They got more than permission — they got a cameo.

That was the actual voice of legendary Hollywood director and film icon Steven Spielberg on a call with the titular alien in the 2011 comedy "Paul."

For those who haven't seen the movie, it's about an alien who crashed to Earth in the 1940s and has been living here, co-operating with the American government, ever since.

There's a joke partway through the film about how he has influenced world culture, with a flashback to him speaking on the phone with a film director about alien biology and how it could be used for a film plot. It soon becomes clear that the director he's talking to is Steven Spielberg and the plot they're developing together would become his 1982 cinematic classic "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial."

"Paul" stars (and was written by) comedy duo Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. Pegg said in an interview with Syfy.com that he and Frost knew Spielberg from their time doing voice work on the director's 2011 movie "Tintin." They were working on "Paul" at the same time and told him about their idea for the joke.

"He loved the idea and jokingly suggested a cameo," Pegg said. "Nick and I immediately hashed out the scene and held him to it."

It probably didn't hurt that the whole script for "Paul" was a big homage to Spielberg's sci-fi work, particularly "E.T." and his earlier classic, 1977's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."

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