Mr. Close Encounters

About this episode

The episode explores Steven Spielberg's influence on UFO cinema and the folklore surrounding his work.

Steven Spielberg is Mr. Close Encounters—the filmmaker who arguably made UFOs “respectable” on screen, starting with Close Encounters of the Third Kind (and its three distinct cuts: 1977, 1980, 1998). In Episode 2, hosts Bryce Zabel and Brent Friedman revisit the granddaddy of UFO cinema and explain why that movie still feels like it was beamed in from the phenomenon itself: the five-note language, the lights, the “orbs,” the stigma of reporting, and the obsessive pull that turns an ordinary guy into a human compass pointing straight at the truth.  Then the episode pivots to the question that won’t go away: Did Spielberg ever get offered “the deal”—the same kind of covert approach Bryce and Brent say they received around Dark Skies? The guys lay out the folklore, the timing, and the circumstantial breadcrumbs, including Spielberg’s overt attempts to get cooperation (and the pushback he says he got), plus the larger “two factions” idea—some parts of government discouraging UFO talk while others may be using the cover of fiction to normalize it.  And because this is Sound, Light & Frequency…

People in this episode

Hosts: Bryce Zabel, Brent Friedman

Topics covered

• UFOs
• filmmaking
• Hollywood
• government secrecy
• pop culture
• personal anecdotes

Keywords

• UFOs
• Steven Spielberg
• Close Encounters
• Dark Skies
• Hollywood
• government
• Tobe Hooper
• crop circles

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Dark Skies, Taken

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