Emily Blunt in Disclosure Day
Explained Aliens Disclosure Day Film Now Showing Steven Spielberg

Wait, is that ‘real’ alien footage in Disclosure Day? Steven Spielberg on film’s true story

The truth is out there

Daisy Phillipson
15th June 2026, 11:51
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*Warning: Spoilers ahead for Disclosure Day*

Since Disclosure Day landed in cinemas, there’s been a rumour Steven Spielberg included a ‘real’ alien clip. If you believe it’s true, there’s something you should know. 

Spielberg is no stranger to extraterrestrial media. E.T. made us fall in love with space dwellers, while Close Encounters of the Third Kind tapped into concerns that the government was covering up UFO information. 

Disclosure Day revisits those themes as it follows a meteorologist (Emily Blunt) and a cybersecurity expert (Josh O’Connor) who find themselves in the middle of a movement aimed at exposing the government’s concealment of alien secrets. 

In the end, they’re able to present historical evidence of alien encounters and following cover-ups to the world, finally getting the truth out there. 

Even before the film dropped, a number of posts emerged suggesting it included footage from the Roswell incident (more on this shortly). And now it’s out, one TikToker claims, “The fact that they used real footage of aliens in Disclosure Day.”

So, is it true?

Despite the rumours circulating on social media, there’s no evidence that Disclosure Day uses genuine footage of extraterrestrial encounters or authentic recordings of unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP). 

That said, Steven Spielberg has drawn from decades of UFO folklore, witness accounts, conspiracy theories, and documented UAP incidents, weaving in references to some of the most infamous cases. 

As such, some viewers may recognise echoes of several real-life mysteries, including the Roswell incident, the Kecksburg UFO case, and even a scene recreating the Nixon administration’s role in shaping public attitudes towards government secrecy.

Roswell and the alleged alien cover-up

The most obvious real-world influence on Disclosure Day is Roswell. In July 1947, a rancher discovered unusual debris on land near Roswell, New Mexico. 

The nearby Roswell Army Air Field initially announced that personnel had recovered a “flying disc”, before quickly retracting the statement and claiming the material was from a weather balloon. The abrupt change in explanation fuelled decades of speculation. 

While the US military later maintained that the debris was linked to Project Mogul, a classified surveillance programme, conspiracy theories continued to grow, with some alleging that alien bodies were recovered and hidden from the public.

Disclosure Day taps directly into these long-running claims. A number of characters suggest the government has been hiding evidence of alien life for “79 years” – the same time frame between Roswell and now. 

Then, in the leaked clips at the end of the movie, a news reporter announces one of them as being from “Roswell,” with the footage showing a clapperboard saying, “Roswell, N.M. Roll 4.”

The Nixon connection

Recreation of Nixon incident in Disclosure Day
Credit: Universal Pictures

The film also references former US President Richard Nixon, who was famously claimed to have taken actor Jackie Gleason to a Florida-based top secret military facility in the ‘70s due to his interest in extraterrestrials. 

The story goes that Nixon showed Gleason the embalmed bodies of several alien beings that were two feet long, with small bald heads and big ears. He was allegedly sworn to secrecy, but was shaken by the sighting. 

Now, this was all relayed by Gleason’s second wife Beverly McKittrick after their divorce. None of these claims have ever been substantiated, but it has been a long-standing urban legend. 

This becomes a direct reference in Disclosure Day, when Daniel shows Jane old CCTV footage he’d stolen from a company he works for. One clip shows Nixon greeting a man at a military base. Daniel tells Jane it’s “Nixon” and “some old TV comedian.”

Pennsylvania’s Roswell

Another lesser-known incident referenced in the archival footage that plays at the end of the movie is the Kecksburg UFO case, often nicknamed “Pennsylvania’s Roswell”.

The incident took place on December 9, 1965, when residents across several US states reported seeing a blazing object streak across the sky. 

Witnesses in the small Pennsylvania community of Kecksburg claimed it crashed in nearby woodland, with some later reporting strange lights and military activity in the area.

One witness described seeing an acorn-shaped object marked with symbols resembling ancient writing before authorities allegedly removed it from the scene. 

Officials later suggested the sighting was likely a meteor, while others proposed it may have been a Soviet satellite – but speculation never went away. 

NASA added further fuel to the fire decades later when, in response to a 2003 lawsuit seeking records related to the incident, the agency admitted that a number of documents connected to Kecksburg had been lost.

Steven Spielberg explains Disclosure Day’s real-life inspirations

Steven Spielberg
Credit: Creative Commons/Martin Kraft

Speaking to the New York Times, Spielberg explained the real-life inspirations that helped form the basis of his new sci-fi movie. 

“It was just that things had been percolating and there had been so many more videos backing up eyewitness testimony and creating more credibility among the witness base once the smartphone came into real existence with the iPhone,” he said. 

“Once you went from the Blackberry to that everything kind of changed, and long before that story people were starting to come forward and the witnesses have been coming forward ever since Roswell.”

“The story” he’s referring to is the New York Times’ coverage of a secret government programme that studied UAPs.

Despite the evidence and officials who came forward during this time, Spielberg said he purposely avoided interviewing any of them for his film. 

“My story is a science fiction story, but the foundation upon which I built my science fiction story is a very credible foundation just based on everything that I’ve absorbed over many, many decades, but especially over the last decade,” he explained. 

The filmmaker added, “I will say that this film is more about humanity and people and community and the things that divide us and what could be occurring that possibly could bring us a little closer together, such as aliens being real.”

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Featured image credit: Universal Pictures