Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Andrew Sanford | News | May 5, 2026
Steven Spielberg is just a normal guy! Sure, he’s made some of the most impactful films in cinema history and may go down in history as one of the greatest artists the United States has ever produced, but that mostly happened because one time he got scared by a train movie really badly, and he also has some (seemingly) unresolved family issues thanks to the relationship between his mother and father (I saw it all in a movie once). The man is more relatable than we may think, but that doesn’t stop folks from (understandably) putting him on a bit of a pedestal.
That’s what happened to Josh O’Connor while he was working on Spielberg’s newest film, Disclosure Day. The actor was recently explaining to the Associated Press that he had a difficult time one night preparing for an emotional scene he had to shoot the next day. Imagine the pressure! You’re in Spielberg’s newest film, which is his return to UFO stuff, after he’s been putting out some of his best work lately. How do you not get a little anxious? Luckily, Spielberg had the answer.
“I got a text from him quite late at night, just saying, ‘The door is on the latch, just push.’ And it made so much sense,” O’Connor explained. “I was like, ‘of course.’ The character’s kind of got all this emotion, it’s built up, and it’s like a door on the latch, and you just push, and it all comes out, and it’s an emotional release.” Getting a message like that from such a legendary director that opens everything up for you has got to feel pretty incredible.
The actor went back to the set the next day with a pep in his step, finally feeling like he had unlocked the scene that was giving him so much trouble, thanks to wise words from one of the best in the biz. He approached the director, letting him know that he had opened up the scene for him, only for Spielberg to respond, “What are you talking about?”
“I said, ‘The text about ‘the door on the latch just push’ it’s incredible,’” O’Connor told the outlet. “And he laughed and said that that text was supposed to be for his wife. It became a very big joke for all of us. But it did unlock the scene for me, so fair play.” Incredible! What a lovely little mix-up! People are so reverent of Steven Spielberg that him telling Kate Capshaw how to get a (presumably) stuck door open would lead to some kind of breakthrough.
But that’s also part of the magic of making movies. Sometimes, the answer comes from the place you most expect, just not in the way you expect it. And hey, as long as you get the shot, who cares!
