E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Back in 1982 , Steven Spielberg proved that not every movie about aliens down on Earth needs worldwide end in guild to be interesting . With a well - crafted story and beautifully depict characters , you’re able to entrance audiences with a movie about an stranger who run through Reese ’s Pieces and make bicycles fly.E.T.had the long theatrical tally in chronicle — over a twelvemonth ! — and it became Spielberg ’s secondment of three criminal record breaker for the gamey grossing film of all prison term . All these decades later , the sorcerous ofE.T.still manages to inspire audience around the existence . Here are 10 Behind - The - Scenes Facts AboutE.T. The Extra Terrestrial .
Steven Spielberg shot the movie from a child’s eye-level
A mutual root throughout Steven Spielberg ’s filmography is the innocence of puerility . InJaws , Brody is inspired to go after the shark when a young boy is eaten . InClose Encounters of the Third Kind , while the adults cower from the flashing lights of the alien mothership , the youngster walks towards it.E.T.is perhaps Spielberg ’s strongest story with this theme . The director shoot most of the film ’s scenes from a tyke ’s eye - level in order of magnitude for the audience to really touch base with Elliott and the way that he views the universe . The camera puts us in the shoes of a naive small fry .
Henry Thomas used the memory of his dead dog to nail the audition
Henry Thomas is yet another instance of a nipper actor who appeared in one of the biggest movies ever made and then seemingly pretermit off the face of the earth . His lead performance inE.T.is spectacular , and he nailed the role of Elliott . Thomas accessed real emotions to pass with flying colors the tryout . When he was bestow in front of Steven Spielberg to try out for the part , Thomas thought about the day that his pet dog died to wreak out a real sorrow . His performance work Spielberg to tears , and the director cast him as Elliott in good order then and there .
E.T.’s voice was provided by an elderly smoker from Marin County
E.T. has a very distinctive part in the movie . It was provided by Pat Welsh , an sure-enough lady who exist out in Marin County , California . She smoked two packs of cigarettes a twenty-four hour period , so her voice had a rough , gruff quality thatE.T. ’s sound designer Ben Burtt like . 16 other people ’s voice ( let in Steven Spielberg , Burtt ’s wife , and Debra Winger ) and even some creature noises would be supply in post - yield to create E.T. ’s vox , but it was mostly Welsh ’s outspoken performance . She spent nine and a one-half hour in the transcription studio and got paid $ 380 for her day ’s piece of work .
The script was written on the set of Raiders of the Lost Ark
Steven Spielberg is one of the hardest - working directors in Hollywood . He does n’t permit himself a minute of downtime . He shotThe Postwhile he did post - production onReady Player One . He shotSchindler ’s Listwhile he did mail - production onJurassic Park . And he wroteE.T.with screenwriter Melissa Mathison while he was shootingRaiders of the Lost Ark.
Mathison had traveled to the location to be with her then - beau — and by and by married man — Harrison Ford . When the cinematography ofRaiderswould take a break of serve , Spielberg would order the story ofE.T.to Mathison , who then fleshed it out into a cohesive screenplay .
E.T. hiding in Elliott’s toy collection was Robert Zemeckis’ idea
Steven Spielberg edited the final scene to John Williams’ score, not the other way around
Usually , the scenes from a motion picture will be shot and edit without music , and then the composer will grave their grievance around the visual beat . But for the last scene ofE.T. , Steven Spielberg and John Williams did the opposite . Williams had collar the composition , but he skin to fit it around the way the panorama was edited . Spielberg switched off the movie and told Williams to conduct the orchestra like they were in concert . The resultant track had a circumstances more heart and soul , so Spielberg recut the scene to conform with it . Williams deservingly gain an Academy Award for Best Original Score for his employment on this film .
The producers wanted M&M’s to be E.T.’s favorite candy
E.T.is often mistakenly call the first movie to apply product placement — there had already been a ton of merchandise placement in the Bond movies , and Clark Kent wake up next to a box seat of Cheerios inSuperman : The Movie — because it promoted Reese ’s firearm by make them the nominal extraterrestrial being ’s favorite confect . Initially , the producer wanted E.T. ’s favorite candy to be M&M ’s , but the Mars fellowship change by reversal them down , worry that the E.T. character was so physically unappealing that he would put off potential customers . This would , of course , turn out to be a mistake , as the manufacturer used Reese ’s Pieces or else andE.T.put Reese ’s on the function .
Drew Barrymore ad-libbed some of Gertie’s most memorable lines
A vernal Drew Barrymore appears inE.T.as Gertie . Steven Spielberg is the actress ’ godfather , so it was prosperous for him to direct her than some tyke he ’d never met . When Elliott narrate Gertie that only little kids can see E.T. , she says , “ Give me a break ! ” This line was ad - libbed by Barrymore , along with many of the character ’s most famous telephone circuit . She also improvised looking down at E.T. ’s infantry and saying , “ I do n’t like his feet . ” She was n’t referencing the E.T. tool ’s foot ; she was really talking about a bunch of exposed telegram gathered around the bottom of the puppet .
A few stand-ins were used to play E.T.
Steven Spielberg is great at create character who are so richly designed down to the last particular that they ’re recognizable by their silhouette , such as Indiana Jones , the shark inJaws , and indeed , the titulary stranger inE.T.It take in a few unlike stunt performers and puppeteer to contribute E.T. to living .
A lot of the scenes that required full - body puppetry were performed by a stuntman who was 2’10 ” tall . The scenes in the kitchen , which required the stranger to walk around , were do by a 12 - year - sometime son who was give birth without legs and had grown up walking on his hands .
Steven Spielberg shot the ending last to get authentic reactions from the child actors
Steven Spielberg decide to snap a quite a little ofE.T.in chronological guild , as contradict to the ordering that would be most convenient for the thespian ’ schedules and the accessibility of blast locations . He did this to countenance the actors to get to hump each other throughout the shoot , so that they would have bona fide emotions for the farewell scene at the goal of the motion-picture show . The last scene was designedly shot last . That way , it was actually the last time that the dramatis personae would all be together , so they were actually sad . It was really quite a sadistic move by Spielberg , but at least it work .
NEXT : Just When You Thought You Could Go Back In The piddle : 10 Behind - The - Scenes Facts About Jaws
