Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

Timing: 2:17 (137 min)

7.351/10
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7.15/10
27053

7.6/10
232000

All about film

Video 12

Photo 109

Actors and characters

Release date

1977-12-14

Country

United States, United Kingdom

Production

Columbia Pictures, EMI Films, Julia Phillips and Michael Phillips Productions

Genre

Science Fiction, Drama

Budget

$20 000 000

Revenue

$306 889 114

Website

Director

Steven Spielberg

Actors

Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Teri Garr, Melinda Dillon, Bob Balaban, J. Patrick McNamara, Warren J. Kemmerling, Roberts Blossom, Phil Dodds, Cary Guffey
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Steven Spielberg, Matthew Robbins

Producer

Clark L. Paylow, Julia Phillips, Michael Phillips

Operator

Vilmos Zsigmond

Composer

John Williams

Artist

Audition

Juliet Taylor, Shari Rhodes

Editing

Michael Kahn
All team (63)

• During the planning stage, Steven Spielberg meticulously studied various reports, all kinds of information about UFOs, and met with people who had, in one way or another, encountered phenomena unknown to mankind.
• The initial version of the film was written by Paul Schrader, but Steven Spielberg revised it so thoroughly that the screenwriter demanded his name be removed from the credits.
• Steve McQueen, Dustin Hoffman, and Gene Hackman auditioned for the role of Roy Neary.
• The famous French director François Truffaut was invited to play the role of the scientist Claude Lacombe, a UFO specialist.
• One of Barack Obama's favorite films.
• The director originally envisioned the alien ship as something enormous and dark, but during filming in India, when Spielberg frequently drove past a brightly lit oil refinery at night, captivated by the beautiful sight, he changed his plans. And in the film, the alien ship is depicted as huge and glowing with bright lights.
• One of the working titles of the film—"Watch the Skies”—was the final line of another science fiction film, "The Thing." The same phrase also appears in the film: coming from a television when Roy Neary awakens.