Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for Disclosure Day Summary
Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Disclosure Day
Summary
- Collider’s Steve Weintraub talks Disclosure Day spoilers with screenwriter David Koepp.
- Koepp breaks down the final control room sequence, from what went on behind-the-scenes to the NBC personnel who weighed in.
- He also reveals his lingering debate with Steven Spielberg over the movie’s central message.
Steven Spielberg’s epic finale to his unofficial extraterrestrial trilogy, Disclosure Day, is now sweeping across the nation. As Emily Blunt and Josh O’Connor expose the world to Earth-shattering revelations, audiences are finally experiencing the Oscar-winning filmmaker’s long-anticipated return to the interstellar unknown in what Collider’s Nate Richard calls “a modern-day conspiracy thriller.” Now, as you watch that propulsive final sequence in the control room, the chaos feels perfectly orchestrated, but how did everything actually come together on set? And was that always going to be how it all ends?
According to screenwriter and longtime Spielberg collaborator David Koepp (Jurassic Park), that scene was actually a logistical “bear” behind the scenes. In a recent conversation with Editor-in-Chief Steven Weintraub, Spielberg called upon real NBC personnel to be on set to offer their insight on what a control room would truly look like under such circumstances. The scene, which took only two days to shoot, was a blend of what Koepp calls “lore” from “some famous event in history” and their own made-up events, and the biggest challenge was to fill that wall of screens with the most gripping footage.
Check out the full interview below, where Koepp discusses how long he and Spielberg had the ending you see in theaters planned, and how they captured the high tension in an legitimate way. Koepp also addresses his and Spielberg’s own personal views on the core message of Disclosure Day’s world-altering climax and the “lively debate” on the final moments that went on off-screen, likening it to the sequence between Colman Domingo’s Hugo Wakefield and Colin Firth’s Noah Scanlon. Don’t miss an additional conversation with Koepp here, where the award-winning screenwriter discusses Spielberg’s real-life access to information, the true stories that inspired the movie, and Blunt’s impressive four-minute oner.
Steven Spielberg Always Knew Exactly How ‘Disclosure Day’ Would End
Koepp also explains how they pulled off that frantic final sequence.
Can you talk about how you and Steven came up with the end of the movie and the visuals of what’s on-screen, because it’s really powerful?
KOEPP: The visuals of what’s on-screen were assembled over time. We had different ideas. Obviously, we needed a lot of footage, so we were taking stuff from lore again, like the scene where the six or seven craft in formation go under the water, and the pilots are saying, “Splash! Splash! They’re under the water,” and they maintain velocity. That’s from Navy lore. Every one of those is in reference to some celebrated event in history — one or two we made up — and we had more of them, but then Steven would take a look when it was done and see, as they’re coming along, which ones make the biggest impact and which ones don’t, and which ones are we keeping?
But then the issues became even bigger because there’s that giant wall of screens. They all have to be filled, so which ones are more prominent? Which ones are less prominent? Which ones do we start to drift off and focus on? That control room sequence was very strenuous. We were rewriting that all the time while shooting it, because we had real NBC personnel in there playing the roles. But also Steven, it was such a feat of focus and concentration because he had to think about, “Which screen am I featuring in each shot and what’s going to be on it, even though that footage doesn’t exist yet? What in my head is warranting this push-in past the person who’s speaking?” That was a bear.
A UAP emerging from the clouds in Disclosure Day.Image via Universal Pictures
That’s the thing that people won’t realize, and also having the news people deciding where to cut and on what. All of that’s really complicated editing.
KOEPP: Yeah, it is. And it was really helpful to have the NBC personnel there with us because I’d say, “Well, what would you really say?” “I’d say, ‘Why are we watching this lady?’” And I said, “Great. Put it in. ‘Why are we watching this lady? Why am I looking at that? What is this?’” All that stuff. Anytime you can lean on reality, it’s going to be better.
Do you know how long it took to actually film that sequence?
KOEPP: The control room? Two days. It’s two different control rooms, but the NBC stuff was, I think, two days.
How early on did you guys know that that was going to be the place where the film came together, and how it all unfolded?
KOEPP: Day one. [Laughs] That was in Steven’s treatment. The strongest part of his treatment was the ending. I said, “This whole third act is just great. We just need to type it up.” Obviously, more than type it up. We worked on it a great deal, but the ending of the movie was clear. The objective is set at the beginning: “We have this information. It’s crucial that we get it out. We want to get the information out.” So the ending of the movie, unless your movie’s a downer, would be that the information gets out.
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“It’s easy to make the case against us…”
Colin Firth in Disclosure DayImage via Universal Pictures
Did you guys debate how, if we finally have this happen in the real world, it would actually unfold? Would it be like this? How much was that a debate?
KOEPP: Well, it’s a lively debate, and you see it in the scene between Colman Domingo’s character and Colin Firth’s character, where they’re sitting face to face and discussing the issue at the heart of the film. I was watching it one of the times I saw the movie recently, and I realized that almost everything Colman says is Steven’s point of view, and almost everything Colin says is my point of view. Steven’s a very hopeful guy. It’s a gift. I am a more cynical person, and I’ve got to say, I kind of agree with Colin’s character on this one. I think this is some perilous stuff. I don’t think human history is very encouraging when it comes to how we handle sudden dramatic change.
You’re not wrong. I’ll also say that I’m not impressed with humans and their history on this planet in terms of what we do to things. It’s pretty shadowy.
KOEPP: I mean, we have our good points, but…
Once in a while, we get it right.
KOEPP: It’s uncomplicated to make the case against us, too.
Disclosure Day is in theaters now.
Release Date
June 12, 2026
Runtime
145 Minutes
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