00:00A legend of cinema, one of the greatest directors in the world.
00:03He terrified us with a shark and a few musical notes,
00:06made us cry with an extraterrestrial whose gaze was so deeply human,
00:10films that tell us about childhood, about wonder and a certain faith in humanity.
00:15Good morning, Steven Spielberg.
00:16Good morning, nice to meet you.
00:17Thanks so much for being with us on Anne France Inter for your new film Disclosure Day.
00:22Alongside you, one of the brightest new stars in world cinema, Josh O'Connor.
00:26Hello.
00:26Hello.
00:26And thanks so much for being here, Steven Spielberg.
00:30After a close encounter of the third kind, E.T.,
00:32you're returning to your childhood passion with Disclosure Day with this question,
00:38is there extraterrestrial life in the universe?
00:40You know, people sometimes say when you get older, you become wiser, maybe more conservative.
00:47Do you actually believe in extraterrestrial life more than 50 years ago?
00:53Well, 50 years ago, I wanted to believe in extraterrestrial life because I could not find it in my imagination
01:01not to think that we were the only humanity in the entire universe, the only intelligent civilization.
01:11I just couldn't ever believe that.
01:14It just didn't make any sense to me.
01:15At night, I'd look up and they'd see so many stars.
01:17And my dad, who was an electrical engineer, also loved astronomy,
01:21and explained to me that every dot in the sky is a sun.
01:24And around many of those suns are planets, like the nine planets that revolve around our sun.
01:32And my dad kind of gave me science lessons when I was a kid.
01:35And I kept looking up the sky saying, well, we can't be alone.
01:39It's impossible.
01:40Mathematically, it must be impossible.
01:41And then when I got older and I discovered the movie camera,
01:45I suddenly realized, wait a second, I can tell stories about this fascination.
01:49And, you know, and I became not just privately obsessed by what's out there,
01:56but I became publicly obsessed because I started telling stories on film.
02:00And to prepare this interview, I re-watched on Sunday,
02:04Close Encounters and E.T. on the entire day.
02:07And what's astonishing for me is that neither of these films has aged at all.
02:14Do you happen to re-watch your own movies and those two movies recently?
02:19Not recently, but I see because my kids all want to watch E.T.
02:24I have seven children.
02:25So when they reach, each one have reached the appropriate age.
02:27And it wasn't the same age.
02:29Kids mature, you know, slower, faster than others.
02:32Our own kids do.
02:33But I wanted to sit with them and watch E.T. with them
02:36so I could explain to them that, no, E.T. is not really going to die.
02:41It might appear, so that was why I would watch the movie with them,
02:44to make them understand that he was going to be okay.
02:48So that's probably the film I've seen the most.
02:51And do you have a favorite scene in E.T.?
02:52The scene where he comes back to life.
02:55So dumb.
02:56That one, that scene, yeah, with a flower suddenly, you know,
03:00it goes from death to life.
03:04And so does E.T.
03:07But I don't often see my films, again,
03:10because I get so much into the zeitgeist of each movie I direct.
03:15And I explore every aspect of these films
03:18that I just tend to move on to the next project.
03:21Josh O'Connor, I read something about you, a piece,
03:24when you said that Steven Spielberg movies, it was your childhood.
03:28Can you explain what is a childhood shaped by Steven Spielberg movies?
03:33Well, it's hard to say because I think it's in our subconscious.
03:39I mean, I'm talking, you know, when I say that,
03:41I'm talking about me, sure,
03:44but really my whole generation and other generations
03:48because it's hard to explain.
03:51And actually, that thought came to me on the first day of Disclosure Day
03:56where I showed up, I think it was the first scene we shot,
04:00and it was, remember, in the back lot of the wrestling venue?
04:02And there was, I just walked through a door
04:05and there were three blacked out SUVs,
04:10sort of a bit of kind of foggy mist,
04:13a big beam of light and a dripping pipe.
04:16And I was like, oh, there's my childhood.
04:18And it's, you know, it's that thing of
04:21Steven's images that are just there
04:24because we grew up with these films.
04:27What's so fascinating about your film, Steven Spielberg,
04:29is your ability to tell stories so different,
04:32so with very broad styles.
04:35And often we understand that your inspiration
04:37comes from your 15 first years,
04:40as we saw in the wonderful movie,
04:41one of my favorite, The Fable Mans.
04:44We never truly get rid of your childhood.
04:48This is like the core of everything when you're an artist.
04:52No one does.
04:53No one gets, no one can divest themselves
04:55of their childhood.
04:56As hard as they try, you cannot do that.
05:00You know, and often just before someone passes,
05:03they go back to their childhood
05:04and they look for their mother,
05:05they look for their father,
05:06and they call out to them.
05:08You know, we are children throughout our entire evolution,
05:13but sometimes it's more convenient
05:15to forget that part of ourselves
05:17when that part is really kind of missing you.
05:20And it's always there for you when you need it.
05:22And I think that's evocative in a lot of my films.
05:27Josh O'Connor, we all want to know
05:29what it means to play concretely
05:32in a Steven Spielberg movie.
05:34How does it work on the set?
05:36For example, can you tell us
05:38how you can see when he's satisfied with a take?
05:42Really, like, can you explain to us
05:44how it goes behind the scenes?
05:46There's a few clues.
05:48There's some real tough...
05:50I can't wait to hear this.
05:50He's not the best at hiding
05:53when he's happy about something.
05:54So there's...
05:55If it's an emotional scene,
05:57there's often a dead silence
06:00when a scene finishes.
06:01Actually, even if it's not an emotional scene,
06:03and that's because, or my theory is,
06:06it's because Steven is experiencing the scene with you.
06:10You know, I've seen the way
06:12Steven sits by the monitor
06:13when I'm not in a scene,
06:14and you sit really close
06:17and you're in the scene with the actors.
06:20And so there'll be a silence
06:23of kind of just letting it sink in.
06:26I've seen Steven in tears.
06:28I've witnessed Steven.
06:29But the biggest clue
06:31is when Steven comes back
06:32from behind the monitor,
06:34shaking his fist,
06:35and he says,
06:36well, that's in the movie.
06:37And that means it went well.
06:40So, yeah.
06:40Steven Spielberg,
06:41you know, us journalists,
06:43we often talk about
06:44how much society, democracies are divided.
06:47And what's very strong with your films
06:49is that they bring people together.
06:53Whether you're old,
06:55you're young,
06:56whatever your religion,
06:58whatever your belief,
06:59you're mad if you never liked
07:02a Steven Spielberg movie.
07:03How do you manage to do that
07:05and to bring people together?
07:07Well, I don't know
07:08how I manage to do that.
07:10I'm happy when you say that.
07:14But I think,
07:16I always thought that cinema,
07:19and when I say cinema,
07:20I don't mean sitting at home
07:21and watching a movie on television,
07:22but I think that movie going,
07:24leaving your home
07:26and going out to the movies,
07:29and risking sitting
07:30in a crowded, packed theater
07:32with a lot of strangers,
07:34except for those
07:35you bring to the movie with you,
07:37I always thought
07:37that was the greatest way
07:38to build community.
07:39Because I know sitting
07:41in a movie theater
07:41that I probably don't agree
07:43with half the people
07:44in that theater,
07:44nor do they agree with me.
07:46But all of a sudden,
07:47we're all in agreement
07:49that something coming
07:50from the screen
07:51is having an emotional impact on us
07:54or a comedic impact on us.
07:56It's making us laugh together,
07:58making us cry together.
07:59It's making us think together.
08:03And I think movies
08:05have always been
08:06one of the best ways
08:08to bring people together.
08:09And that's always been
08:11my core belief
08:12and why I keep doing this.
08:13But we can all be afraid
08:15of what cinema
08:16will look like in 25 years
08:18with artificial intelligence,
08:20with precisely people
08:21who are going less and less
08:22in theaters
08:23and more and more
08:24watching movies in their home.
08:25Do you have this anxiety
08:27of what cinema
08:28will look like
08:28in a century?
08:30You know,
08:31it doesn't matter to me
08:32what cinema looks like
08:33in a century
08:34as long as cinema
08:35is still cinema.
08:37As long as in 50 years,
08:40people are still gathering
08:41together to share,
08:43have a shared experience.
08:45That's what I never,
08:46and during COVID,
08:47that was in jeopardy
08:48of going away forever.
08:50Films that were made
08:50for movie theaters
08:51were suddenly being released
08:52on streaming platforms
08:54because nobody was going
08:55to the movies
08:55and that was understandable.
08:57It's taken a lot
08:58to recover from COVID
08:59and movie going
09:00is suddenly coming back,
09:02not exactly
09:03at the pre-COVID levels,
09:05but movie going
09:06is coming back.
09:08Josh O'Connor,
09:09do you know what is
09:09the Spielberg face?
09:11I think I know what you,
09:12what people mean
09:13when they say it.
09:14I explain for those
09:15who are listening to us
09:16is the fact that
09:16rather than showing
09:17the pteranother
09:18in Jurassic Park,
09:20the shark in Jaws,
09:21you see the look
09:22on the face
09:23of the character
09:24who is discovering
09:25the dinosaur
09:26or the shark.
09:27There are few
09:29Spielberg faces
09:30in Disclosure Day.
09:31How do the character
09:32play the Spielberg face?
09:34Is it hard
09:34for an actor?
09:36I haven't quite heard
09:37it put that way.
09:37That's very good.
09:38It is good.
09:39I want to hear
09:40how you answer this.
09:41Well, the truth is
09:42that you,
09:43I mean,
09:43it is just experiencing,
09:45it's witnessing
09:46what the character
09:47is witnessing.
09:48The difference is
09:49that Stephen
09:50is interested
09:50in how we're
09:51experiencing it
09:52rather than
09:52what they're experiencing.
09:54And so that's just
09:54a director
09:55who's interested
09:55in the acting
09:57and the performance.
09:58But also acknowledging
10:00or from an audience
10:01perspective,
10:02what's so brilliant
10:04about Jaws
10:04is that we don't see
10:06the shark
10:07until very late on.
10:09It's the anticipation.
10:09Almost one hour
10:10before seeing the shark,
10:11the Spielberg face,
10:12is it something
10:12you theorize
10:13or it's only like
10:14feeling and the way
10:15you feel about
10:17turning the movie?
10:18Well,
10:18I never thought
10:20about using my name
10:21on the faces
10:22of those reacting
10:23in the audience
10:25or on screen
10:26in my films.
10:27But maybe it's
10:29the same face.
10:30Maybe I kind of direct
10:31all you to look
10:32exactly alike.
10:33I don't know.
10:34I'll have to think
10:34about that one.
10:36One constant
10:36in your cinema,
10:37Stephen Spielberg,
10:38is what it says
10:38about American democracy.
10:40You said recently
10:41about Trump's America.
10:42I read this quote.
10:43This is a moment
10:43in our country's history
10:44that films
10:45will be made about.
10:46It will teach
10:47our children
10:47what not to do
10:48and how not to behave.
10:50What would a film
10:51about Trump
10:52look like?
10:54Well, I wouldn't
10:55be the filmmaker
10:56to tell that story.
10:57So you'll have
10:58to ask the person
10:59who would take that on.
11:01I think that really,
11:03you know,
11:04is inconsequential to me.
11:06What's consequential
11:07to me is getting people
11:09to understand
11:10that Disclosure Day
11:12is about something
11:14that world leaders,
11:16you know,
11:17have a lot of power.
11:19World leaders in Russia
11:20and China,
11:22you know,
11:22in America,
11:23you know,
11:24have the ability
11:25to get at the truth
11:27and to disclose
11:28the truth to the world.
11:30And I would hope
11:31that those world leaders
11:34will act sooner
11:35than later.
11:36But are you anxious
11:37about today's America?
11:39The America, precisely,
11:40you will leave
11:41to your seven children?
11:42I say to my seven children,
11:45you are tomorrow's America.
11:47And I am,
11:49all I can do
11:50is turn over,
11:52you know,
11:53my vote to their votes.
11:54I mean,
11:55it's up to them.
11:56And my children will,
11:57and our children
11:59will determine
12:00what not just America,
12:02America isn't the center
12:04of the entire universe
12:05here on planet Earth,
12:06but might all the children
12:08of the world
12:08will discover
12:09and determine
12:10what our futures
12:11are going to be like.
12:12Thank you so much,
12:13Steven Spielberg,
12:14Josh Okonoff.
12:14And I tell all our listeners
12:17to go and see
12:18this wonderful film,
12:19Disclosure Day.
12:19It's in theaters,
12:21June 10.
12:21Thank you so much.
12:22Thank you so much.
12:23It was great talking to you.
12:24to go and see it.
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