“Close Encounters of the Third Kind” Movie?
“When they [NASA] read the [Encounters] script they got
very angry and felt that it was a film that would be dangerous.”
- Steven Spielberg, 1978 Cinema Papers interview about
his 1977 movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind
August 26, 2010 Bristol, England - Two British authors, Matthew Alford, 32, and Robbie Graham, 29, are investigating the concept that the CIA and other American intelligence agencies manipulate Hollywood to produce television and movies that can alter public perceptions and be used to monitor public reactions. Robbie is a full-time doctoral candidate at the University of Bristol working on a Ph.D. to examine Hollywood's historical representation of UFOs and potential extraterrestrial life. Robbie formerly was Associate Lecturer in Media at Stafford College in Stafford, England.
Matthew Alford, Ph.D., earned his doctorate in 2008 from the University of Bath, England, with his Ph.D. thesis entitled, “A Propaganda Model for Hollywood? Representations of American Foreign Policy in Contemporary Films.” Matthew has written for the Guardian, Fortean Times, New Statesman and BBC radio. He has also lectured at the Universities of Bath and Bristol. Matthew has a new August 2010 book released by the U. K.'s Pluto Press entitled Reel Power: Hollywood Cinema and American Supremacy.
While researching Hollywood history and the background of Steven Spielberg specifically, Matt Alford discovered a 1978 interview with film director Spielberg about his 1977 blockbuster Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The interview was published in a 1978 edition of the now out-of-print magazine called Cinema Papers. Below in the section highlighted by yellow lines, Spielberg answers the interviewer's question: At any point during the setting up of the film were you more in doubt than not?
Spielberg's reply: “I really found my faith when I heard that the government was opposed to the film. If NASA took the time to write me a 20-page letter, then I knew there must be something happening.
“I had wanted co-operation from them, but when they read the script, they got very angry and felt that it was a film that would be dangerous. I think they mainly wrote the letter because (Spielberg's previous) Jaws convinced so many people around the world that there were sharks in toilets and bathtubs, not just in the oceans and rivers. They were afraid the same kind of epidemic would happen with UFOs." (c'mon now. really?)
In this 2-Part Earthfiles report, I'll begin with Robbie Graham's comments about a 2010 article he co-wrote with Matthew Alford entitled, Spielberg's UFO Secrets. At the conclusion of our interview, I have reprinted with permission their entire article in More Information.
More at link including interview (in which the interviewer seems to BE YELLING):
http://www.earthfiles.com/news.php?ID=1 ... nvironment
Probably a can o' worms around here, but I just ran across it and expect somebody with a username that rhymes with "cue" to give more background. I've read and heard Spielberg is a CIA asset, so I'm up on that.
