Even amidst an illustrious career, Steven Spielberg’s films about visitors from other worlds stand out. Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial remain some of the filmmaker’s most enduring, beloved works. At a glance Disclosure Day appears to follow in their footsteps, and though thematic lines can be drawn between these movies about mysterious wonders from outer space, perhaps the more interesting parallel is found in Spielberg’s previous film, The Fabelmans. What do you do with a preternatural gift for understanding and communication rooted in past trauma, and how do you react when your efforts to make sense of that become critically important to millions of people you’ve never met? It’s a master filmmaker wrestling with his own legacy and how the tool of visual storytelling can be used both to divide, suppress, and impose one’s own perspective on another as well as to illuminate, enlighten, and bring people together.
From digging into how Spielberg crafts his oners to working alongside the director while he discovers the movie in the process of making it, Camera Operator had a chance to speak with A camera operator David Emmerichs, SOC and B camera and Steadicam operator Buzz Moyer, SOC about their work on this film. We also spoke with drone operator Dexter Kennedy to learn about the new creative doors that the drone work in Disclosure Day unlocked for Spielberg.
On the run from his former employer, the shadowy agency Wardex, Daniel Kellner intends to reveal the truth that the agency has kept secret for decades about the existence of extra-terrestrial life, but he can’t do it alone. Meanwhile, after a strange encounter with a cardinal that flew through the window of her home, KCXE meteorologist Margaret Fairchild suddenly finds herself knowing other people’s most intimate thoughts and able to speak languages she doesn’t know—including those not of Earth. As Margaret and Daniel’s paths are drawn together, they will have to face revelations not just of the nature of their world, but also their own pasts. Disclosure Day is directed by Steven Spielberg from a screenplay by David Koepp and based on a story by Spielberg. It stars Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth, Eve Hewson, and Coleman Domingo.
Read the interview here on SOC.org
