Interview With Robert Wise

Director of the original “The Day The Earth Stood Still”

By Sean Casteel

[This interview with Robert Wise was conducted in October of 1994 and published the following January in the now-defunct magazine “UFO Universe.” Given that there is so much interest swirling around the 2008 remake of “The Day The Earth Stood Still,” we thought you might enjoy reading this Q. and A. between Wise and UFO journalist Sean Casteel.]

            Veteran movie director Robert Wise has won four Oscars in his long and distinguished career. He won two for “West Side Story” and another for “The Sound of Music,” both musical classics of the 1960s. But interestingly, Wise told “UFO Universe” that he still gets more curiosity, including requests for interviews, for a movie he directed that was released in 1951: the science fiction classic “The Day The Earth Stood Still.”

            Well over 40 years after it first appeared, the story of the lone alien who lands on the White House lawn intending to deliver a warning about the dangers of nuclear war and is subsequently violently rejected by humans opposing his message is still a fresh and relevant dramatization of the Space Brother myth. Even as we stumble clumsily through the 1990s, there are still many of us who continue to believe in a benevolent alien presence selflessly laboring to deliver us from our own nuclear-powered foolishness and redeem us from our war-mongering self-destructiveness.

            Robert Wise spoke to “UFO Universe” from his office in Los Angeles about the making of “The Day The Earth Stood Still,” and about his own faith in an intelligence out there different from our own, saying not that it might exist, but that it must exist.

UU: Did you do the “The Day The Earth Stood Still” because of your own belief in UFOs?

Wise: Well, I don’t think that I thought too deeply about UFOs at the time. But I was at 20^th Century Fox and under contract. And I was told by Darryl Zanuck to go and see a certain producer because he had a script he thought I might be interested in. So I went to see him, and that was the first script of “The Day The Earth Stood Still.” I immediately got caught up in it and loved the whole idea, the whole concept. I’d always believed in the possibility of UFOs. I didn’t spend a lot of time digging into it, but I still feel that if we here on this Earth feel that we’re the only possible intelligence, it would be the biggest ego trip possible. I always felt this is a big possibility and still believe in that intelligence and therefore in saucers. I guess it all came into focus when I read the first script of “The Day The Earth Stood Still.”

UU: So it just kind of fell to you by way of assignment because you were under contract?

Wise: I didn’t have to do it, no. It was not the kind of thing I had to do because I was under contract. There was never any question about it, because when I read the script, I loved it. I loved the idea that it was science fiction, but it was “earthbound” science fiction. It took place right here and I felt it could be very believable, very real. And it was made in Washington , DC , our capital. A very everyday, mundane setting in a way, and that it all took place there I thought was excellent. Of course, I loved what it had to say. I loved its message. It’d always been an anti-militarist, and a lot of my pictures have taken   that viewpoint.

UU: That’s a question I wanted to ask later, but I guess I’ll ask it now. You talk about the sense of “rightness” of it all. Were religious overtones intended in the movie?

Wise: Not at all.

UU: Please let me finish the question.

Wise: Okay, go ahead.

UU: The idea of the messenger of peace who was crucified and comes back to life?

Wise: That was only pointed out to me later.

UU: I see.

Wise: At the time we made it, I never did think of it in those terms. Maybe Andy North, who did the screenplay, thought about it. But he never mentioned it to me. Very honestly, I didn’t think of it in those terms. Only after the picture was done and “out there,” it was referred to in a couple of reviews. A couple of people mentioned it, and then I could see what they were getting at. But in making it, it was not a deliberate effort on my part, at least, to do that.

            I think one of the things that helped lead to that was the fact that we had Michael Rennie in the part. He was tall, thin and rather ascetic looking. Put a beard on him and he could have been a Christ figure. I think casting Michael Rennie in the part helped people get the concept that it was a Biblical thing. He was new to the screen, see. That was his first film. That was another plus for us. We had a brand new actor on the screen playing this role. I think it added to the credibility of the whole thing.

UU: “The Day The Earth Stood Still” came out in 1951. And in 1952, UFOs were seen over the White House and sightings reached an unprecedented peak all over the country.

Wise: I didn’t know they were seen over the White House.

UU: It’s one of those cases where they immediately stepped in and denied everything.

Wise: Yeah, I know about Roswell , New Mexico , and all of that business.

UU: When these sightings waves would come, did you feel that your movie had been prophetic?

Wise: I think it probably was a little prophetic. I don’t know whether it kind of was responsible for making people look more closely or to have felt that they had seen things of that nature. I think the picture was a bit of a forerunner in that sense.

UU: Benevolent Space Brothers are still believed in by millions of the New Age faithful. Does it surprise you that this belief has persisted for more than 40 years? And do you feel that your movie was partially responsible for that belief and its power to endure? The idea of benevolent aliens and so forth?

Wise: I’m delighted to hear—I didn’t know that the concept of benevolent aliens was that widespread, as you seem to indicate in your question. I would have to believe that if that is so, then our alien Klaatu and our picture were a very definite influence on that. It was the first time we had an alien coming from outer space that wasn’t bent on some evil stuff as his only purpose on Earth. Klaatu was a forerunner of the peaceful alien. And I’m sure it had an influence on people who feel that way about it.

UU: “Klaatu Barada Nikto!” That’s a statement made in the movie. Can you tell me the context of that remark and what it means?

Wise: It’s a made-up phrase by Andy North, the screenwriter, and I can’t tell you its exact meaning except that, obviously “Klaatu Barada Nikto” is enough to get the robot turned off and to move him toward doing the right thing. I think it’s kind of a message that passes between Klaatu and the robot in a special language. But it did the trick for us. But it’s final definition I cannot give you.

UU: Is it true you were denied a permit to film near the Pentagon?

Wise: No, that’s not the story. Here’s the story: Anytime you want something from the Armed Services, you have to submit a script. And we thought we might be able, in Washington , to get those jeeps and the troop carriers and the tanks from the Army. So we sent them a copy of the script. 20^th Century Fox at that time had a representative, kind of a lobbyist thing, in Washington , to do these kinds of things like with the Defense Department. But anyway, they didn’t like the script, didn’t like its message, I guess, and turned us down. And then our man in Washington had a very bright idea. He said, “Well, maybe the National Guard here just across the border in Virginia would not have a problem.” So we took it over to them and they had no problem with it. All the troops and soldiers and the machines and tanks that you see in Washington itself came from the National Guard.

UU: What do you think of the prospect of nuclear war 43 years after the movie? Do you think that nuclear-related peace will continue?

Wise: I’m hoping so. You know it’s only been recently that we seem to be out from under the threat or power of nuclear war. That’s what our picture was all about—the warning that we should stop fooling around with that. I have the feeling we’re over the worst of that. But unless these arms get into the hands of terrorists, we’re past that now. We’re beyond the pale of having nuclear war.

UU: How would you rate “The Day The Earth Stood Still” against your other credits?

Wise: Well, I think it’s one of my greatest credits. As a matter of fact, my two best known and most popular films are “West Side Story” and “The Sound Of Music.” But I think I get more comments and more requests for things about “The Day The Earth Stood Still” than for the others. So, I think that probably, next to those two musicals, I guess it’s my most popular and well known film. I’ve been asked many times, “Do you have a favorite film?” And I don’t have that. I’ve done 39 films and they say at least ten or twelve of those are famous for different reasons. Certainly “The Day The Earth Stood Still” is one of the very key movies I made.

UU: What do you think about other UFO-related things that came later, like “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” or “E.T.,” or “Fire In The Sky”?

Wise: I like “E.T.” particularly. That was the one that was the best to me. “Close Encounters” was interesting. It was all right. But my favorite of the ones you mentioned was “E.T.” It was just a fine film. Just excellent.

UU: You’ve also done “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” and—

Wise: And “The Andromeda Strain.” So it’s been three science fiction films.

UU: I was a big fan of “The Andromeda Strain.”

Wise: I’m glad to hear that. Of the three science fiction films that I’ve done, that would be my next favorite. And “Star Trek” would be the last. I liked “The Andromeda Strain.” I thought it was a very interesting film. It was an interesting story from a book that Michael Crichton did. And I thought they did a damn fine job of getting it on the screen.

UU: One last time. What are your own feelings about UFOs? Are you a skeptic or a believer?

Wise: I’m not skeptic. I’m a believer in the possibility of UFOs. Unfortunately, I’ve never seen one. I remember being in Palm Springs once, 15 or 20 years ago, and I was at someone’s house at a party. And I was talking to a doctor, a very sound, well-educated guy. He was from back East someplace. And he told me about a sighting. He absolutely swore that it was something from outer space. He gave a very vivid description of it and told me in no uncertain words and with absolutely every bit of conviction possible that he saw an Unidentified Flying Object. So I’m very much a believer in the possibility. You just have to be open. There not only might be but there has to be other intelligence in this tremendous universe we have. How can we possibly think we’re the only ones who have intelligence, such as we call it?

The End