# Talk:Contact (1997 American film)

Please add to the list references that can be used for the film article.
Wessel, Kari (2004). "Alien Encounters: Science Fiction and the Mysterium in 2001, Solaris, and Contact". In Rickman, Gregg (ed.). The Science Fiction Film Reader. Limelight Editions. pp. 181–209. ISBN 0879109947.
Handler, Rachel (June 29, 2022). "'No Aliens, No Spaceships, No Invasion of Earth' An oral history of Contact, the sci-fi movie that defied Hollywood norms and made it big anyway". Vulture. Retrieved July 22, 2022.

As a reader, I wanted to know more about several things: 
1) The editing by Arthur Schmidt is superb, and it really makes the film work.  What kind of input did Schmidt have in the process?  Or, does he just edit at the direction of Zemeckis?  Is it collaborative? I'm curious about the production methods, and the filming section seems a bit short for any future FAC.  
2) The Bill Clinton and CNN controversy seems like a homage to The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), as that film used real journalists to give it added authenticity.  However, when I saw Contact during its initial release, I and many others that saw it at the time were very surprised to see the President in the film, so it may have had the intended effect. 
3) Coppola's lawsuit doesn't make any sense.  He must have known (or his attorneys must have known) that the case would go nowhere after waiting two decades since the book was originally published.  Suing a dead man?  It just doesn't add up and the whole thing is just completely bizarre.  It would help to get Coppola's take on the incident. Viriditas (talk) 12:08, 28 February 2011 (UTC)
Naturally, Sagan wasn't likely to be inconvenienced in any way personally by Coppola's lawsuit. What needs to be kept in mind in this case is that one's estate (assets) persists even after one has passed to the Great Beyond. Coppola was suing Carl Sagan's estate on Sagan's behalf, with the Estate being held accountable to pay reparations for whatever torts Sagan may have perpetrated while he was still above ground.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.223.130.60 (talk) 22:05, 9 August 2012 (UTC) 
Does anyone knows the brand of the headphones used by Jodie Foster at the scene when listens to the alien sound for the first time while being on her car outdoors? I’ve paused the movie in several frames, but the quality just isn’t enough.
luiscla27 (talk) 22:59, 16 October 2024 (-6:00)

It seems very pedantic, and even wrong, to say that the shape of the capsule was changed from a dodecahedron to a sphere for the film; as can be seen, the pod (shown clearly when dropped, and again when it hits the water on its “return”) is a lattice-work doecahedron cage, in which the sphere sits. There may be a question of æsthetics, but it isn’t so much a change from the book as a design choice in not filling in the faces of the dodecahedron.Jock123 (talk) 14:17, 8 May 2012 (UTC)
 Done Here: [1]. Mateussf (talk) 04:39, 20 March 2020 (UTC)

Hello, I today started reading a polish translation (from 1987) of the James E. Gunn's book "Listeners" ("Słuchacze"), which was released in the 1972 or 73. It is very similar to the story in this film. It is even to Carl Sagan (and others)! For sure film have few plots which are different, to make it more Hollywood production and having more action, but backstory, many topics, philosophical questions, background and many details are in agreement. I would like to know what people thinks about it. Gunn isn't a thirdparty author, he written many hard-science fiction books and articles about it, for sure his works was known to Sagan.--149.156.82.207 (talk) 06:22, 11 May 2012 (UTC)

Per wp:talk page guidelines, we are not supposed to talk about that here. This is where we discuss the content and format of the article. Of course, if you can find a reliable source that actually explicitly says that Sagan's and Gunn's books show notable similarities, then we could add a little remark in this article. Without a source such a comment would be wp:original research. Cheers - DVdm (talk) 08:22, 11 May 2012 (UTC)
Look at the talk page for Contact (novel). Look at the paragraph "save Similiar Books information". Here is mentioned "Listeners" and other books. --GroveGuy (talk) 19:57, 11 May 2012 (UTC)

The introductory segment of the article states that the "release of Contact was publicized by controversies...", which I think should probably be "plagued" rather than "publicized", unless the controversies mentioned were part of a deliberate marketing campaign strategy - unlikely.
Changing this as suggested, unless anyone can show that the use of the original is justified. 
Extenebris (talk) 23:58, 12 July 2016 (UTC)

That looks like an accurate summary of the article to me. Good work! Rebbing 01:36, 13 July 2016 (UTC)

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I've been listening to a BBC podcast (Fry & Rutherford) and they said that when Carl Sagan was working on the script, he realised that if anything went through a wormhole it would be destroyed. He called his friend Kip Thorne and asked if there was a way around this, and Thorne did some work and devised a way of creating an artificial wormhole - he had to use negative mass to keep the ends open. Not many science fiction films actually prompt original research in cosmology. Does anyone have a stronger reference than the podcast to add a comment to the article? Apepper (talk) 06:23, 10 March 2020 (UTC)

Two things:
I assume this refers to the original/first screenplay which pre-dates the novel? From what I recall, the novel is quite clear that the network of wormholes is artificial.
From where I'm sitting, the podcast by Drs. Fry and Rutherford is reliable to cite what they are saying with attribution (preferably making clear where they say the info came from). - SummerPhDv2.0 17:32, 10 March 2020 (UTC)
Sorry, yes they mentioned it was for the screenplay, what they didn't say was their source - although they did say Kip had written a paper describing the work; I can't find that, but he did write an article in a book edited by Carl Sagan in 1997 about using wormholes for interstellar travel - that might be what they referred to. Apepper (talk) 16:53, 14 March 2020 (UTC)

To add to this article: Bryant Gumbel plays himself in this film. 98.123.38.211 (talk) 00:17, 11 August 2024 (UTC)

So why not add it instead of talking about adding it? DonIago (talk) 02:00, 11 August 2024 (UTC)

@Janan2025 - Sorry to revert your edit, but I have taken it back to the 25 April version prior to some muddled edits. Best wishes, Tony Holkham (Talk) 08:21, 23 May 2025 (UTC)