Steven Spielberg says he suspects we’re not alone on Earth right now

Highlights

• Steven Spielberg told an SXSW audience he strongly suspects humanity is not alone
• The director said recent UFO reporting and congressional hearings reignited his interest in the subject
• He also used the event to defend original filmmaking, cinema-going and his refusal to retire

Spielberg returns to UFOs with an old fascination still intact

Steven Spielberg has said he remains convinced that the question of alien life is far from settled, as he spoke about his new film Disclosure Day during a keynote appearance at the South by Southwest Film & TV Festival.

The director, now 79, said he does not claim to know more than anyone else, but admitted he has long believed that humans may not be alone. He told the audience that he had held that suspicion since childhood, and said the bigger question for him is not simply whether intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe, but whether it may already have been present much closer to home.

Spielberg added that former US president Barack Obama’s recent remarks about aliens briefly caught his attention, particularly because they arrived as anticipation grows around Disclosure Day. He noted, however, that Obama later appeared to clarify that he was speaking more broadly about the possibility of life in the cosmos.

A new film shaped by old questions and modern anxieties

Spielberg said his return to the subject of UFOs was driven in part by The New York Times’ 2017 report on a secret government programme investigating UFO sightings, as well as more recent congressional hearings featuring whistleblowers.

Despite making Close Encounters of the Third Kind, he joked that he has never had any kind of encounter himself, even though many of his friends claim to have seen UFOs or unidentified aerial phenomena.

He also made clear that the idea does not frighten him. Instead, he suggested that confirmed contact would be more likely to unsettle belief systems and social structures than trigger outright panic. According to Spielberg, Disclosure Day explores that potential upheaval, imagining a world forced to respond to undeniable proof that aliens exist.

The Universal film stars Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor and Colin Firth, and follows a global crisis sparked by confirmation of extraterrestrial life. It is due for release on 12 June.

Spielberg defends cinema, originality and the urge to keep going

Beyond UFOs, Spielberg used the SXSW conversation to make a case for original storytelling and the communal power of seeing films in cinemas. He argued that audiences lose something valuable when the industry relies too heavily on familiar franchises and repeat formulas.

He said the experience of watching a story unfold in a full auditorium creates a collective emotional response that cannot quite be matched at home, even while acknowledging streaming platforms such as Netflix as important players in the industry. In a playful aside, he also referenced the recent online chatter around Timothée Chalamet’s comments on opera and ballet, folding both art forms into his wider defence of shared cultural experiences.

Spielberg also reflected on how difficult it had been to get Close Encounters of the Third Kind made, recalling that many people once viewed UFO stories as too far removed from accepted science to be taken seriously.

Elsewhere, he revealed that he has a Western in development, described Always as an underrated film in his own catalogue, and spoke about his preference for discovering visual ideas on set rather than relying heavily on storyboards. He cited Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan as examples of films made without them.

For all his achievements, Spielberg said he still watches Lawrence of Arabia every year as a way of staying humble. And when asked whether retirement was on his mind, his answer was direct: he has no intention of stepping away.