Steven Spielberg, Emily Blunt, Colman Domingo, Josh O'Connor Share Everything! | Disclosure Day Q&A

And before we get started, one more round of applause for Cindy's Theatre. What a freaking film. I had the pleasure again to watch this last night along with so many others. And I just had the most amazing time. There were parts where you could hear a pin drop in the theatre. And, you know, I literally turned to people next to me and there were tears in my eyes. It's a very special film. And I'm really excited you guys did something truly incredible. I'm really excited to get to talk about it. But without further ado, let's just play a little clip from the film. I think that's a good way to kind of start this off. Well, hello. Welcome back to the channel. BD here, and in this video you're going to see a Q&A with the cast and director of Disclosure Day, Steven Spielberg, along with Emily Blunt, Coleman Domingo, and Joshua Conner talking about this movie. This is a really fun movie. Fun actually might not be the word. This is a good movie. But it is fun at times. But this is a tense... This is like if Lost and E.T. had a baby. And I say that as a compliment because I love both of those films. This is... The E.T. elements are obviously the Spielberg of it all, the alien of it all. But that sense of wonder and mystery and maybe even companionship and destiny. Stuff like that. But then Lost also themes with that destiny stuff. But the character driven mysteries. And every time one question is sort of answered you get three new questions. And then it's also going to leave a lot of room for discourse and conversation and interpretation by the time it's over. And I think people are going to dig that. The innovation Spielberg packs into this with some of the camera movements and camera works and direction of some of these scenes is fantastic. There's a couple of really interesting just immersive wonders that I would love to talk with him about. He talks a little bit about some of the filmmaking tricks. The cast in this Q&A talk about how they were introduced to Steven Spielberg and things like that. Great score from John Williams in this one. Emily Blunt. Maybe the best performance of her life. My goodness. Especially in one of those one shots where it follows her. She has to speak a different language at one point. Go back. Wow. Good stuff. And Coleman Domingo. Stand out in the supporting role. That guy just has a great presence. Overall I thought this was a good movie. I dug it. And I think it's going to be fun to talk about. I'm not going to have any interviews on the channel from this one. Didn't end up booking any interviews for Disclosure Day. So this is my coverage here. I hope you enjoy it. And let me know what your favorite part of this Q&A is. Moderated by Reese, a.k.a. Guy with a Movie Camera. And please subscribe to the channel. We're over 105,000 subscribers here on YouTube, everybody. Let's take this thing to the moon and keep it going and growing. Hopefully I get to do more cool stuff like this. Thank you so much for supporting. Thank you for watching. See you in the next one. This is where I'm recording from. How cool is this? All right, guys. Enjoy this Q&A. And let me know. Are you excited for Disclosure Day? Shout out your favorite part of the Q&A and your hype levels for Disclosure Day in the comments section. Subscribe and I'll see you in the next one. Yeah, I can't wait to see it again. Steven, I'm going to start with you. Can you just walk me through how you actually feel about something like this? Well, we took a car and we shoved it into another car. We shoved it into the train. But we also had it very carefully. I storyboarded every shot. So this was the sequence of storyboarding. And the storyboards went through a whole bunch of different iterations. Originally, the storyboards were twice as long as the sequence you saw. But I realized there was a lot more to come because of what happened once the car is stuck under the train. So I kind of cut the storyboards down. And we did sort by the numbers. But it was a lot involved. First, you know, there's shots of wheels spinning. It may be a lot of, you know, burning rubber and all that. It was still done by the first unit, every shot. Sometimes you farm out shots like that for a second. And then we needed to open up shots. And they're in the car. Josh and Emily are in the car. There's a great scene between the two of them that precedes what you just saw. Which I won't spoil. But this scene shifts the movie into another gear. Josh and Emily, can you talk me through, I mean, we're seeing just a fragment of it. Because after that, we get a little bit more, a lot more after that. Can you talk through what it was like shooting that scene? It was the coolest thing to ever happen to my life. And it was quite an early on in the shoot. Yeah, I mean, there was just no part of me that ever thought I would be in a sequence like this. Directed by this man here. There were many moments, making this movie, where I was pinching myself. But this, for sure, was the big moment. And there were sort of two parts to it. And I guess, as Stephen said, there's a scene that precedes this, which is beautifully written. And so child and intense. And beautiful and moving. And so it's just kind of like having that. I remember doing that scene in the knowledge that at some point we were going to feel the shot. And feeling incredibly stressed. Not knowing how much of a shot we were going to feel. Yeah, it was such a special day. It was great. Several days. Yeah, it was days. Yeah, it was really exciting. How long did it take the train sequence to shoot? The train sequence that follows this took a while. A couple of weeks on and off. But we'd have to go off shoot, come back to shoot something else. But the scene that we just showed here, that was about a two and a half day shoot. I mean, I agree with you about the shunt. We didn't know what it was going to feel like. But I would get whiplash for you any day of the week. You did, really. You did. I think I agree with Josh. It's like the wildest dream after growing up watching Stephen's movies. And the imprint that these extraordinary set pieces have had on all of us. And I will never forget watching the train sequence in The Last Crusade. And then suddenly I get to do one with you. It was an astonishing thing. You had dreamt this up years ago. But now you had all the technological advancements to shoot it exactly the way you wanted to convey. And it was just so much fun doing it. It was fun seeing you in the car. Especially when you didn't know how hard you were going to be hit by the car. And the only effect that we used was... Because we didn't want them to get hurt with any flying glass. The only thing we did is we made a hole so you could put in the back window. So when the car rear-ends you, there was no glass in the window at all. We added a glass shatter. That was the only thing that could have made it dangerous. I completely forgive you for that. That's okay. Going off of that, Coleman, I wanted to talk to you. I don't know how much to talk about it. But you just said words like you're so familiar with Stephen's work. With the set pieces, everything like that. What was your first introduction to Stephen? When did you guys first meet after you had seen his films? And then how did you get involved with this? The first time I met Mr. Spielberg was here in New York at Brendan Tubbs' office. I had an audition for a film that he was developing. And he popped out of the elevator with a baseball cap on. And after that, I took his hand and said, Hello. And we just walked into the room. I said, let's go. Actually, at the time, it was very top secret. I didn't know who I was meeting with. I got my whiskey there, and we met. I went on camera, and then we just talked. I remember he said something about my face, which I loved. He said, remember, I was holding the Betamax camera. I said, how about you be on the camera? And I'm trying to do the scene, thinking that Stephen Spielberg is looking at my pores. And I thought, oh my gosh, he's really looking at my face. And the actress, she says, I love your face. It just keeps changing. It keeps changing. And that's how we first met. And we talked a bit. And then I eventually was cast in one of his films. For his opening solo work. And then years went by, and we just kept seeing each other here and there, and just gradually building a friendship, and kind of moderated it. And then this opportunity came up, and it felt just divine. It felt like he let me be laid out of what he wanted to do, and how he wanted to invite us all in, and what the subject matter was. I thought it was divine timing. I felt like, oh, this is a beautiful moment. And I couldn't wait to be in his world. Like I said to you before, I could have a three-hour movie, and you talk my head. He's like, I mean, fantastic. That's part two. And then Josh, I'd love to hear your guys' first introduction to Stephen, and his work. Well, actually, as Cole was describing that, yeah, it felt very good to me. It all happened very quickly. I was in New York, and I got a call from my agent saying, Stephen Spielberg wants to see you tomorrow. And I laughed at him, and then settled down. I couldn't believe it. And then the next day, I went up an elevator, came out, Stephen was there. And again, it was just so sweet. He didn't have dark hair in his house. And it was incredible. Actually, Stephen talked to me about this film that, to a point, he sort of told me this idea actually about two people, and a kind of invisible force putting them together. You know, obviously, hearing Stephen, getting to know Stephen, the way he talks about story and image and pictures, it's like, it's so, with such enthusiasm, and it's so infectious, that that was an incredible experience. But there is also this thing, I just remember the end of that meeting, Stephen said, you know what, we'll get the script and see how you feel. In my head, I think, like, see how I feel. It's going to be a yes. But yeah, it's a very special thing, and always gives so much fun to you. Do you want to tell the director of my story? Yes, please. Well, so sort of halfway through the shoot, it seems incredibly good if you have any question about anything. You know, he's always there, and actually wants to have those discussions, and always delving into everything. Really, that's a rare thing, particularly, you know, Stephen Spielberg, and you just call him as a question about something. Anyway, there was a scene coming up, a week or two away, that's going in the shoot, and I was just trying to unlock it in my head, specifically in terms of the emotional part of the scene. How much do we show down the theme, that emotion? Does he hold it back? So we have an intense exchange, and we're trying to figure it out, and then just as I was going to bed, I get a text from Stephen saying, the door is on the latch, just push. And I nearly cried. I was like, this is the greatest bit of directing I've ever received. And it still is. I mean, it is perfect. It's just like, this character says, the door's on the latch, just push. Just let it come out. So then I take that to Stephen, and I let Stephen know I was inspired, and that's what I'll do in the scene. The door is on the latch, just push. And Stephen's like, oh, I'm so sorry, that was my wife. It's just an instructional text. I was so glad. And it didn't work for me. Yeah. Yeah, it figured out. She wrote me, and she said, I forgot my key, and I'm going to be home late, so I just moved the door out and said, well, the door is on the latch, just push. Well, you feel two birds with one stone. She's still waiting outside. Emily, go ahead yourself. What was the question? Your first introduction to Stephen. I mean, you can go back. I'd love to hear. The first Stephen Spielberg movie I watched. Well, the first one I watched willingly was E.T. The first one I watched unwillingly was this one that my dad brought home from the video shop, and I was eight years old, and I was terrified. And my dad was like, oh, it's brilliant, you're going to love it. And I didn't watch it again for years, and then I started watching it again as an adult, and I have seen it 32 times, and it is no secret that it is my favorite movie on Earth. But I do remember E.T., it left its fingerprints on me. It still gives me goosebumps if I talk about it. I think that story of the outsider child coming from a broken home and a misunderstood non-human, it just was so beautiful, and what a story of friendship and belonging and self-discovery, and something magical and extraordinary happening to someone who you least expect it to. I just was riveted by it, and devastated by the ending. Devastated by it. But, yeah, I think that that's what Stephen does, is he creates these high-concept, extraordinary movies. I don't want to talk about it in the sci-fi realm, although of course that's not just what you do. But with these incredibly relatable, idiosyncratic characters, and so you feel them, and you feel their fears, and you feel their triumphs. Even if you yourself have never gone through an experience like they have, you want to be Elliot, you want to be E.T., you want to be in that world, and kind of kidnapped by his world. I think your movies are masterclass in empathy, and it's really cool with this film that it adds to your sci-fi filmography. Where it's like, with E.T., that's a movie that in the last 15 minutes, I'm wiping away tears, but then I walk forward with morals, and I'm cheering, rooting on Tom Cruise. Cheering! Yeah, exactly. What's so fun is that playground that you come back to over the years, and I kind of wanted to now get more into the Disclosure Day talk, and this movie is about transparency. It's about who has the decision power to give full disclosure, and I kind of want to hear from all you guys as we go down the line. How do you think the world would react to a Disclosure Day? Is the hope that was in the film, one that you believe, or is it one that you kind of yearn for? No, no. I was yearning for it when I made Close Encounters, but when I made Disclosure Day, I believed it. That's the difference. And also, you know, one of the things that compelled me to sit down and write this story before collaborating with David Kepler of Screenplay, what started the whole thing was the idea that it's kind of like a proposition. If the unknown is known by a very few, but not everybody, the inequity of that is what first got me to sit down and start writing the story. But the consequences, whether it's unintended or not, the consequences of a real full disclosure is going to have to take into consideration the social dislocation, the essentially, you know, the trauma, and all the questions, theological questions, that are going to come up. I'm not getting too much away, but there's a scene where Eve Hewson, who played Jane, says, I was raised to believe in a supreme being, and now you're going to show us actual supreme beings? She says, the world can't handle those things. She really believed that. So I think it's not an easy decision to make, whoever eventually is going to make it. I mean, this certainly sparked the fires in my imagination when I started researching everything to do with people who have had these experiences from the congressional hearings that have taken place, every documentary, the docuseries. I think that I was, the thing that I was struck by was how inarguable it seemed to me that people were lying. There was this absolute peaceful truth pouring out of them. They know what they saw. They believe it, even if they've been discredited, disvalued, kicked out, lost their jobs, accused of being whistleblowers. They believe it, and there was a kind of, there was a sort of universal peacefulness, I think, in all of them as to what they had seen, and that they had been awestruck by it and shifted by it. And I just found it very healing, actually, watching all of these people talk about this unworldly experience that they had. And I think it would be a very good thing for human beings to question their place in the universe. And I think it might be an arrogant thing to assume that we know everything, that we're alone. I mean, they just discovered a thousand new species in our oceans this year on Earth, so why would we imagine that we know everything that's out there in the universe? Yeah. And I also just want to call out, I really do love the way the film handles those questions. Like, you know, with the gnomes questioning, like, oh, no, I'm on this Earth. It's a divine creation. I'm just, yeah, so beautiful. I agree. I think they said so beautifully. And I suppose this is why they believe in so many other things. They believe in, you know, magic. They believe in astronomy, they believe in astrology, they believe in whatever. Whatever we exactly know, we won't believe. But, like, the idea that these people have been so discredited and people who know what they know, people who have studied this, I think it, I don't know, I think the idea of leaning into this, you know, helps us evolve and grow and change. I mean, we all have to collectively understand this new beginning for all of us, which probably disrupts everything we know. But maybe that's not such a bad thing right now. It would be nice to have someone behind me kind of shepherding that, you know, making sure everyone's comforted and, you know, holding hands throughout. I'd love that. Kohler would be the best ambassador. That's, I was prepared for that. I was, I was like, thank God he was doing this. I'll take the job. I'll take it. You know, he would present all this. This is all gone. I accept. Josh, do you have anything to add? Um, well, I don't know if this is, um, I think everyone said it probably, but I think one of the, one of the most impactful conversations, Stephen speaks so well about all this stuff. One of the most impactful conversations with Stephen I've had about this was really early on and actually it sparked a phone call we had and it sparked by the documentary series on the psychology of hate and actually kind of proposing that hate could be a human invention and what might it be like if hate is only something that we experience and other animals and, you know, I think it's interesting and Stephen presented this to me that these visits from outside our world seemingly are non-violent and that was interesting and so that question to me is like well maybe there's something we can learn from them and I think that my interest in it being open and discussed is that that if there have been visits that have been non-violent and so what's the interest? Maybe it's helpful and I think the question that Stephen has posed many times is that it's a really good thing that you said where like if they used all their resources to get here and not to inflict harm then they're probably not here to inflict harm which I think is really good and the word I want to go out there is discourse because I think what I love so much about this movie is immediately after I just looked around the theater and I was like who can I talk to? I need to have conversations and what is so great about the crowd that I gathered here today is so much of what everyone does is create discourse is to ask this question both from a filmmaking perspective but also from a more conversational approach of what this movie offers so before I turn to audience questions I just wanted to quickly go through to you what you're hoping discourse around this movie looks like what is the thing that you're hoping people really love it about? Well for me it's actually outside of what we've just been discussing is what I hope and a message of communication because I think and again I don't want to give everything away about film but I think so much is about yes and this is true of many of Stephen's films it's like you know we look at other worlds outside of our world in films Stephen's scenes and I think you've said this to me before the audience within those worlds coming to us and you know Stephen's films are all about forgiveness listening communication and that's what really hits me about Disclosure Day yeah Emma and I watched it the first time together and we were both a complete wreck and I think that for me it was just that it was a film about hope that we don't actually see very often and so yeah that's what we wanted people to talk about and maybe discuss this communication and this I'm going to steal something that Dr. Donnelly said today which I thought was really profound we need moments of awe and I feel like the idea of us all being awed together we're all when we're out there looking at the stars and looking at incredible things that happen we're all looking at the cliffs together this movie offers that awe of that possibility that connects all of us I think there will be so much to discuss at the end of it so much to be moved by but I like the unity that I sense people feel at the end of it you know of course it poses huge questions to us all but I love that feeling of us all togetherness at the end that's what my husband felt watching it just the unity of like okay you know people are not rushing to get their bags and bags clean I'm hoping certainly I'm hoping number one I'm hoping it creates conversation but the thing I'm really hoping is that it creates common ground for discussion between people who completely disagree with each other about many many things but can maybe find common ground in discussion and conversation about what I mean I have so many more questions I've got to talk about the rest of this I have so much to say I won't be selfish but I will get up to the floor I believe our first question is from this man first I want to thank all of you for coming today it's an honor to have you here Stephen I want to ask you stories have um stories about the unknown have something about ourselves so I'm very curious you've already talked about what you hope audiences discover about themselves while watching this film today well that's a question that I can't presume to answer because everyone who sees this film everyone who sees anything created any story created by others is going to have their own unique collection of feelings because of how they were raised who they are where they live what their own aspirations and dreams are what isn't going well in their lives so to me it's not just one thing everybody take a litmus test and I'm just hoping that this film offers something different to everyone well thanks thank you so much our next question from James thank you hey guys first of all my brother and I were starting our show we needed a title and we went to our favorite filmmaker of all time and we came up with Raiders of the Lost Podcast so thank you for you know filming our nightclub films hopefully you don't want residuals my question is a filmmaking one I've seen so many movies dozens of times 30 times and I'm always enthralled by the blocking of the characters and the camera and you know whether it's Saving Fire or I am improvising a lot on set or a movie like this is it more pre-planned or is it kind of like based off storyboards on the set data or you're improvising you're blocking and how do you create the magic of the characters camera synchronicity to create what we love so much about film well because this movie is essentially a chase from beginning to end and it's got some rest stops but it's a chase it's a double harness across your chest kind of experience at the outset it was really important to me that you know the audience is going to see movement within movement within movement so even a car scene I found car scenes kind of boring but I had such great actors that didn't make it boring at all it made it compelling but I didn't want to be a participant in the car scene I didn't want to mount the camera in a couple of places I wanted the camera to continue the feeling of velocity and forward momentum so I had the camera itself kind of roving around inside the car just answering the question with one example that pretty much happens in every scene when Margaret Fairchild gets to her TV station from home that's all one shot and Emily did that in only four takes which was extraordinary but it was it's momentum it's velocity it's she's something's going on not just because she's a kind of caffeinated weather reporter but something's going on in her that she can't quite figure out and she's sort of covering it up by just moving ahead like a shark doesn't stop where it's next so that's just sort of part of it but I didn't storyboard any of those scenes obviously they're action scenes with cars with trains with chases because it's safety first and if you storyboard these things the entire crew everybody knows what's required of each of the different departments so we're all on the same page just for safety any complicated action scene in this movie was storyboarded but so much of it was the characters and just the relationship parts of the story which is throughout the story nothing was storyboarded that was I wanted the actors to have their own ideas I wanted them to be able to say what if we did this instead of that and so that's where it's a great collaboration all films need to be collaborations they're not always and you really make it that way that none of us felt straightjacketed by how Steven wanted to preconceive the scene and so the curiosity of what we felt on the day I think it gives you movies and certainly in my experience on this one it was just this wonderful aliveness this wonderful intimacy these found moments that were so like a real performance movie not one where you're okay well this is technically this is going to be this shot or even the one that we did you just allowed me to kind of roam in through that set and you constructed a shot where our cruelty could play and it was just so free and you don't find that always Steve Monica Hi this question is for all of you and it is what is it about filmmaking that still feels magical to you all even after all these years as a director and as actors you know it's like you're especially when you're doing something as original as Disclosure Day you feel like you're really taking a leap of faith with people that's what's exciting still I think you know you're spending so many hours on set even before you're preparing and doing research and study that's the part that I love I love all the putting together of not knowing when you start maybe knowing how the character feels or how playing with Emily will feel or Josh you know that stuff so it's all like you know leaps many chapters and leaps of faith and then you are with you are now people you're going to create something where there wasn't before and then there's another step in finding the talent in the world and like I almost forgot the fact that this movie was going to come out and people were going to see it because I've had such a fulfilling time creating and that's been that's my favorite time and now it's depending on someone else's I think that kind of similar for me is that it's like I think that you have to be curious to be in the film there has to be a sense of curiosity that you have as a child but I always remember as a kid there was a very traditional horse and cart circus where I'm from in the countryside in England and they operated and I was always desperate to be in the circus but I didn't have of trick so I never made it and I realized quite recently that actually the thing I love more than anything about making movies is that it feels like we're in a traveling circus for a couple of months you know you have this like community of very talented people who are so skilled and you live together for three months and you make something from nothing and it's yeah it's like a spell and like always sometimes you get so carried you're so used to growing up in that but then you realize that spell you created together you know we get to share it with other people and that's special and very different process but yeah for me it's like the thing like traveling circus for me is when I love a take and I want to do it again and I just want to say let's move on I mean that's the moment I mean I don't want to walk away from something unless I really feel that I'm going to be able to live with it and I'm not going to be in the editing room saying oh I should have done four more but when I feel it and I feel it's right and unless the actors you know say oh but I could use one more for this reason or that reason I will always give them that take that they need but if nobody objects the great moment for me is cut next shot I like it when you used to say that's in the movie yeah I find the crew very moving as well like the crew they are so wildly skilled they are so brilliant at what they do with craftsmanship and they carry you through it they hold you it's a very tender special experience they see you at your lowest they see you at your most vulnerable they can sense when you've got a really big emotional scene everyone hushes down it's just so moving like how everyone carries you through it and I hate graphic movie I get so sad I do one of those I literally want to vaporise because I just can't stand saying goodbye to these people and maybe at this moment when we get to share it with you guys even though it's anticipated being very frightening people love what you've done they love your baby and no one's calling you a kid weird which is one of our fears it's very special with everything that you had hoped and only you felt on this experience by us most this is bleeding out to other people and it's the coolest thing to share stories but we have stayed friends pals chums buddies soulmates from the moment we met and started working together right through today this wasn't one of those I'll see you in another movie maybe you want to see our text changes that's a whole other story Steven has this habit he goes okay send me a picture of one of you right now and he goes I don't know old you are and you can't think you've just broken up we've all done it and if you have time for one last question it's from Daniella Hi everybody I'm Dani I love the film I love the t-shirts I wish I had worn mine didn't get them at home Steven Disclosure Day is your 30th film with John Williams and you two make such magic together it's just such a wave of instant nostalgia when the score starts what is your fondest memory from collaborating over the years together oh it's a great question and I have so many precious memories of my collaboration all those years ago with John we're in our 52nd year now John was 93 when he wrote the score and John is just everything you would imagine him to be he's a genius and a gentleman and a gentle soul and he's a grand leader orchestras revere him they play better for him than anybody else except maybe for Gustavo Duhamel and who's coming here right away to be the head of the VR film and my great memory of John and I've told this story before but it sticks with me is when he invited me over to his home where he was going to give the score to Jaws for me and I came to his house and he sat at this concert grand piano in his living room and he used a couple of fingers and went da-da I'm getting worried da-da I'm getting scared but not in a good way da-da and he turns around and he can't smell his face and I smiled too I thought he was I thought oh my God John has a great sense of humor he's got a great sense of humor and he said oh hey I'm serious I'm serious this is it you have to imagine it with strings and cello and violas and all those strings doing that and then horns coming in and I said okay and then two months later two and a half months later I go to the first session and John starts with what I had doubts about and it blew the roof off of that scoring stage blew the roof off of the scoring stage I couldn't believe what he had done from that moment on I had never questioned John again never but Johnny wants Johnny back I love any talkie baby oh I'll leave that to end on thank you guys so much for doing this it is such a privilege and it's very important for you know our best actors our best film makers to speak to us it is truly I think I speak for everyone here no one will ever forget this thank you guys so much one more huge round of applause for Joshua Connors all the best thank you John thank you all