Close Encounters of the Third Kind behind the scenes gags

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Because Cary Garfield performed very well during filming, Spielberg specially printed a T-shirt for him with the words "A Passing Garfield".
In order to make Cary Garfield, who plays Barry, look surprised when he saw aliens, Steven Spielberg asked two crew members to wear clown and orangutan costumes and hide them next to the camera. The film was officially started. When the two jumped out, Garfield's surprised expression was filmed in the movie.
During the post-production of the film, one of the producers, Julia Phillips, was fired by the producer for smoking cocaine.
The film is the first collaboration between the editor Michael Kahn and Spielberg, and the first special effects film he edited.
Eleven photographers participated in the filming of the film, and "The Third Type of Contact" thus created a film record for the most photographers.
Spielberg originally planned to abandon real-time shooting and use studio shooting, but in the end he changed his original intention.
The special effects of clouds in the film are actually made of white paint poured into a salt water pool.
During the filming, Spielberg encountered endless technical and financial problems. Spielberg's original budget in 1973 was 2.7 million U.S. dollars, but the final cost was as high as 19.4 million U.S. dollars.
After seeing Terry Gal's coffee ad, Spielberg admired his acting ability and decided to let him star in the film.
Both the U.S. Air Force and Navy refused to assist in filming.
Before filming started, Spielberg considered Steve McQueen, Dustin Hoffman, Gene Hackman or Jack Nicholson to play Roy Neri.
In the ending scenes, the short aliens are re-dressed by local girls fromAlabama . Spielberg chose girls because he thinks girls are more elegant than boys. The crew had considered making alien dolls, but it ended in failure. The dolls were only used in the scene where the aliens communicate with Lacombe at the end of the film.
Spielberg repeatedly watched John Ford's "Sunset in the Sand" during the filming of the film.