Updated

Updated · Vulture · Jun 10

New Oral History Traces Steven Spielberg's 7-Decade Career to 2026's Disclosure Day

Updated

Updated · Vulture · Jun 10

New Oral History Traces Steven Spielberg's 7-Decade Career to 2026's Disclosure Day

Q: After his alien 'closing statement,' what other lifelong fascination will Spielberg's next film explore?

Spielberg’s next film is expected to explore his lifelong fascination with the Western. The news story says his 2026 film, *Disclosure Day*, is intended as a “closing statement” on aliens, a subject that has run through *Close Encounters*, *E.T.* and *War of the Worlds*. The additional reporting points to what comes after that: Spielberg has said he plans to make a Western next, describing a film with “horses” and “guns” but without old genre stereotypes. That fits a long-running interest in his career. Spielberg has often spoken about his admiration for classic Westerns, especially the work of John Ford. Ford’s influence was explicit in *The Fabelmans*, where Spielberg dramatized Ford as a formative artistic figure. He has also suggested that the Western is one of the major genres he still wants to fully tackle. So, after wrapping up his decades-long engagement with extraterrestrial stories in *Disclosure Day*, the next lifelong fascination he appears set to pursue on screen is the American Western.

3 articles · Updated · Vulture · Jun 10

A new oral history maps Spielberg’s filmmaking life from childhood home movies and 1971’s Duel to 2026’s Disclosure Day, using recollections from collaborators, actors and family members.
The account argues his films repeatedly mirrored his inner life—family rupture, awe, fear and wonder—with Spielberg himself calling Disclosure Day a “closing statement” that sums up themes from earlier alien stories.
Contributors including Martin Scorsese, George Lucas, Tom Hanks, Kathleen Kennedy and Tony Kushner describe both his technical command and collaborative style, from Jaws and Raiders to Schindler’s List, Munich and West Side Story.
The portrait also revisits setbacks and criticism—Jaws production chaos, 1941 overruns, The Color Purple backlash and Indiana Jones disputes—to frame a career that evolved from blockbuster wunderkind to personal and historical storyteller.