Close Encounters of the Third Kind

1. Close Encounters of the Third Kind

2. Made in 1977 • Written and directed by Steven Spielberg • Richard Dreyfuss stars as Roy Neary • Seen in JAWS • Francois Truffaut stars as Claude Lacombe • Famous writer, director, and producer (Belle Epoque) • Teri Garr stars as Ronnie Neary • Most recently seen as Pheobe’s mom in Friends • Justin Dreyfuss stars as Toby Neary • Richard’s son • Paul Schrader originally wrote the script, Spielberg changed a lot so Schrader removed his credit.

3. Working Title was “Watch the Skies” • To catch an actors true reaction to the aliens he had crew members jump out in a clown and ape costume. • Douglas Trumball created the SFX for the cloud effect by injecting white paint into tanks of salt and fresh water. • In part of the large spacecraft you can see an upside down R2-D2 as well as the shark from JAWS. • Spielberg wanted Walter Cronkite to read the newscast that Roy is watching, but CBS wouldn’t allow him so they settled with Howard K. Smith from ABC • Unfortunately a line following the scene could not be changed so the reporter refers to the anchorman as Walter not Howard.

4. Cary Guffey who played Barry Guiler was so good that he could get every scene in one take. • One of the first home videos with Closed Captioning. • Real air-traffic controllers were used in the opening sequence. • The scene where Jillian sees the floor vent screws undoing themselves is taken from the 1953 version of War of the Worlds. • When Ronnie is cutting out the article in the newspaper there are two articles on Star Wars that can be seen. • The Mothership is now located at the Smithsonian in Chantilly, VA.

5. The Devil’s Tower scene was constructed and shot in an abandoned aircraft hanger at Brookley AFB in Mobile, AL. • Spielberg didn’t know specifically what the Mothership would look like until he saw an oil tanker in India. • In the scene where Lacombe teaches the hand signals the Federal Agents next to him were actual agents. • All the stars, trees, hills, and roads were special effects. • Aliens were played by little kids in rubber suits. • There were 11 Cinematographers on this production the most ever.

6. Spielberg approached Steve McQueen, Dustin Hoffman, and Gene Hackman to play Roy. • In the mashed potatoes scene the little girl utters, “There’s a fly in my potatoes.” This was not scripted and almost caused the crew to burst in to laughter. • Spielberg cast Garr after seeing her work on a coffee commercial. • One of the first movies to undergo a Director’s cut re-editing in order for Spielberg to improve the film. • Stanley Kubrick liked Cary Guffey so much that he wanted him for “The Shining”

7. John Williams’ score created before the film was edited. • Spielberg edited film to match the music. • Lacombe is based on real-life French UFO expert Jacques Vallee. • Bob Balaban (David Laughlin) had not spoken French since high school. • Last scene to be filmed was opening scene in the desert. • Dreyfuss’ father was an extra but his scenes were cut. • JAWS theme can be heard as the Mothership is communicating with the base at the end of the movie.

8. UFO landing site was the largest indoor set ever constructed at the time. • Devil’s Rock idea came from the 1946 film My Darling Clementine. • The scientists communicate with aliens through music and computers because Spielberg mother was a musician and his father was a computer scientist. • Spielberg Trademarks: • The Music • The use of Stars • The father figure