E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (or simply E.T.) is a 1982 American science fantasy film produced and directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Melissa Mathison. It tells the story of Elliott, a boy who befriends an extraterrestrial that he names E.T. who has been stranded on Earth. Along with his friends and family, Elliott must find a way to help E.T. find his way home. The film stars Dee Wallace, Henry Thomas, Peter Coyote, Robert MacNaughton, and Drew Barrymore.
The film's concept was based on an imaginary friend that Spielberg created after his parents' divorce. In 1980, Spielberg met Mathison and developed a new story from the unrealized project Night Skies. In less than two months, Mathison wrote the first draft of the script, titled E.T. and Me, which went through two rewrites. The project was rejected by Columbia Pictures, who doubted its commercial potential. Universal Pictures eventually purchased the script for $1 million. Filming took place from September to December 1981 on a budget of $10.5 million. Unlike most films, E.T. was shot in rough chronological order to facilitate convincing emotional performances from the young cast. The animatronics for the film were designed by Carlo Rambaldi.
E.T. premiered as the closing film of the Cannes Film Festival on May 26, 1982, and was released in the United States on June 11. The film was a smash hit at the box office, surpassing Star Wars (1977) to become the highest-grossing film of all time, a record it held for eleven years until Spielberg's own Jurassic Park surpassed it in 1993. E.T. received universal acclaim from critics, and is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential films ever made. It received nine nominations at the 55th Academy Awards, winning Best Original Score, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound, and Best Sound Editing in addition to being nominated for Best Picture and Best Director. It also won five Saturn Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. The film was re-released in 1985 and again in 2002 to celebrate its 20th anniversary, with altered shots, visual effects, and additional scenes. It was also re-released in IMAX on August 12, 2022, to celebrate its 40th anniversary. In 1994, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry of the Library of Congress, who deemed it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
Plot
A race of diminutive aliens visits Earth at night to gather plant specimens in a California forest. One of them separates from the group before U.S. government agents arrive. The aliens depart before the agents can find them, leaving their lone member behind. The creature takes shelter in a shed belonging to the family of ten-year-old Elliott Taylor. Initially scared by the creature, who runs away, Elliott spends the following day leaving a trail of Reese's Pieces to lure the alien back to the Taylors' home, where he hides it in his room. The following morning, Elliott feigns illness to stay home from school and play with the creature, whom he dubs E.T. Elliott introduces E.T. to his older brother Michael and five-year-old sister Gertie, who agree to keep E.T. hidden from their single mother, Mary.
When the children ask about his origins, E.T. displays telekinetic abilities by levitating several balls to represent his planetary system and later revives a dead chrysanthemum and instantly heals a cut on Elliott's finger. As Elliott and the creature bond, they share thoughts and emotions. At school, Elliott becomes intoxicated because, at home, E.T. is drinking beer. Sensing E.T.'s desire to be rescued, Elliott frees the frogs about to be vivisected in his biology class and kisses a girl he likes because E.T. is watching John Wayne kiss Maureen O'Hara in The Quiet Man.
Inspired by a Buck Rogers comic strip depicting the character calling for help with a communication device, E.T. builds a makeshift device to "phone home", using parts around the Taylor home. He also learns to speak English and requests the children's help to build the device. On Halloween, Elliott sneaks E.T. into the forest, where they set up the device to call E.T.'s people. Elliott begs E.T. to stay on Earth with him before falling asleep and waking alone in the forest the next day. Elliott returns home to his worried family while Michael searches for E.T., finding him pale and weakened in a culvert. Michael takes E.T. home, where Elliott is also growing weaker, and reveals the creature to their mother just before government agents invade and quarantine the house.
The lead agent, Keys, asks for Elliott's help to save E.T. However, E.T. dies while Elliott rapidly recovers. Left alone to say goodbye, Elliott tells E.T. that he loves him. E.T.'s heart begins to glow, and he is revived and restored to health. E.T. tells Elliott that his people are returning for him. Elliott and Michael flee with E.T. in a government vehicle. They abandon the vehicle in a playground where they meet up with Michael’s friends who await on bikes with two extra bikes for Elliott and Michael. Together they all bike towards the forest, evading pursuing authorities who are rapidly closing in on them. Heading towards a roadblock, E.T. levitates the boys to safety and lands them in the forest. E.T.'s ship arrives, and he says goodbye to Michael and Gertie, who gifts him the chrysanthemum he previously revived. E.T. places his glowing finger on Elliott's head and tells him that he will always be there. The children, Mary, and Keys observe as the ship blasts off into space, leaving a rainbow in the sky.
Cast
Henry Thomas as Elliott Taylor, a 10-year-old boy who befriends E.T. Dee Wallace as Mary Taylor, a single mother to Elliott, Michael, and Gertie Robert MacNaughton as Michael Taylor, Elliott and Gertie's older brother Drew Barrymore as Gertie Taylor, Elliott and Michael's younger sister Peter Coyote as Keys, a government agent bent on capturing E.T. K. C. Martel as Greg, a friend of Michael Sean Frye as Steve, a friend of Michael C. Thomas Howell as Tyler, a friend of Michael Erika Eleniak as a classmate whom Elliott kisses Pat Welsh as E.T. (voice, uncredited)
Production Development
After his parents Arnold and Leah's divorce in 1960, Steven Spielberg filled the void with an imaginary alien companion that he later recalled as "a friend who could be the brother [he] never had and a father that [he] didn't feel [he] had anymore". In 1978, he announced that he would shoot a film entitled Growing Up, which he would film in four weeks. However, the project was set aside due to delays on 1941, but the concept of making a small autobiographical film about childhood would stay with him. He also thought about a follow-up to Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and began to develop a darker project he had planned with John Sayles called Night Skies, in which malevolent aliens terrorize a family.
Filming Raiders of the Lost Ark in Tunisia caused a sense of loneliness in Spielberg, far from his family and friends, and made memories of his childhood creation resurface. He told screenwriter Melissa Mathison about Night Skies, and developed a subplot from the failed project in which Buddy, the only friendly alien, befriends an autistic child. Buddy's abandonment on Earth in the script's final scene inspired the concept of E.T. Mathison wrote a first draft titled E.T. and Me in eight weeks, which Spielberg considered perfect. The script went through two more drafts, one by Matthew Robbins which deleted an "Eddie Haskell"–esque friend of Elliott's, named Lance. Robbins helped create the chase sequence and he suggested the scene where E.T. got drunk.
In mid-1981, while Raiders of the Lost Ark was being promoted, Columbia Pictures met with Spielberg to discuss the script, after having to develop Night Skies with the director as the intended sequel to Close Encounters of the Third Kind. However, Marvin Atonowsky, the head of Columbia Pictures' marketing and research development, concluded that it had limited commercial potential, believing that it would appeal to mostly young children. John Veitch, president of Columbia's worldwide productions, also felt that the script was not good or scary enough to be financially viable. On the advice of Atonowsky and Veitch, Columbia CEO Frank Price, who had already funneled nearly $1 million into the film's development (mostly on creature designer Rick Baker's alien models), was now calling it "a wimpy Walt Disney movie". He informed Spielberg that the project was officially being put into turnaround; Spielberg took the project to Sid Sheinberg, president of MCA, then the parent company of Universal Pictures. Spielberg told Sheinberg to acquire the E.T. script from Columbia Pictures, which he did for $1million and struck a deal with Price in which Columbia would retain 5% of the film's net profits. Veitch later recalled that "I think [in 1982] we made more on that picture than we did on any of our films."
Pre-production
Carlo Rambaldi, who designed the aliens for Close Encounters of the Third Kind, was hired to design the animatronics for E.T. Rambaldi's own painting Women of Delta led him to give the creature a unique, extendable neck. Its face was inspired by those of Carl Sandburg, Albert Einstein and Ernest Hemingway. Producer Kathleen Kennedy visited the Jules Stein Eye Institute to study real and glass eyes. She hired Institute staffers to create E.T.'s eyes, which she felt were particularly important in engaging the audience. Four heads were created for filming, one as the main animatronic and the others for facial expressions, as well as a costume. A team of puppeteers controlled E.T.'s face with animatronics. Two little people, Tamara De Treaux and Pat Bilon, as well as 12-year-old Matthew DeMeritt, who was born without legs, took turns wearing the costume, depending on what scene was being filmed. DeMeritt actually walked on his hands and played all scenes where E.T. walked awkwardly or fell over. The head was placed above that of the actors, and the actors could see through slits in its chest. Caprice Roth, a professional mime, filled prosthetics to play E.T.'s hands. The puppet was created in three months at the cost of $1.5million. Spielberg declared that it was "something that only a mother could love".
Mars, Incorporated refused to allow M&M's to be used in the film, believing that E.T. would frighten children. The Hershey Company was asked if Reese's Pieces could be used, and it agreed. This product placement resulted in a large increase in Reese's Pieces sales.
Science and technology educator Henry Feinberg created E.T.'s communicator device.
Casting
Having worked with Cary Guffey on Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Spielberg felt confident in working with a cast composed mostly of child actors. For the role of Elliott, he auditioned hundreds of boys, including Keith Coogan; before Jack Fisk suggested Henry Thomas for the role because Henry had played the part of Harry in the film Raggedy Man, which Fisk had directed. Thomas, who auditioned in an Indiana Jones costume, did not perform well in the formal testing, but got the filmmakers' attention in an improvised scene. Thoughts of his dead dog inspired his convincing tears. Robert MacNaughton auditioned eight times to play Michael, sometimes with boys auditioning for Elliott. Spielberg felt that Drew Barrymore had the right imagination for the mischievous Gertie after she impressed him with a story that she led a punk rock band. He enjoyed working with the children, and he later said that the experience made him feel ready to be a father. Ralph Macchio was considered for the role of Tyler, before it went to his eventual The Outsiders co-star C. Thomas Howell.