© Columbia PicturesClose Encounters of the Third Kind was plagued by production issues.
While Steven Spielberg's sci-fi classic
Close Encounters of the Third Kind is renowned for its sense of cinematic mystery and awe, the meta-fiction that surrounds it was just as intriguing.
Conspiracy theories. Unusual storms. Warnings from NASA.
And in 2005, information posted to the internet by a group of US Defense Intelligence Agency
insiders gave rise to the notion that Close Encounters could actually be portraying real events.It's certainly one of those instances where the truth is just as strange, and engaging, as the fiction.
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of
Close Encounters, the film is getting a 4K remaster re-release - so it's a good time to delve into the stories that surround it.
Spielberg's dream - based on reality?Spielberg had wanted to make an alien film since he was a boy, when he and his father watched a meteor shower in New Jersey.
He had dealt with the subject matter before - with 1964's low-budget
Firelight, written and directed when he was just 17 - but the success of
Jaws meant he was awarded the right to make a film any way he wanted.
He wasn't going to get it wrong. Seeking accuracy, Spielberg hired Dr J Allen Hynek as consultant.
An astronomer hired by the US Air Force to examine UFO sightings in the late 1940s, Hynek was also advisor to a group of investigators created by the government to determine whether UFOs posed a threat to America.
© Columbia PicturesAliens hone in on Richard Dreyfuss’ truck.
The more cases he looked at, the more his position changed from skeptic to a believer in the unexplained.
And some say that Dr Hynek gave Spielberg insight into top secret events that allegedly took place in 1960s New Mexico.The 'Project Serpo' conspiracyThe events in question are those of 'Operation Crystal Night' - commonly referred to as '
Project Serpo' - an alleged top-secret exchange programme between the United States government and an alien planet.
Bear with us here.
The story goes that a team of 12 humans travelled to Serpo with a survivor of the infamous Roswell flying saucer crash, after the establishment of a relationship between the American government and the people of its home world.
The closing scenes of
Close Encounters depict 12 people trained and ready to board the mothership; 10 men and two women.
The numbers match the original story, which claims that the personnel visited the planet between 1965 and 1978.
All of them have since allegedly died (due to exposure to high radiation levels during the trip).
© Columbia PicturesCould the visitors in Close Encounters be based on ‘Ebens’, short, brown creatures from the planet Serpo?
It's speculated by conspiracy theorists that although the story of 'Project Serpo' didn't come to light until 2005, when an anonymous group of "former military insiders" 'testified' that the exchange took place, Spielberg somehow knew about it, and tailored his film to match.
Some say Dr Hynek passed information to the director that NASA did not want made public.
Interestingly, in a 1978 edition of the now defunct
Cinema Papers magazine, Spielberg said: "If NASA took the time to write me a 20-page letter, I knew there must be something happening. When they read the script, they got very angry and felt that it was a film that would be dangerous."
A cursed production?Adding to the strange claims are the bizarre problems that plagued the film's production.
The 1976 Atlantic hurricane season brought tropical storms to Alabama, where
Close Encounters was filming.
During one torrential downpour, a large portion of the huge disused aircraft hangars being used as a sound stage was damaged when lightning struck.
© Columbia PicturesThe making of Close Encounters was “twice as bad and twice as expensive” as Jaws.
With technical difficulties hampering production, Spielberg called the effort of making
Close Encounters "twice as bad and twice as expensive" as
Jaws. Which is saying something.
The truth is out thereWhile the story of 'Project Serpo' persists, there's no substantial evidence for the claims of a real-life
Close Encounters - so it should no doubt be taken with a pinch of salt.
In the 2014 documentary
Mirage Makers, US government agents claim they spent decades giving fake evidence of extraterrestrials to gullible ufologists, in an effort to make it easier for the government to spot when the UFO community was really getting close to the truth.
One such agent was Richard Doty. He admits to having infiltrated UFO circles to spread false stories.
It raises the question of whether such officials drew directly on the plot of
Close Encounters after its release to flood the community with odd rumours.
Of course, there's always the alternative. That the film is indeed based on real events, a conspiracy and cover-up, that Spielberg knew about...
Close Encounters of the Third Kind is re-released in cinemas on September 15.
So I was in a non-english country (a european one) don't know what the language was - perhaps Italian.
Something happened and I ended up at a police station or similar type location. I needed help but was having problems with communicating as I could only speak english and they couldn't. This one cop kinda tried to help but to no avail. Then this english cop turned up and I explained to him my problem and asked him if he could help.
He was like 'okay okay'... then we went to like a courtyard or something where I started speaking to the italian cop again. At this point something weird happened. He went from being a nice and trustworthy guy into starting like slapping me. I kept covering my face but he'd remove my hands and slap me more. Then I stopped reacting to the slaps like it didn't hurt me. You know what he started doing? Punching me! Punching me on the face! It was ridiculous. Then I realised there were other cops watching... one was american plus the english dude and some others.
I was thinking I should react to the guy punching me but I was scared. Anyways, it was some sort of physical violence being enacted with these guys watching. For some weird reason I felt like I had it within me to react/defend myself and stop the italian cop but for some weird reason I did not, maybe could not!
Part of it was this weird feeling of having trusted him at the beginning followed by this drastic change in behaviour of abuse plus all these other cops watching (including the highly annoying american!)
It was a weird dream. It made me think of breaking someone type thing when I got up.
Anyways not aliens but nonetheless... weirdness!