Close Encounters Of The Third Kind

It is possible to see an upside down R2-D2 (from Star Wars 1977,etc) in part of the large spacecraft that flies over Devil's Mountain. The SFX people needed more detail, and so supposedly there are many more such items, such as a shark from Jaws (1975) (also directed by Steven Spielberg), etc. R2-D2 is visible as Jillian first sees the mothership up close from her hiding place in the rocks.

Steven Spielberg cast Teri Garr in the film after seeing her work on a coffee commercial.

Stanley Kubrick was so impressed by Cary Guffey's performance that several years later he wanted him for the role of Danny Torrence in The Shining (1980).

The Jaws (1975) theme can be heard when the mother ship is communicating with the base at the end of the movie, right before the release of the human prisoners.

The UFO landing site built for the movie was 27 m high, 137 m long, and 76 m wide, making it the largest indoor film set ever constructed. The structure included 6.4 km of scaffolding, 1570 square metres of fibreglass, and 2740 square metres of nylon canopy.

Partly inspired by an experience from Steven Spielberg's childhood where without warning his parents rushed the family into their car, drove to an area where many others were gathered, and watched a spectacular meteor shower.

Barry is shown to be surprised by the extraterrestrials. Director Steven Spielberg had two crew members hide in boxes off camera, one in a clown suit and one in a gorilla suit. One popped out, then the other as the cameras rolled, catching young Cary Guffey's bewildered reaction. Spielberg then whispered to the gorilla to remove his mask, eliciting a smile from Guffey.

Cary Guffey's performances were so good that they only ever had to do one or two takes of each shot he was in. He became known as One-Take Cary on the set, and Spielberg had a t-shirt printed up for him with the phrase written on it.