How The Ku Klux Klan Interfered With Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters Of The Third Kind

When Steven Spielberg began pre-production on "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," he was determined to avoid the myriad production difficulties he encountered during "Jaws." Though the science fiction epic would be a location-heavy shoot, at least he'd be spared the logistical nightmare of filming on open water, which proved so perilous that he was nearly fired. Having survived that production to make what was then the highest-grossing movie of all time, his follow-up film was a risk well worth taking. Columbia Pictures earned the honor of rolling the dice, and it paid handsomely for the pleasure. "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" wound up being a blockbuster masterpiece, but Spielberg's phenomenally fertile imagination sent the film sailing way over-schedule and over-budget. What was supposed to cost $2.7 million came in at $19.4 million. And while Spielberg was indulging his every artistic whim, his producer, Julia Phillips, and star, Richard Dreyfuss, were in the throes of career-threatening cocaine addictions. Dreyfuss possesses a restless mind. He is smart, well-read, and an unabashed liberal who's committed to humanitarian causes (or, rather, he was when he was younger, in contrast to the sexist and transphobic comments he made during a Q&A at a special 2024 screening of "Jaws"). He can be exhausting, but, given his bipolar disorder diagnosis, this is not his fault. And while he can be disruptive on set, he's typically worth the headache since he rarely gives a bad performance. One headache Dreyfuss induced during the shoot of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" is actually admirable. While shooting in Alabama, he gave an interview with a local newspaper wherein he lambasted the Ku Klux Klan. This earned him an unexpected two-week break when one of the white supremacist organization's buffoonish members threatened to kill him.