The Sound of Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day
17 June 2026Listen to the episode
*NOTE: This episode contains spoilers.
“Disclosure Day” is at once a conspiracy thriller, a first-contact story, and a wildly inventive showcase for cinematic sound. In this conversation, Gary Rydstrom, Brian Chumney, and Andy Nelson join us to discuss crafting the film’s immersive soundtrack, from its disorienting opening wrestling sequence, to Emily Blunt’s alien-clicking language, to John Williams’s score, and its many spectacular action sequences. But underneath the film’s mystery and spectacle, the sound team was guided by something much simpler and more human.
Joining today’s conversation:
We came to the one word direction, which was: ‘Empathy.’ So the movie, any time that we can have a sense of empathy… you can connect with people or disconnect, but feel internalized with other people's feelings. That's what [director Steven Spielberg] said early on.
Gary Rydstrom - Supervising Sound Editor, Sound Designer, Re-recording Mixer, “Disclosure Day”