 SPOILER: Only Philip Kaufman (I) (qv), W.D. Richter (qv), and  Donald Sutherland (I) (qv) knew how the film was going to end.  Veronica Cartwright (qv) was not told that Sutherlands character  had been captured and became an alien. When they filmed the ending  in front of San Francisco City Hall and Sutherland pointed to her,  imitating the pod scream, Cartwrights reaction of cold fear is  authentic.