Disclosure Day writer reveals the truth behind the movie’s biggest alien complaint

It wouldn’t be a modern sci-fi film without fans picking apart the aliens, would it? Disclosure Day—the latest alien flick stirring everyone up—has managed to offend, delight, and confuse audiences in equal measure. The hot topic? Well, everyone’s talking about just how stereotypical these little green men look. Or grey, rather. Even after decades of UFO stories, it seems a lot of people still expect something truly bizarre when Hollywood does aliens. Instead, we’ve got something instantly familiar, and the screenwriting team finally chimed in to explain what’s going on.

Why So Generic? The Writer Explains

David Koepp, who co-wrote Disclosure Day (yep, the same guy who gave us dinosaurs with attitude in Jurassic Park), has addressed all the fuss. He spoke to Screen Rant, shedding light on why the aliens ended up looking like they’ve just walked out of a Roswell article, or worse, a Spielberg throwback.

Here’s what Koepp had to say when questioned about the design choices:

'Steven first said, "I want to respect the lore that’s out there. There’s a cultural memory of how things are and what might have happened. And I don’t want to fly in the face of that."'

So instead of breaking every cliché or re-imagining aliens as interdimensional blobs or talking balls of light, Koepp and Spielberg decided to lean into classic expectations. The ethos on set? Don’t try to be cleverer than the audience’s lifelong mental image. Just give people the aliens they half-expect to see peeking round the garden shed on a foggy night.

The Aliens You Know (and Possibly Love to Mock)

For most of Disclosure Day, the extraterrestrials are only shown briefly and always disguised as common animals—a fox here, a deer there, even a raccoon and a cardinal for good measure. They only reveal their 'real' forms right at the tail end of the film.

• Classic greyish skin
• Skinny, spindly bodies and fingers
• Enormous heads
• Bug-eyed, big black eyes

If you’re thinking they look oddly familiar—yes, there’s more than a passing resemblance to the aliens from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Which, by the way, is another Spielberg favourite. No coincidence there.

Not About Reinventing the Wheel

If you were hoping Disclosure Day would shatter old myths about aliens, you’ll have to keep waiting. Koepp was blunt about it: they deliberately didn’t want to rewrite everything people believe. Rather than claim all those abduction stories and blurry photographs were completely off, the team’s approach was, 'What if it’s all been right—if anything, we’ve got even more proof now.'

Sure, they could’ve drawn up something original (alien jellyfish with legs? Flying stone orbs?). Instead, their goal was to nod to the enduring mystery—the same one that’s been on pub conspiracy boards and late-night radio for decades. As Koepp puts it, it’s about acknowledging the secrets, not upending them.

Disclosure Day is still out in cinemas across the world if you fancy seeing if you agree with their design choices—or just want to spot which animal the aliens turn up as next.