Steven Spielberg has revealed that Ronald Reagan thought 'E.T: The Extra Terrestrial' was based on real-life events.

Spielberg showed the film to the then-US President at a special screening at the White House in 1982.

The legendary director told Ain't It Cool News: "[At the end of the film, Reagan] just stood up and he looked around the room, almost like he was doing a headcount, and he said, 'I wanted to thank you for bringing E.T. to the White House. We really enjoyed your movie,' and then he looked around the room and said, 'And there are a number of people in this room who know that everything on that screen is absolutely true'.

"And he said it without smiling! But he said that and everybody laughed, by the way. The whole room laughed because he presented it like a joke, but he wasn't smiling as he said it."

However, with the benefit of time, the director of such classics as 'Close Encounters' of the 'Third Kind' and 'Schindler's List' thinks that Reagan was talking in jest, explaining, "I think he delivered a joke without smiling, without a little bit of a twinkle behind the joke.

"I think the joke landed because everybody laughed, but because I'm a little bit of a Ufologist, I was hoping that there was something more to the joke than met my eye. I'm sorry to say I think he was simply trying to tell a joke."

Spielberg's latest project is 'Super 8' due for release on August 5, which he has produced with JJ Abrams directing.

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