discussed the
flashiness and the sound, the
I never feel secure doing excitement, the phenomena. Here
anything, especially a film like in Europe I am discussing the
this. The problem is when you story and the philosophy; the
have a crew lhat large you have to symbolism.
The child (Gar)' Guffey) drawn on by a strange glow in the Sk)•.Clon Encounltrs of the repeat yourself. If you say it once,
Third Kind.
it will never get done. If you say it Concludedon P. 3 79

Cinema Papers, April/June - 321

 STEVENSPIELBERG

Steven Spielberg to anybody, a scenario about

Continuedfrom P.321 Lacombe's life leading up to 1he
sandstorm in the desert. Then he
understood.
But I had to make this film Do you think the U.S.
pretty much from my government today would really
understanding. There comes a be so open-minded in their
point where you have to forget the reception of a ,·isitation?
audience and try to please
yourself. Yes. 1 1hink if scien1ists had
I get a lot of letters from people received proof 20 years ago, they
who have seen the film five or six would have had maybe 15years to
times in the U.S., and who tell me condition themselves 10 it. That's
about things they missed the first why the people on the base of
or second time and got the fourth operations were so scien1ific, so
or fifth time. blase at the time, because they
spent all those years preparing for
That's very good for the film ... this one meeting_
The time and the date was a
Yes, it is. It's a miracle if you surprise, but the eventuality was
can encourage people to see any The comrol cemre where the first of a series of UFO sightings ,s recorded. Close not. I think if it were announced
film more than once. Encounters of the Third Kind. today that contact had been made,
scien1ists all round the world
How much monev has the film about today's children. not when I Wasn't it difficult for the would remain sceptical until every
made? • was a kid, because today's cinematographers to adjust to the one or them had been brought
children are much more advanced style of the previous man? into a room and introduced.
Seventy million dollars.• than when I was 11 years-old. Scientists down through the ages
They are reaching pubeny, and All cinematographers in the have been the most sceptical of
What percentage of that is discovering women and their own U.S., like all direc1ors, are grea1 people.
yours? self-importance much earlier. friends. William Fraker and
Laszlo Kovacs. John Alonzo and Have you any more ideas like
About 15 per cent, but not 15 \\ hen do you star! it'! Vilmos Zsigmond are very close. "Jaws" or "Close Encounters"
per cent of the S70 million. It is We often have dinner or go 10 that you want 10 put before the
only after distribution costs, after In May. and ii will be out al parties toge1her. So they know public eye?
the studio has taken its share, the Christmas. I can do a very small each other's styles very well -
exhibitors theirs and so on. It's a film because my appetite for the that's all 1hey discuss. And before ot al the moment. Close
racket. Everybody gets their big ones has been ... 1am full! I each additional cinematographer Encounter was premedi1a1ed,
money first and when it's time for feel like I've had fish with Jaws came 10 work with me, they Jaws was not. Jaws was a book I
the filmmakers to get their piece, and meat with Close Encounters looked at the film that had already stumbled across in an office. I read
it's hardly a mouthful. That's how - now 1 want a light dessert. been photographed and matched it and almost capriciously said rd
it has always been. 1hat style. like to make it - I didn't know
When a filmmaker starts In "Close Encounters" you what I was letting myself in for.
distributing his own films, that·s worked with fiH• grear How did you get the child lo react .Jaws was an accident, bur this
when he can make a profit, and cinematographers.** How did so well? film wasn't.
that's what I will start doing in the that work out? Right now I would like to make
future. But then I am not really By adopting him; we were a musical; an old-fashioned
concerned with how much money They never actually worked inseparable for three months. I musical where 1hestory stops for a
I can make from the lilm - l together. I should explain that I knew what he liked and didn't, song. Lots of heavy tap-dancing,
never have been. make films in an unorthodox way. and how to get him to smile. l smoke coming out of the shoes.
1 shoot the bare, essential script would describe what he was The problem is that films were as
Don't you want to be your own first, then I stop and look at i1. 1 reacting to and he would make innuential in the 30s and 40s as
producer? then see if it needs, say, a new pictures from my words and react television is 1oday. Because of
opening or more explanation in a to those pictures. He was an Fred Astaire, paren1s forced their
Yes, very much; but the reason scene. Sometimes I go out months extraordinary kid, and for a three children to learn tap dancing. But
I wasa't my own producer on this later and shoot 1wo more days. year-old, very bright. tap dancing has not been in vogue
film was because I knew it would And then a month beyond that I As much as I adopted the lillle for two decades, so when you
be a gargantuan project, and I shoot another 1wo days. boy, Truffaut adopted the make a musical you can'1 find any
knew I needed somebody who When I was shoo1ing some of creature. You'd find him standing tap dancers. It'll be hard casting_
could handle the studio and the the additions, John Alonzo was there talking 10 this inanimate
paperwork_ I didn't want to spend available, but Vilmos Zsigmond object in French. He is a
my time at home doing that when was making another film and wonderful man, but l don't SPIELBERG FILMOGRAPHY
I should have been planning my couldn't wail for me to be understand all of him. I spent a
next day's shooting. I'll be my whimsical about adding extra year with TrufTaut, bul I really
own producer on a very small scenes. Later on I got another idea don't know him. Very nice, but TELEVISION FEATURES
film, like my next one. It has a and Laszlo Kovacs shot a few days very mysterious. 1970 Ni,:hl Galler) (ABC 'lovie of 1he
budget of only SI .5 million, with a for me. That's how it works. I Week)
five-week schedule. don't believe that a lilm should Was it difficult for Truffaut to 1970 Tht' P\rchiatri\l UBC Mm 1e of the
stop when the schedule says "last understand the film and his Weck>
So you are still capable of day". role? 1970 God Bit'~\ the Children !ABC Mo111e
of the Week)
w·orking on a small film as My problem is I should be 1971 Duel (released 1heatrit:1lly outside
opposed to a monolith ... handcuffed to the wall. On this Yes. TrufTaut wanted to know the US J
film, I was still culling only days more about Lacombe because in 1972 Somethln,: Evil
Sure, I am going back to my before it was released; I took the film I suggest that the story TELEVISION EPISODES
roots wich this next film. It's seven minutes out a week before has been going on years before the
about what happens when you are it opened. And if I had it to do all lilm begins. I wanted to give the 1970 ~1arcusofWelb),
1970 Name the.-Gaml'
MD
eight to 14 years-old, and what you over again, l 'd take another seven impression that this meeting had 1970 Columbo
do becween leaving school at 3 minutes out. been in preparation for a long
o'clock and having dinner at 6. It's time. But TruITaut wanted to FEATURES

.. Vilmos Zsigmond, lasllo Kovacs,

know what had happened over the 197J Sui:arland Express
William A. Fraker, John Alonzo and past 30 years. So I designed for 1975 Ja"~
• As of early February, 1978. Douglas Slocombe. Truffaut, and I've never shown it

Cinema Papers. April/June - 379