27/09/2026
Thank you to all who attended our screening of Close Encounters of the Third Kind on Friday. 👽🛸 Talk and fun facts below:
When Steven Spielberg was about 5 years old, his dad woke him in the middle of the night and drove him to a field in New Jersey, where dozens of people were waiting to watch a spectacular meteor shower. That was the night, Spielberg said, that he began to be fascinated with a world beyond the earth. Steven’s father was a computer scientist and his mother a musician who played the piano so if you know this 1977 film then you can see that their influence on him is clear.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind was an idea that Spielberg had had throughout his teens and explored through his earliest films and stories. He originally called it “Watch the Skies” which is from Scotty’s closing line in the wonderful and highly influential 1951 film, The Thing from the Other World (which was of course reworked by in 1982 by John Carpenter for the Stoke Cult Film Club favourite, The Thing).
Spielberg wanted to write a film script about Project Blue Book the United States Air Force investigation into UFOs. His original main character was to be a police officer or a member of the military but an early script by Paul Schrader didn’t fit with his vision. Paul Schrader is a brilliant writer – he wrote Taxi Driver in 1976 – but Spielberg felt his script for “Watch the Skies” was gloomy and slow. Spielberg wrote a new script himself, and an everyman figure began to be the centre of the action. His first choice for the male lead was Steve McQueen who turned it down because he said that he couldn’t cry on screen. Spielberg went out drinking with him and tried to persuade him, even saying that he would cut the crying from the movie. McQueen, to his credit, said no and that the script needed the emotion and the tears of Roy, the central character. Spielberg offered the role to many of the greatest actors of our time- amongst others, Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino, Gene Hackman, James Caan and Jack Nicholson- who all turned it down. Meanwhile, Richard Dreyfuss was campaigning tirelessly for the part for himself. In the 2001 documentary about the making of the film, Dreyfuss said he resorted to slagging off other actors that Spielberg was considering. Spielberg said that, as they were filming Jaws at the time, he could only see Richard Dreyfuss as Hooper, but Dreyfuss wore him down in the end. Spielberg has said that whenever he wants himself to be in a film, whenever he identifies with a character, he casts Richard Dreyfuss in the end.
Other decisions that Spielberg made at first were subject to change. After all the infamous nightmare of filming Jaws on location, Spielberg wanted to film Close Encounters completely on sound stages. This was idea was quickly abandoned as impractical with extensive shooting taking place around the US and even in India. The most iconic location is Devil’s Tower, a National Monument in Wyoming that dominates the consciousness of the characters. Columbia Pictures were in financial trouble and were horrified when Spielberg’s initial budget of £2.7 million steadily rose to a terrifying £19.4 million. But Columbia ended up laughing all the way to the bank. Close Encounters was a box office triumph, grossing $288 million worldwide
This movie is full of talent as Spielberg surrounds himself with the best. The actors in this are exceptional with a special mention to Bob Balaban who didn’t speak French but got the role of the interpreter by blagging it and as no one else in the room spoke French either, he fooled everyone. He is excellent in the role – let that be a lesson to us all – confidence goes a long way so fake it until you make it! A huge impact on the film was J. Hynek who was special advisor on all things UFO. He had actually worked on Project Blue Book for the US air force and after years of looking at the evidence had turned from sceptic to believer. He has had a lifelong influence on Spielberg which is reflected in movies such as ET and very recently, Disclosure Day.
The magnificent Douglas Trumbull was visual effects coordinator: his work includes Stanely Kubrick’s 1968 film 2001 Space Odyssey and Ridely Scott’s Bladerunner which we have shown at Stoke Cult Film Club of course. Also, we must mention the brilliant designer Carlo Ralmbaldi, whose vision gave us not only the aliens in this film but also in Ridley Scott’s Alien and in E.T, again working for Spielberg in 1982.
And to finish with the genius, that is John Williams, who wrote the musical score for this, including of course the five notes that echo through this film and are burned in our brain forever. He’d worked before with Spielberg in 1975 to give us the musical score with the most sinister two notes in film history for Jaws, for which he’d got the 1976 Academy Award. What absolute insanity and injustice that John Williams didn’t get the Academy Award for the music for Close Encounters in 1978. You will rightly be appalled, and do you know who won the Academy Award for Music that year? Yep, it was John Williams. In the same year as Close Encounters, he’d also created the soundtrack for Star Wars, which understandably won. The man is a God.
And what a year for film, hey?
As you know, I like to end with a quote. Well, it’s obvious, what I’m going for isn’t it?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Recontres_du_troisi%C3%A8me_type.ogg
Stoke Cult Film Club hopes that you enjoy this film x
