After directing the legacy sequel Top Gun: Maverick for legendary producer Jerry Bruckheimer, Joseph Kosinski went right back to work with Bruckheimer to make the Formula One racing film F1 – and while Kosinski and Bruckheimer plan to make another Top Gun movie together at some point, a project that’s likely to beat that one into production is a UFO disclosure-themed film that’s being compared to a UFO-themed take on the classic 1976 political thriller All the President’s Men. Almost a year has passed since Apple Original Films forked over “dozens of millions of dollars” to get in on the project – and during a recent interview, Kosinski said this one is science fact, not science fiction.
Background
Kosinski will be directing the film from a screenplay written by Zach Baylin, whose credits include The Order and King Richard (for which Baylin earned an Oscar nomination). Bruckheimer will, obviously, be producing.
Deadline previously revealed that David Grusch, “a former U.S. Air Force intelligence officer and Pentagon whistleblower who gained attention in 2023 for his claims about the U.S. government’s involvement in unidentified aerial phenomena research,” is on board as an executive producer and consultant. They went on to note, Once a niche, easy-to-dismiss topic, UAPs (formerly known as UFOs) have moved from the fringes of conspiracy theories into mainstream discussion in recent years, largely due to declassified military footage and government acknowledgment. Part of this shift in perception came with 2017 reporting from the New York Times that revealed the existence of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, a group at the Pentagon tasked with investigating UAPs. In subsequent years, the U.S. Department of Defense has confirmed the authenticity of several declassified Navy videos showing fast-moving objects that pilots could not identify. Congressional hearings in 2022 and 2023 further legitimized the topic, with intelligence officials emphasizing national security concerns. Grusch himself spoke out in 2023, asserting that the U.S. government had been secretly recovering and studying non-human craft, which of course sparked even more public interest.
The film is said to be a large-scale conspiracy thriller about two men working in national security who uncover a secret program to recover and reverse-engineer crashed UAPs.
Science Fact
During an interview on Deadline’s podcast Behind the Lens with Pete Hammond, Kosinski said (with thanks to The Playlist for the transcription), “I’ve got something I’m working on with Jerry Bruckheimer about these UAPs, these unidentified aerial phenomena. So we’re working with two people who are at the very center of the topic. So, you know, the conversations with them are just fascinating. Zach Baylin‘s writing the script right now. It’s a very exciting project, and trying to get that ready as soon as possible. … You think it’s science fiction, but I think we’re finding out it’s science facts. So that’s what the film is about, and I think it’s one of those things that everyone will want to go see.“
Since it’s taking a “science fact” approach, it’s not surprising to see that Kosinski and Bruckheimer aren’t flinching from this project, even though Steven Spielberg has an event movie called Disclosure Day coming to theatres. The recently released teaser trailer made it clear that one’s going the “science fiction” route.
In addition to this UFO disclosure film and the potential Top Gun 3, Kosinski might make an F1 sequel and is gearing up to make a Miami Vice movie, which he hopes to get Michael Mann involved with in some capacity. During the Behind the Lens conversation, Kosinski confirmed that he has already been in contact with Mann.
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