“Et – the extraterrestrial” is one of the most popular family films of all time; A film that has shaped an entire generation has had a significant impact on the cinema landscape of the 1980s and still has cult status. In “ET”, ten -year -old Elliot (Henry Thomas) meets a frightened alien in the shed, who was accidentally left behind by his companions. A close friendship quickly develops between the child and the alien, which culminates in a telepathic connection between the two unequal friends. While Elliot and his siblings Michael (Robert Macnaughton) and Gertie (Drew Barrymore) try to hide the adults – especially the nasty agent keys (Peter Coyote) and his people – the extraterrestrial is always stirring from homes …
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“Et-the extraterrestrial” is not without reason one of the most successful and most popular film classics of all time-he bundles the primeval fears and feelings of children in a touching sci-fi fairy tale, which has probably previously moved to tears. If you want to deal a little with the background story of the cinema, you are right here. You can find various anecdotes, fun facts and background knowledge about “et – the alien” here.
10 facts about Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi family classic “et-the alien”:
1. The entire film was shot in chronological order.
The fact that a film is completely chronologically turns is generally unusual and rarely occurs. At “ET”, Spielberg’s decision made sense due to the children’s actors: Henry Thomas, Robert Macnaugton and Drew Barrymore in history were able to follow better and it was easier for them to emotionally put themselves emotionally into their characters.
2. The story of “ET” is a mixture of different film ideas by Steven Spielberg.
The director had originally planned to make a film entitled “Night Skies” in which a family is terrorized in their own home of aliens. At the same time he worked on a film idea called “Growing Up”; A semi -biographical drama about a boy who escapes into his own imagination due to his parents’ divorce. When Spielberg pondered with the screenwriter Melissa Mathison over both ideas, Harrison Ford’s girlfriend developed the idea of simply linking both stories. So “ET” became a family -friendly film, which is nevertheless told from the perspective of the children and contains the topics of loss and separation. And the concept of “Night Skies” should also be used: in the cinema “Poltergeist” from 1982 produced by Spielberg – only that the aliens were quickly exchanged with ghosts.
3. The alien was played by three different actors and spoken by a chain smoker.
In many cases, the filmmakers resorted to a doll to show ET – but that was only partially possible. For scenes in which one sees the extraterrestrial running, the two small actors Tamara de Treeaux and Pat Bilon were used, which were in the alien costume. In the event of a certain close -up, the twelve -year -old Matthew Demereit in turn, including in the scene, in which ET is drunk with beer and, as a result, falls on his face. The reason: the boy was born without legs and therefore stood with his hands in the feet of the costume – in this way he could not injure himself in the case. The sound engineer Ben Burtt of such thoughts was a lot of thought about the decision as to who should take over the voice of ET. Ultimately, he chose Pat Welsh’s voice; An older lady from Marin County, California, who smoked two boxes of cigarettes every day. Welsh was in the studio for a total of nine and a half hours for her sound recordings and got $ 380. But she was not the only one who was responsible for the background noise of the alien. In an interview with the “BBC” Burt revealed: “I created the voice for ET from many different things, about 18 different people and animals and sound effects. There are raccoons in there, there are seabore, there are a few horses, there is a belt from my old cinema professor from the University of Southern California. There is the tedious breathing of my wife at night with a cold …”
4. There are several hints that indicate that “Star Wars” and “et” play in the same universe.
Steven Spielberg and George Lucas are not only two of the most successful directors of all time – they are also good friends and were even colleagues at times; This is how the “Indiana Jones” series was created in cooperation between the two star directors. In order to express their friendship, the two playfully included small clues into their films, which indicate that “Star Wars” and “et” play in one and the same film universe. An example of this is the Halloween scene in “ET”, in which the extraterrestrial alien as a spirit sees a child in the Yoda costume. In addition, if you look closely, you can see several “Star Wars” toy characters lying around in Elliot’s rooms. A few years later, George Lucas also allowed himself a little fun in which he built ET in “Star Wars: Episode I – The Dark Threat”. So there is a short moment during the scene in the Senate, in which Princess Amidala (Natalie Portman) calls for the dismantling of the Chancellor, where you can see several ETS between the different types of alien. As a result, the director suggested that ET and his peers belong to the same universe, in which the “Star Wars” films also play.
5. Instead of “Reese’s Pieces” it should have been M&MS with which Elliot ET attracts into the house.
In a scene at the beginning of the film, Elliot tries to lure the frightened alien into the house. He comes up with the idea of giving the being the peanut butter chocolate bonbons “Reese’s Pieces”-and it works. Actually, however, no “Reese’s Pieces” were intended for this, but “M & M” s. When the filmmakers asked the company “Mars”, however, they were canceled. The reason for this is not the case with the reason: Some claim that the company simply did not expect a great commercial success of the film, others speak of finding the ET doll too creepy and daunting to be able to advertise sweets. Whatever it was; “Reese’s” agreed instead and was able to record a 65 percent increase in sales figures as a result of the premiere of the film.
6. Originally, Harrison Ford should have had a guest appearance in “ET”.
In the original screenplay, a scene was planned in which Harrison Ford appeared as Elliot’s school director and changes a few strict words with the boy because he shows unusual behavior. The scene was even shot (much to the delight of the Elliot actor Henry Thomas, who was a huge fan of Ford!), But in the end Spielberg decided to completely cut the sequence out of the film. The reason for this is often stated that the director did not want Ford to steal the show to the children. In addition, the filmmaker said, Harrison Fords Cameo appearance just didn’t fit the atmosphere of the film so well.
7. Drew Barrymore got the role of the Gertie because of her lively imagination.
Before the then six -year -old actress was cast as Elliot’s little sister, Drew Barrymore applied for the role of Carol Ann in the horror film “Poltergeist”, who came into cinemas in the same year as “ET”. Instead, the role went to Heather O’Rourke – Steven Spielberg was still so impressed by the little girl that he was raising her for “et”. In an interview with Ellen Degeneres In 2015, Barrymore revealed why Spielberg was so impressed by her: So she told everyone involved in the casting that she was the drummer of a punk band called “Purple People Eaters”, who painted the faces before each show and also had fantastic culinary skills. With such an imaginative lying story, Steven Spielberg could not help but sign the little girl for the role of the Gertie! The now 45-year-old actress wrote in her biography “Wildflower” about the casting process at the time: “I was a clever, lie, thieving six-year-old, and I just wanted to get the job and go to an adventure.”
8. There would have been almost an “ET” sequel. But only almost.
After the world success of “ET”, Universal Steven Spielberg urged to turn a second part. So the director designed a further story with the title “ET II: Nocturnal Fears”, in which Elliot and his siblings are kidnapped by evil extraterrestrials into space and have to contact ET from there so that they can be saved. In the end, however, Spielberg decided against a second part because he was concerned that a sequel could weaken the effect and magic of the first part. A wise decision.
9. Another director accused Steven Spielberg of stealing the idea for “et”.
Plagiant allegations are not uncommon in Hollywood, but they are always annoying. Shortly after the premiere of “ET-The External”, the Indian director Satyajit Ray Spielberg accused his script for the unpublished sci-fi film “The Alien” in the realization of “ET”. Ray had already tried to film “The Alien” with Peter Sellers and Marlon Brando in the main roles at the end of the 1960s. However, the film was never realized. His script was about an alien visitor who ends up in Bengal and consequently friends with a little boy. For this reason, Ray assumed that Spielberg had somehow came to his unpublished script and accused him of the plagiarism. However, Spielberg rejected the allegation and emphasized that at the time when Ray’s script went from Studio to Studio, he still went to school.
10. ET is neither female nor male.
This information arises from the book “Et the Extra terrestrial from Concept to Classic”, in which the history of the film is processed from the perspective of the filmmakers. Among other things, it says that the screenwriter Melissa Mathison would have noted in the script that ET is a sexless plant.