An Honest Look At “Disclosure Day” and Spielberg’s Influence on Hollywood

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1:06Hello and welcome to Little Gold Men, Vanity Fair's podcast for film, TV, and awards lovers. I'm Rebecca Ford. And I'm John Ross. Today, we're going to talk about the biggest film of last weekend, Steven Spielberg's Disclosure Day. It's a sci-fi action movie about the race to share with the world that we're not alone in this universe, and it's gotten some mixed reactions. So I'm excited to dig into it. Spielberg is, of course, an Oscar record holder. He holds the most nominations ever for Best Picture with 14, and he's the third most nominated director ever with 9. We're also going to be talking about how Spielberg changed the film industry and some of the younger directors were starting to amass a body of work like Spielberg's.

1:51But first, let's talk about this year's Governor's Awards honorees. Rebecca, what did you think? Well, I couldn't be more excited for Glenn Close. I think, you know, it's like Oscar lore now that she has not gotten an Oscar. So for her to be one of the honorees, I know it's not the same exactly as a real Oscar, but it is. Well, why don't you explain to us what the Governor's Awards is. What it is? Okay. Yeah. So the Governor Awards is an annual event where they give out honorary Oscars to usually about four people who I think they really think about, like, is a person that has an incredible body of work, but maybe hasn't had the chance to win one and deserves that kind of acknowledgement.

2:32So it's not a competitive Oscar, but it is an Oscar that sits on your shelf in your house and you are considered to have received an Oscar. Ridley Scott is also being honored, which I think makes a ton of sense as well. And then the other two honorees or other three honorees, excuse me, are animator Floyd Norman and then producers Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler, who are like these major indie producers who've done just a ton of prolific work over the years. What do you think, John? I feel like recently the Governor's Awards have gotten a little bit younger or like the names have gotten a little more relevant to the current business.

3:15I mean, Glenn Close and Ridley Scott are very much working, you know. I mean, Ridley has a movie out this summer. And then last year was Tom Cruise, right? Yeah. It seems to me like when I first started out years ago, not that many years ago, the Governor's Awards were really closer to true lifetime achievement. You know, like it was for people that were pretty out of the business, but they've sort of changed it in the past couple of years, which I think is fun and cool and makes the event more exciting. I mean, Ridley Scott is, his body of work is crazy. So I can't imagine like what they'll be able to do in the room to honor him.

4:03Yeah, they have incredible, you know, montage reels about their career. And also really big people come to talk about them, like important people from their career. But just the amount of people in that room is always really cool because it's also in the midst of the current awards season. And so a lot of contenders show up to, I don't know, kiss babies in that room because it is all voters. So you just get a really star-studded room, which is really fun. And I always loved that event. And also briefly, we have to say the Knicks won the NBA championship. Woo! Yay, go Knicks. Which is an award not just for the team, but also for evidently Timothee Chalamet.

4:48I watched the final game alongside the Ariana Grande concert because I can do hard things. And if we're going to talk about Ariana, we have to bring out our guest today, Vanity Fair staff writer Chris Murphy. Oh, my gosh. And Nick's and the Ariana concert. You're really on cloud nine. I am so, so jealous. You got to do both. My entire, like, social media, Instagram stories were just Nick's Ariana. Nick's Ariana. It was like, okay, there are two things happening today. And I will just say this one thing. I mean, the concert was great. Obviously, she has such an incredible voice. I mean, we know she has such an incredible voice.

5:24She has a lot of hits. I mean, sometimes you remember. We forget. We forget the amount of hits. But it did make me think, Rebecca, the Fockers' Focker-in-law, which comes out this November. And I was like, they should do a Golden Globes campaign for her. We kind of need her. Let's get her back on the circuit. I know Chris, you had interviewed her quite a bit during the Wicked of it all. Like, what is her plan between music and acting? Is it, I mean, she can do both so well. I was going to say, I think to quote John Ross, she can do hard things. I think she wants to do both. And I think she can do both.

5:58I think it's a big scheduling thing because we have music and acting, but then we also have theater. She's supposed to do Sunday in the Park with George on the West End next summer, too. So I think her life is like scheduled to a T right after, you know, Wicked for Good ended. She went straight back into the studio and then wrote a whole album that's coming out soon. And then she's got the tour, and then she's got the Fog Group Press in the fall. So yeah, I think before in her life, when she was only in pop star mode, she really rejected the acting part of her, the Nickelodeon Broadway kid in her.

6:28And now I think she's at a place where she can hold both and wants to do both. So excited to see where that leads her. She's really good at comedy. She's so funny. And Chris, you haven't seen the tour yet. I haven't seen the tour yet. It's coming to New York, though. We got July. It's coming my way. So trust and believe I will be present for that. All right. Before this becomes an Ariana Grande episode, let's jump to the topic of the day, which is Disclosure Day, which is Steven Spielberg's new film that just came out this past weekend. And it did well at the box office, 44 million domestic, which was higher than it was tracking, and 90 million worldwide, which I think is considered a strong start for this film and sets it up for a strong narrative.

7:12How do you guys feel? I actually think that this is pretty good. Yeah. I mean, it's an original film. It had, to me, a little bit of a confusing marketing in terms of what is this movie exactly about. but this is a testament to the success of how powerful the universal marketing and PR team is in terms of getting people to see their movies especially original movies and of course to Spielberg so I think it's pretty good and I do think the movie is going to have legs in that people are curious to see it, even if maybe general word of mouth is not quite so strong. We'll talk about the critical reception versus, you know, the regular word of mouth.

8:04But I think it still has people interested. Yeah, I mean, I feel like this is a win. I mean, if Steven Spielberg can't open a movie in this town, then who can? Yeah, it's definitely a win. And I think sci-fi does really well overseas, so I think it'll probably continue to perform well there. And there are lots of people who just go to the theaters to see a Spielberg movie. I think that's obviously still a very big box office draw. And we should say, this movie is kind of hard to summarize, but I'm going to give it a shot. There's a couple of things we should explain. It centers on two main characters.

8:40There's this news weather person played by Emily Blunt. And then there's this cybersecurity guy played by Josh O 'Connor. We're dropped in on the action right from the beginning where we see Josh O 'Connor's character. He's like on the run trying to steal away these mysterious rock wand objects from a group of sinister looking guys led by Colin Firth. And the people he's working with, they're played by Eve Hewson and Colma Domingo, are trying to release a big secret to the public. and that secret is that aliens are real and that the people in power have known about their existence for nearly 80 years and covered it up.

9:21All right. Should we talk about how we felt about the film? Yes. Well, okay. We're going to do a little game. I love a game. Yeah, we have an exercise for us and it's really for me. Let's go around and say one thing we liked about the film before I potentially say something that results in me never being able to work in this town again. So, Rebecca, you go first. Emily Blunt is incredible in this movie. That is a role that I don't think... Chris, were you going to take that? Yeah, it was mine. You really did take mine. Okay, I'm not going to keep going. You can talk about why. But I don't think anyone else could have pulled off that role like she did.

10:04But I really enjoyed a couple of the action sequences of this movie. I mean, obviously Spielberg has done many incredible action sequences, but I think it really reminded me about why he's one of the greats at that. There's a train one where they're literally hanging off the side of a train that's amazing. And there's another one where invisibility is part of the story that I thought was really well done. And like I was totally in it in those moments. Yeah, those are very good answers. I support all of those. I'm on the Emily Blunt train, if you will, too. I thought she did a really great job.

10:36I will say it took me a little while to warm up to her as a Midwestern woman. She's got English face. Like, you know how some people have iPhone face. She's like period British face. But she when she got into her zone of like being like the most empathetic person in the world and be able to connect with every single person, the way that she was able to do that with each person and drop in, whether it's speaking Korean or being someone's grandmother or whatever it was. It just she was really kind of like the only, as Rebecca said, like kind of the only person in Hollywood, I think, who could have pulled it off in that way.

11:06And then on top of that, I'll say score was great. Score, I really liked the score. I thought the score was sweeping and very like 90s era big, not like Hans Zimmer doing Euphoria, which was what was that? But like this felt appropriately sweeping and epic. And so I liked the score. Yeah, and that was John Williams, of course, Spielberg, regular. Okay, I thought that the font in the credits. No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm not that bad. I'm not that bad. This is a true original film. You know, it's not even based off of a short story or an older sci-fi classic that's being updated, and I applaud them for that.

11:52It does feel very much in the now because of the recent, you know, amount of news about aliens in the past couple of years and what has been released by the government. Now, I don't know if maybe it all works, but I appreciate the level of originality. All right. I think that's a really nice exercise. I'm glad that we did that. Now, John, what do you really want to say? About the movie. To quote Amy Pascal in her legendary email after seeing Aloha that was leaked in the Sony Pictures leak, it doesn't work. Not even for one minute. Okay, I'm going to push back on that. I disagree. Yeah. I disagree.

12:39Okay, okay, you can disagree. It's fine. I'm actually, you would think I'm like a negative, like, naysayer, but I usually like can walk out of a movie and be like, oh, I like this part. It was fun. It was cool. I guess, yes, I'm going into it with higher expectations because it's Steven Spielberg. So I am rating on the Spielberg curve and maybe that's wrong. But I just felt like the story didn't make any sense. It didn't really connect to what is going on in modern day mythology about aliens with the videos that have been released and the various different stories. I know they tried to do it at the end, but to me it was, it felt like people that were a little too old to be kind of delving into internet culture.

13:32In fact, they didn't really refer to the internet at all. the world's worst secret agency in the government. These people couldn't kill a fly, let alone these two hapless people in a car going up and down middle America. At one point, I was like, just shoot somebody. You know, like, you gotta get somebody. I mean, they had hundreds and hundreds of agents trying to get these people down. The ending... I understand. I'm gonna stop you before you... Yeah, that's it. That's all I got. I agree. I would say I went in being like, I have no idea what to expect because I feel like some of the critical consensus, some of the critics were like, this is the best thing Spielberg has done in 20 years.

14:19And then other people were like, it's not that good. And I think I went in and I will say I was more entertained than I expected to be, even if I thought there were too many ideas that weren't executed well enough for it to actually be a movie that is really great. We've got aliens and then we've got, you know, private companies, you know, hoarding information. And then we also have religion, which is great that we're asking all these big questions. And then we also have, you know, Emily Blunt being kind of a magical everyone trying to find her place. And all of these things kind of weave together.

14:50And I agree that it's more about like, who are we in response to what's out there rather than what's out there? It's like, we know what's out there. It's aliens. It's like, what do we do with that information? I think that's a really lofty, a great question to ask. I think it was like asking interesting questions and had good ideas. But I agree with you, John. And I also do think, and I would love to Steven Spielberg. I love it. Having the aliens. He loves the aliens that look like that. Like, we don't know what aliens look like. But for him, his commitment to having. What if he does? He's an expert.

15:18He might know. Because it's his commitment from, you know, close encounters of the third kind to now of having aliens be like spinly long. Big head. Big head. Spinly. Big eyes. Big eyes. I'm like an alien. That's the common. I read the interview that David Koepp, the writer of this, and many, many other films. They did a lot of research about, like, what has been going on currently. No, and what are the common things that people keep describing when they describe alien encounters? You know, the lights, the this. And one of them is that sort of look. Now, listen, it's a whole chicken or an egg scenario.

15:57And I've gone down quite a few rabbit holes on TikTok and other sort of means. So that I get, the one thing I will say, sorry, back, Chris, I was entertained the whole time. Yeah. That I will say. I didn't look down at my phone once. I wasn't bored for a second. And so that counts. Totally. That counts. I would say my double-edged sword, which is the, I think the thing that I liked the most about the movie, but also I think the thing that makes the movie not work is that it is literally stuck in the 90s. Why are they going to a network affiliate, a news affiliate in Kansas City to get the message out?

16:30We have iPhones. Stream. Go live. One of the best parts is like when Emily Blunt walks through her old house, it's like, ah, classic Spielberg. He gets a 90s house. He gets to recreate. And, you know, that's a great loophole because it's like we live in 2026 now. That's not what houses look like anymore. The charm of it being kind of old fashioned is also what I think made it not work. But I also enjoyed the charm. So kind of in the middle for me. Right. Is it charm or does it feel stale? At times, it goes back and forth. I think my biggest challenge was the script. It's basically what you're saying, John.

17:03Some things just didn't quite add up or make sense. There's this scene where the car goes over a cliff, and Josh O 'Connor and Eve are hiding behind this rock, hoping that the bad guys don't see them. And I'm like, they would not look behind that rock right next to where it is. And then they walk away, gingerly walk away, because it's like, they didn't see us. I was like, oh, God. And then at the end, I don't know why Colin Firth changes his mind about what he was trying to do the entire movie. Unfortunately, those things stick in my mind and I think about them later and it affects how I feel about a movie.

17:39Because there are great things about this movie. I did want, before we say any other things, I did want to shout out the actress who plays the newscaster at the end. Her name is Courtney Grace. She's the one that has to be on. Yeah, right? She was so good. I thought she was a real newscaster that I had just never seen. It's the most emotional part of the movie for me. Yeah, because she used to react to all of this. And she does a great job. And I hope this is the beginning of a very exciting career for her, because I thought that was such an incredible performance. A star is born. Can I give a spoiler?

18:15To me, on top of everything, I understand the whole point is that we must listen to each other. the whole movie, they are chasing these people for these magic wands, right, that seem to disintegrate after 15 minutes. And then they wheel out an alien that they've stolen. I'd be like, we do need to get the wands, but we also really need to get our hands on that alien. Yeah, that's so, that's funny, because I do agree. It's like kind of ridiculous, but it's like, okay, the idea that Steven Spielberg, one of our foremost, greatest filmmakers making a movie about how like empathy is important. And in 2026 today, that's apolitical.

18:56That's another thing. It's like we talk about the government in ways. It wasn't like political, like it's the Democrats or the Republicans. It was way more universal in a way that I thought was really nice in an ideal way, but like in an execution way, it's like, wait, yeah, we're keeping all this from society, from the world. Why are we doing that? There are a lot of like gaps that could have been filled in. Emily Blunt was special because she was chosen, right? And that's why she could empathize with every single person in the world. But like why they were both chosen. I was a little bit like, why them?

19:28And then like I just couldn't get over the fact that they were both literally British people masking American accents. That seems to really be getting to. It's really. And then Eve Houston too. Well, she was having problems with her accent. She was having accent issues, which I'm really forgiving of. But I'm like, okay, there's so many actors. It doesn't sound like you're that forgiving. I am not forgiving. That is one of my pet peeves. Yeah, I'm like, just let her be Irish. She's playing a nun, too. It's like, they're Irish. Yeah. Okay, but we should move on. Yeah, I think we're all saying that we love Spielberg's sort of open-hearted, empathetic style of filmmaking that he's done throughout the years.

20:05And we're going to take a quick break, but when we get back, we're going to talk more about why Spielberg is still one of, if not the best directors to ever do it. Stick around.

20:30Welcome back to Little Gold Men. So, no matter how we felt about Disclosure Day, I don't think any of us would disagree that Spielberg is probably one of the most important filmmakers of our era. Guys, what are some of your favorites? Chris, you want to start for us? Oh my gosh. Well, yeah, I guess I got to go with the three that come to mind. I mean, we got Jaws, we got E.T., and then I'm going to give some love to a West Side Story remake, okay? And those are all, like, very different movies. Like, the range is just incredible. It's like, what can he do? But Film Twitter knows that West Side remake was really excellent.

21:04Yeah, it was. It was. It should have gotten a better. Damn COVID. It was just a timing issue. The timing was tough. It was incredible. It was incredible. But those three, I would say. It's funny. I picked three, too, because you can't pick one. It's impossible. You really can't. John, do you want to go next? Jurassic Park is like the ultimate for me. Like I love it so much. It's one of the like most important movies in terms of me like wanting to like be in this business. Weirdly, I love AI. The movie AI. You should clarify that. Which I think, yeah, his movie AI, which is, I think, potentially his darkest movie, I think is really beautiful and interesting take on humanity.

21:56It began as a movie that Stanley Kubrick was going to direct, and then he took it over. And it is one of my favorites. And then lastly, I mean, there's just like too many. It's like crazy. I would say Minority Report. I just love it. And it has some of the most incredible action sequences in film. It's a good list. Rebecca? Yeah, I think Jurassic Park has to be my top film. I don't know. It's just like I saw it so many times growing up. A million times. There are images from that movie that are just seared into my mind forever. you know and it's so entertaining it like the performances are gripping when he makes a film he doesn't miss on sort of any aspect that you need for a film to work it has the spectacle but it has the drama but it it has the tension like yeah it has the performances i feel like with a lot of filmmakers you just find some aspect is lacking and that that isn't the case with him um i would have also picked west side story i think and i like lived and breathed the original film so I was very nervous about this and I thought he did such an incredible job there's such a warmth to his filmmaking and then I'll pick Catch Me If You Can which I Oh I love Catch Me If You Can That was my honorable mention I just like pulled up all the lists and I was like I love Catch Me If You Can that's just how fun I know I mean Leo and Tom Hanks are so good his movies just move you never feel bored it's just like true filmmaking in a way we don't always see.

23:32That was something that I noticed even in Disclosure Day where I'm like, oh, he's taking like, there's so much sweeping of the camera, so much movement, so much just like, there is like a dance to his filmmaking that's so wonderful in a way that I do feel like a lot of, you know, and God bless new filmmakers and whatever who just like close up, train the camera, you know, one shot or whatnot. But maybe it's, he's always been this way or maybe he's like, I'm in my 70s, I'm going to do whatever I want. He's making these like, You notice the directing in a way that's not distracting and like additive to the filming experience.

24:05And that made me like the movie way better than if it was just, okay, shot, shot, shot, pretty standard. They've been redoing Jurassic Park now for how many times? And nothing compares to what he did in the first two. But in that first one, when that T-Rex walks between the two cars, the objects in the mirror may look closer than they appear. The glass of water shaking. When the velociraptor opens the door. That level of filmmaking, nobody can touch that. There's nobody who comes even close to getting action sequences and suspenseful scenes. It's like an opera, you know? It's like a ballet. It's like an opera.

24:53That's why with West Side Story, you know, getting to see him film the dancing, it was a reminder that he is in a way like a dancer with the camera. Like he just has such an ability. So, yeah, he's like untouchable. Yeah. And in so many different, I think, genres in ways, like who else has like a West Side Story than also Jurassic Park and then also, you know, E.T. But then also catch me if you can, like even like Scorsese is one of the best filmmakers ever of all time. But he's got a niche. He's got a genre. A lane. We know and love him for her. You know, the Top Gun guy, you know, Kaminsky. Like he's got a lane too.

25:34Noah Baumbach's got a lane. I don't know why Noah Baumbach came next. I don't know. But like. It's very generous to Noah. But a lot of other filmmakers, it's like they have their genre and they stick to it. And Spielberg is kind of beautifully genre-less. Yeah, and I think what makes him especially unique is he can do the blockbuster, the film that's also critically acclaimed. And he has such a rich Oscar history because he also makes movies that get nominated for Oscars. I mean, in 93, he released both Jurassic Park and Schindler's List, which I feel like just perfectly captures him as a filmmaker.

26:13and so we're going to talk about it a little bit later but it's hard to think of other filmmakers who have had that kind of success he's had nine nominations for the Best Director Oscar making him the third most nominated director he also he holds the record for the most nominations for Best Picture because he also produces a lot even things he doesn't direct like Hamnet most recently, Maestro so even if he's not directing he and his production company Amblin are behind a lot of big films. So his Oscar history is so rich that it's like, I can't emphasize enough how incredibly rare that is to be able to do blockbusters and Oscars like that.