Wyatt Russell didn't want to tell his family he had a role in Disclosure Day in case his part was "cut out".

The 39-year-old actor stars in Steven Spielberg's science fiction thriller alongside Emily Blunt, Eve Hewson, Colman Domingo, Colin Firth and Josh O'Connor and while his mom Goldie Hawn was "excited" to hear he'd be working with the legendary director, 52 years after she worked with him on 1974's The Sugarland Express, Wyatt was initially reluctant to tell her about the project in case he ended up on the cutting room floor.

Wyatt - who has sons Buddy, five, and Boone, two, with wife Meredith Hagner - told People magazine: "I think she was excited that I was going to be working with Steven and that was fun for her, for her son to be able to do.

"I can't remember [who] the first person I told was. Probably my wife. I don't know if I told my family for a minute because I was like, 'Wow, there's a chance I get cut out of the movie. So let's wait until it comes out and then I'll tell you I'm in the movie.'

"It was fun. It's a fun thing to look back on Sugarland Express and to think that I got to work with him now and she got to work with him then."

Meanwhile, Wyatt heaped praise on his co-star Emily, who plays his girlfriend, meteorologist Margaret who is inadvertently brought into a conspiracy to reveal information about aliens on Earth, and admitted he had a great time working with her because she elevated his performance.

He gushed: "Incredible. As great of an actress and as much command and range and depth that she has as an actress, she's also that great as a person so it makes it a, a lot of fun to do it. It makes it easy for me because a lot of my stuff is reacting off of her.

"So it was like, 'Be a good listener and think I'm going to be all right.' Whenever you get to work with anybody like her who's that good, it makes you better and it's a gift that keeps on giving."

Meanwhile, if aliens were to visit Earth and Wyatt - whose father is screen legend Kurt Russell - had to choose a movie for them to watch, he'd select Spielberg's 1993 Holocaust drama Schindler's List in order to show them the "worst" of humanity.

He explained: "I've always been a worst foot forward guy, so I was [thinking] Schindler's List, like -- this is the worst of us. You want to know what Earth is like? This is what we can do to each other, so help us out."