If you believe the creators of “Paul,” a new film out Friday, Steven Spielberg found the inspiration for “E.T.” in a phone call from an actual alien who happens to sound a lot like Seth Rogen.
While the sci-fi farce stars its writers, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, the goofy Brits behind “Shaun of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz,” the main attraction in “Paul” is Spielberg, whose legacy drips from virtually every line, and who actually played along as the recipient of the alien’s creative advice.
“This is our love letter to Steven, essentially,” says Pegg, who, along with Frost, met the director while working on the upcoming film, “The Adventures of Tintin.”
“We’re both huge fans of ‘Close Encounters [of the Third Kind],’ ‘Jaws,’ and ‘Raiders [of the Lost Ark].’ And ‘E.T.’ was a huge film for me growing up. There’s a big vein of love for Steven in the movie.”
In “Paul,” Pegg and Frost play a pair of English science-fiction geeks who tour America’s UFO hot spots, such as Area 51, in an RV. Along the way, they meet a real alien, voiced by Rogen, and learn that he’s been influencing American sci-fi culture for 60 years.
Aside from Paul’s E.T.-like appearance, the film is dotted with tributes to the groundbreaking director. Their ultimate destination is the Devils Tower mountain from “Close Encounters”; Paul talks to Spielberg while in the warehouse from “Raiders”; and those paying attention will notice Spielberg’s directorial debut, “Duel,” on a cinema marquee.
Pegg and Frost have been collaborators and best friends for almost two decades, and were brought together by their passions for sci-fi and pop culture.
“We initially bonded over a sound that a droid makes that we both knew from ‘Star Wars,’ ” says Frost. “Simon and I and some friends were having a curry one night, and he made this sound. I immediately knew what it was, and no one else did. They just thought it was a silly sound. So he squirted me with his nerd musk, and that was that.”
With both men being long fascinated by UFOs and other supernatural phenomena — they have visited Saxon churches to see if they were haunted by ghosts — they did the film’s road trip for real to help them prepare. Several of their experiences, such as a large pigeon hitting their windshield, scaring them half to death, wound up in the film.
When they showed Spielberg a picture they took at the Devils Tower monument, the director became nostalgic for aliens past, and asked if he could participate. Spielberg recorded his part in a LA studio with Rogen and director Greg Mottola, playfully batting around ideas and approaches, including some that jokingly deflated his own work.
“It was pretty interesting to see Steven Spielberg jump into the Apatow school of improv acting,” says Mottola.
“It makes me laugh that Spielberg says to Paul, ‘[E.T.’s] finger could light up at the end,’ and Paul says, ‘I don’t know. Less is more.’ Spielberg thought that was really funny.”
While the film features lots of funny bits — including “Saturday Night Live” star Kristen Wiig as a fundamentalist who develops a fascination for swear words after meeting the alien — the best part for its creators was the chance to pay tribute to their idol.
“[Movies like ‘Close Encounters’] were my first memories of watching films and having them affect me,” says Frost. “I still get the same feeling watching it now that I did as a 12-year-old boy.”