Steven Spielberg returns to the extraterrestrial world in ‘The Day of Revelation,’ with a premise that “is science fiction, but that may, someday, be more science than fiction,” he tells EFE in an interview in which he jokes about what he would do if he encounters an alien. “I would tell him: have you seen ‘E.T.’?”.
Despite having devoted a significant part of his filmography to stories about aliens, Spielberg says he would be “speechless” if he ever sighted one.
“Are you kidding, after all this? I’d probably tell him: have you seen ‘E.T.’? Did I get a little close (to the alien world)?” the director confesses, before letting out a laugh shared with the film’s leading actress, British actress Emily Blunt (‘The Devil Wears Prada’), sitting next to him.
The Oscar-winning American director returns to his cinematic origins with this film in which he asks whether the existence of these beings is more reality than fiction.
Spielberg receives EFE in a London hotel before the premiere of a film that arrives this Friday in Spanish theaters and with which he returns -almost half a century after his first foray into the ufological genre in ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ (1977)-.
On this occasion, an article published in 2017 in The New York Times about a mysterious Pentagon program on UFOs, along with information about sightings in various countries, ignited the spark in the filmmaker, who launched into outlining a story in the notes of his iPhone, starting with its denouement, just as he did in his day with ‘Close Encounters of the Third Phase’.
“When I’m the one writing, I usually start with the ending, because I need to crystallize what I want to say (…) But in other films where I adapt a book or someone sends me a script that I end up directing, I already know what the ending is, so it’s a different approach,” Spielberg explains.
Stevena Spielberg and his Aliens: Classified Secrets
Almost a decade later, this idea that was born on a cell phone screen will arrive in theaters as ‘The Day of Revelation’.
But… why now? According to Spielberg, “people who are in the government, in the military – not just in the U.S., but all over the world, he says – are suddenly starting to talk about the secrets they’ve been keeping from the global population.”
With this idea in mind, ‘The Day of Revelation’ focuses on the hidden documentation that exists, in the hands of institutions, on extraterrestrial existence and asks how it would impact humanity if all this material finally saw the light of day and how far some would go to prevent it.
The plot follows weather show host Margaret Fairchild (Blunt) and Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor), a cybersecurity expert who works for Wardex – the fictional agency that holds classified files on sightings. The pair are forced to join forces in a fast-paced adventure in which they must decipher memories from their past.
The cast is completed with stellar names such as Colin Firth, Colman Domingo or Eve Hewson -the daughter of Bono, the leader of U2-. In addition, the music is provided by prolific composer John Williams, five-time Oscar winner, marking his 30th film in collaboration with Spielberg.
On the other hand, ‘The Day of Revelation’ is the first film in which Blunt works under the orders of the American filmmaker, of whom< highlights his ability to dominate the visual plane without leaving aside the individual work with the actors.
“No one creates images like Steven Spielberg, but what I found incredible was his sensitivity to interpretation. Normally, a director can’t, or has a hard time, doing both,” describes the actress.
On an individual level, one of the acting challenges Blunt faced was channeling the evolution of her character, who throughout the film displays almost supernatural abilities, such as a sudden mastery of different languages.
Of all of them, he says that if he had to keep one for his life, it would be the alien language because he “half invented” it. And he demonstrates his gift for languages, reported Agencia EFE, by ending the interview with a friendly “Thank you, see you later” in Spanish.
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