Asked if he believes in aliens, Spielberg wonders: 'Why haven't they appeared to me?'

Steven Spielberg, the Hollywood director behind alien-themed films such as "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "War of the Worlds," has spoken out about his beliefs on extraterrestrial life.

In an interview with The New York Times published on YouTube on Saturday, Spielberg was asked whether he strongly believes in the existence of aliens. "When I was young, there wasn't the enormous volume of visual evidence that has accumulated over the past 50 years," he said. "When I made 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' in 1976, that kind of circumstantial evidence didn't exist — but now it does, and it's very compelling and convincing."

He also recalled how he once described the film. "When I was doing press in 1996, I called 'Close Encounters' not science fiction but 'science speculation,' and my position was that seeing is believing," he said. He then joked: "I just can't understand why I still haven't seen a UFO — why they haven't appeared to me yet."

Spielberg also admitted that he drew inspiration for his alien designs from accounts of real-life sightings.

"I had to design the aliens based on consistent reports from people who claimed to have had close encounters of the third kind," he said.

He pointed to a specific case as an example. "Look at the Ariel School incident in Zimbabwe, investigated by Dr. John Mack of Harvard — 65 elementary school students witnessed beings descending from a spacecraft," he said. "The children all described their eyes as hypnotic, wrapping around the sides of their faces like Ray-Ban sunglasses."

When asked, in a lighthearted way, whether aliens might have seen his movies, Spielberg said he doubted it. "I feel like I'm their spokesperson, and yet I have never once seen anything flying overhead," he said.

He added: "So many people believe in this that I now believe in the believers."

Spielberg also revealed that he enjoys looking at food on social media.

Asked about unexpected things he enjoys — including how he consumes content — he said: "I'm a foodie. I want to know nine different ways to make a taco."

"It's about using my imagination to conjure up something I haven't seen before," he said. "I've actually made a few things this way. I tried to follow along, but they didn't turn out looking great."

However, he noted that none of this has translated into actual filmmaking. "There are no movies in these videos," he said.

Spielberg also fielded a more absurd question: was E.T. sticky or dry? "Slightly damp. Not slimy," he said with a laugh. "If it were sticky, I'd think of the alien teeth in 'Alien,'" he added. "E.T. never had drooling tentacles."

He named "Schindler's List" as the film he finds hardest to watch. "It was hard to make and hard to watch," he said. "I understand that others find it hard to watch too." He added: "It's a film I could not have lived without making."

Asked whether movie theaters would still exist in 50 years, he said yes. "It will be a new, original way of delivering entertainment through new technology," he said.

Meanwhile, Spielberg's new film "Disclosure Day" opened June 10. According to Variety, the mystery thriller earned $44 million in North America and $48.9 million across 73 countries overseas in its first three days, for a global total of $92.9 million.

"Disclosure Day" is a mystery thriller about the clash between government agencies trying to conceal the existence of extraterrestrial life and those determined to reveal it. Emily Blunt and Josh O'Connor star in the film.

미지의 존재와 인류의 조우…SF 거장은 ‘믿음’을 택했다 [리뷰]

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