Because Communion was presented as a dramatization of Strieber's own alleged encounters, the boundary between production and personal ordeal became an uncomfortable source of tension on the set. Strieber later said that some crew members repeatedly made jokes at his expense about the autobiographical material and his claims of contact with extraterrestrials. He did not describe a major walkout or formal lawsuit, but his blunt assessment—'some people who work on movies are nice people; some people who work on movies are jerks'—made clear that the subject was not treated reverently by everyone involved. The filmmakers later arranged special screenings in New York, San Diego, San Antonio, and St. Louis for people who identified as alien-abduction witnesses, further cementing the film's unusual status as both entertainment and a kind of cultural meeting point for believers. Strieber himself ultimately criticized the finished movie, arguing that the creatures were shown too clearly and too often: in his view, the real experiences had involved brief, uncertain glimpses, while the film turned them into fully visible cinematic entities.
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AI concept artworkArchive Record · 1980s
The Autobiographical Alien Movie Whose Crew Joked About Its Author's Abduction Claims
Communion / 1980s
Because Communion was presented as a dramatization of Strieber's own alleged encounters, the boundary between production and personal ordeal became an uncomfortable source of tension on the set. Strieber later said that some crew members repeatedly made jokes at his expense about the autobiographical material and his claims of contact with extraterrestrials. He did not describe a major walkout or formal lawsuit, but his blunt assessment—'some people who work on movies are nice people; some people who work on movies are jerks'—made clear that the subject was not treated reverently by everyone involved. The filmmakers later arranged special screenings in New York, San Diego, San Antonio, and St. Louis for people who identified as alien-abduction witnesses, further cementing the film's unusual status as both entertainment and a kind of cultural meeting point for believers. Strieber himself ultimately criticized the finished movie, arguing that the creatures were shown too clearly and too often: in his view, the real experiences had involved brief, uncertain glimpses, while the film turned them into fully visible cinematic entities.
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