Steven Spielberg is many things, and a fan of Bad Sisters is one of them.
It was Eve Hewson’s performance as the youngest Garvey sister that won her a role in his latest film Disclosure Day.
“She’s wonderful. I had previously worked with Eve Hewson on Bridge of Spies (2015), she played Tom Hanks’ daughter,” Spielberg exclusively told RTÉ Entertainment in London.
“But I thought of her because I was a big fan of Bad Sisters. I thought she did extraordinary work in that. So, she got the part pretty quickly.”
Watch our full interview with Steven Spielberg and Josh O’Connor:
In Disclosure Day, Hewson plays Jane, a former nun whose partner Daniel – played by Josh O’Connor – becomes a whistleblower aiming to expose decades of secrets around extra-terrestrial encounters.
“As Steven said, she’s an extraordinary actor but she’s also so fun to work with. She’s also a brilliant friend and very supportive,” Josh O’Connor told RTÉ Entertainment.
“I’m quite an anxious person and when I was feeling anxious, she would really lift me up. She’s terrific.”
O’Connor recalled Spielberg referring to him and Hewson as ‘the kids’ on set.
“I called Colin Firth a kid too,” Spielberg joked.
Spielberg and Hewson share a hug at the film’s London premiere
Disclosure Day sees Spielberg return to the extra-terrestrial after films like Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), and War of the Worlds (2005).
He is in the director’s chair and the story is his, with a screenplay by David Koepp (Jurassic Park, Mission: Impossible, Carlito’s Way).
It is not a sequel to Close Encounters, however Spielberg has previously linked the two films thematically, saying: “During Close Encounters of the Third Kind, I would say to myself: “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all of this turned out to be true?’
“Almost 50 years later, I’m now thinking: ‘Wouldn’t be it be wonderful for us to actually know that all of this is true?’”
Disclosure Day is everything you want from a Spielberg summer blockbuster involving aliens, and it is very rooted in today.
When I asked why he felt the need to make this film right now, he said the idea was ‘always’ on his mind.
“I have worked within the genre of this kind of terrestrial, you know, not science fiction, meaning extra-terrestrial encounters here on Earth. Not Star Wars out far, far away – that’s George (Lucas)’s territory,” he said.
“My territory is close to home, all of our homes. And so, this is something that’s always been on my mind, it’s never left me.”
Josh O’Connor as Daniel Kellner in Disclosure Day
He also pointed to a 2017 New York Times front-page story entitled ‘Glowing Auras and “Black Money”: The Pentagon’s Mysterious U.F.O. Program’ as an inspiration.
“Navy pilots photographed what they think was an off-world vehicle they affectionally called a ‘Tic-Tac’ because it looked like the breath mint, that outmanoeuvred anything we’ve ever built,” he said.
“When that hit The New York Times, I suddenly said, ‘Ok, we’re getting close to something, and I think there’s a story here’.”
Faith is a big part of Disclosure Day with Hewson’s character Jane pondering how knowledge of alien life would impact peoples’ beliefs.
O’Connor said working on the film changed his own feelings on this.
“I’m someone who is interested in faith generally and fascinated by mystery. I had a conflict early on around my feelings about things. I really believe in mystery, and I feel as though we’re losing a sense of mystery in modern life,” he said.
“Part of me likes the speculation of what’s out there and I sort of don’t want to know. Steven addresses that, too, in the film.
“Little by little as we went through the film I’ve come to the conclusion that I would like to know, in no small part for the people who have had close encounters and have witnessed these experiences and have been discredited or gaslit.”
O’Connor said this was a ‘pull’ of the project, but the main draw was getting to work with Spielberg.
“It really is the dream for any actor. It’s beyond the dream,” he smiled.
The cast also includes Wyatt Russell, Colin Firth and Colman Domingo
For generations of film lovers, Spielberg films hold deep places in their hearts – from moments of childhood awe to adult understanding, stunning subtleties to all-out adventure rides.
I told him about the impact seeing Jurassic Park had on me as a child, and asked how it feels to know he has affected so many people in that way, with so many of his films.
His response was incredibly humble.
“Look at how many audiences have affected me and given me the will to continue and the incentive to keep making movies and telling stories, and the reinforcement that it’s something I love to do. So, whatever I put out there, the audience has made their own,” he said.
“I think my movies are more like, I raise a child and then put it up for adoption and it belongs to you. Jurassic Park is more your film than my film.
“I feel that the audience response to these movies has just kept me going and I’m so grateful for that.”
Disclosure Day hits cinemas on Wednesday.