Steven Spielberg told Brian Cage he’d love to come to AEW show
When they were working on “Disclosure Day,” Steven Spielberg told Brian Cage that he’d be interested in coming to an AEW show in the future.
The legendary director released his latest film this month — and the movie opens with a wrestling scene featuring a couple of AEW names in Cage and Lance Archer. Cage discussed the project on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, noting that he got to speak with Spielberg a lot during the few days Cage was there for “Disclosure Day” filming in 2025. Spielberg said he had been a wrestling fan and would love to come to an AEW event. The promotion had a pay-per-view in Los Angeles coming up around then, but the timing didn’t work out because Spielberg would still be in Long Island filming the movie.
“It was a blast, it was so much fun. We got to talk with Spielberg a lot. He was a huge wrestling fan and he was talking about how he’s surprised he’s never done, this is the first time he’s ever done anything wrestling related in any of his movies,” Cage said. “And he’s talking about all the throwback stuff. And he was like, ‘Oh man, you guys ever in LA?’ I go, ‘We actually have a pay-per-view this weekend.’ And he goes, ‘Well, I’ll be out here still filming.’
“But he goes, he’s like, ‘I would love, you guys are there and I’m not on set, I would love to come to the show.’ And I go, ‘Pretty sure they’d love to have you come to the show.’ So maybe it’ll work out down the road.”
Brian Cage explains how he was cast in “Disclosure Day” —
Cage explained on Insight that Chavo Guerrero — who works as a coordinator on many wrestling-related Hollywood projects — had contacted him about a television show that ultimately got postponed. When that happened, Guerrero had Cage contact someone else about a role that he would be a good fit for. Cage did not know what the project was or who the director would be. But when he got a callback, he found out those details and that Spielberg wanted him in this movie.
“I’m in the gym, all of a sudden I get an email,” Cage said. “And it’s, ‘Hey, I just sat down and watched everything with the director. He absolutely loves you, your look, your persona, your charisma, everything you do, you’re exactly perfect and you’re exactly what he wants.’ Great email to get. And he goes, ‘Give me a call immediately.’
“So I call him and again, I don’t even know what the project is. Nothing. And he goes, ‘Yeah, man, so I was watching it and Steven loves you, loves your look. He just wants you on the set, blah, blah, blah.’ He keeps saying Steven. I go, ‘Steven, who’s Steven?’ And he goes, ‘Oh, the director, Steven Spielberg.’ And I went, ‘Wait, what?’ And I go, Steven Spielberg is watching my stuff. He’s like, that’s it, I need Brian Cage in my movie. I go, ‘This is amazing.'”
Cage said he was allowed to pick the other wrestler who would be in the film, with casting wanting another big guy who had a different look than him. Cage recommended Archer, who — because of their tag team — was already in some of the photos Cage had sent in during the casting process. Guerrero also appeared in the movie as the referee of their match.
Describing Spielberg as “super nice,” Cage said the director was impressed when he saw that a big man like Cage was able to hit a moonsault.
“When I did the one moonsault too, he goes, ‘Whoa, I didn’t know you could do that kind of stuff.’ The way he popped for it,” Cage said. “He wasn’t the smart mark like, ‘Oh, just stick to big man stuff.’ He’s like, ‘Whoa, that was amazing.'”
Like with a lot of Hollywood projects, Cage said he filmed three times more material than ended up in the final cut. He hopes some of that gets released as deleted scenes.
“There’s a couple of specific shots he wanted us to do,” Cage said when asked about being directed by Spielberg. “Like, he wanted this one cool diving elbow or headbutt off like how it was filmed. He wanted the POV shot. There’s one other thing too specifically he wanted, and even we didn’t even use a lot of that.”
“Disclosure Day” was released in theaters on June 12. The wrestling scene is not directly part of the plot but instead serves as the backdrop for a meetup between characters. At the center of the story is a government coverup hiding the existence of alien life.
- If you found out we weren’t alone, if someone showed you, proved it to you, would that frighten you? This summer, the truth belongs to eight billion people. Today is… Disclosure Day.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.