Although Disclosure Day, Steven Spielberg’s latest science fiction film, features critically acclaimed performances by leads Emily Blunt and Josh O’Connor, it is newcomer and former journalist Courtney Grace who has generated the most buzz.
A TV-Style Ending
After whistleblower Daniel (Josh O’Connor) and journalist Margaret (Emily Blunt) manage to break into the Kansas City newsroom with footage exposing the government’s decade-long cover-up of extraterrestrial activity, the film shifts to an NBC reporter (Courtney Grace) who covers the story live and begins to report it to the entire world, reacting to the sensational information unfolding before her.
“It was an event that affected both the individual and the collective. Each of us has our own interpretation of that moment, and I like that,” Courtney Grace—who was a real-life journalist and news anchor—told Variety. “But for me, as I read the script, it made me think about the immensity of creation itself, the sense of uncertainty, and then, all of a sudden, how the revelation of something can completely upend one’s belief system. And yet that’s okay. It can upend our entire value system… but that, in reality, can be a truly wonderful thing.”
The Film Industry Turns to TV
It’s not unusual for journalists to play versions of themselves on screen: Courtney Grace worked as a journalist for seven years, most recently at a TV station in Tampa, Florida, and is used to delivering the news live while maintaining professionalism and composure. What made her scene in “Disclosure Day”—filmed over the course of two days—unique was the rare opportunity to portray a journalist sharing in the most profound shock in the history of humanity.
Furthermore, it’s interesting to note how “Disclosure Day” entrusts its climactic scene to the medium of television: in the age of the internet and social media, Spielberg once again chooses the television set (which was also pivotal in a cult scene from Close Encounters of the Third Kind) and the point of view of a TV anchor. It’s as if to say that the truth can only come to light and be believed if it is revealed by real people, not those on social media. This is a fascinating dialogue between film and television—two mediums that are closer than ever today in the age of streaming productions.
