E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
11 Jun 1982 ● English ● 1 hr 55 mins
Youthful and upbeat, this sci-fi adventure delves into the inspiring tale of friendship that emerges, when a group of alien botanists visiting Earth for research, are discovered by a human task force and consequently forced to leave behind one of their own, while making an emergency exit.
The little alien finds himself all alone on a very strange planet. Fortunately, the extra-terrestrial soon finds a friend and emotional companion in 10-year-old Elliot, a lonely boy whose parents have separated. While E.T. slowly gets acquainted with Elliot's older brother Michael, his sister Gertie and the customs of Earth, members of the task force work day and night to track down the whereabouts of Earth's first visitor from outer space.
The wish to go home again is strong in E.T., and after being able to communicate with Elliot and the others, E.T. starts building an improvised device to send a message home for his people to come and pick him up. But before long, E.T. gets seriously sick, and because of his special connection to Elliot, the young boy suffers, too. The situation gets critical when the task force finally intervenes. By then, all help may already be too late, and there's no alien spaceship in sight. Will Elliot succeed in protecting E. T. and ensure that he is safely returned to his people?
Cast: Amy Schumer, Dee Wallace, Drew Barrymore, Henry Thomas, Peter Coyote
Crew: Steven Spielberg (Director), Allen Daviau (Director of Photography), John Williams (Music Director)
Rating: PG (Singapore)
Genres: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Release Dates: 02 Sep 2022 (India), 26 Nov 1982 (Australia), 11 Jun 1982 (Canada), 01 Sep 2022 (Netherlands), 01 Sep 2022 (Portugal), 25 Nov 1982 (United Arab Emirates), 11 Jun 1982 (United States)
Did you know? The late Michael Jackson owned one of the E.T. puppets. Read More
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Actress
Actress
Actress
Actor
Actor
Supporting Actor
Supporting Actor
as Medical Unit
as Schoolboy
Supporting Actress
Supporting Actor
Supporting Actor
Supporting Actor
as Van Man
Supporting Actor
Supporting Actor
as Science Teacher
as Ultra Sound Man
Supporting Actor
as Steve
Supporting Actress
Direction
Director
First Assistant Director
Second Assistant Director
Production
Producer
Production Company
Associate Producer
Production Supervisor
Distribution
Camera and Electrical
Director of Photography
Still Photographer
Key Grip
Camera Operator
Gaffer
Grip
Music
Music Director
Musician
Music Editor
Sound
Sound Re-recording Mixer
Sound Mixer
Foley Artist
Boom Operator
Animation
Editorial
Editor
Makeup and Hair
Makeup Artist
Special Effects
Special Effects Coordinator
Special Effects Technician
Special Effects Studio
Stunts
Stunt Director
Visual Effects
Digital Compositor
Film Type:
Feature
Language:
English
Colour Info:
Color
Frame Rate:
24 fps
Aspect Ratio:
1.85:1 (Flat)
Stereoscopy:
No
Movie Connection(s):
Reference: Bal Brahmachari (Hindi)
Referenced in: Star Trek Into Darkness (English)
Dubbed into: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Portuguese)
Referenced in: Star Trek Into Darkness (English)
Dubbed into: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Portuguese)
Goofs:
Crew/Equipment Visible
When Elliot, Michael, and E.T. arrive at the park after escaping the scientists, a ramp can be seen where they drive over the curb.
Crew/Equipment Visible
As Michael leads Mary into the bathroom where Elliot and E.T. lay sick, the camera dollies backwards, brushing past and visibly disturbing an indoor bamboo tree.
Crew/Equipment Visible
The silhouette of the mime wearing the E.T. gloves can be seen through the railing when Elliot is luring E.T. with the Reese's Pieces.
Errors in Geography
The street the boys turn onto during the chase when the boy says "we made it" isn't the same street as they had turned into. There should have been houses, but instead, there were just trees and cars.
Errors in Geography
Almost everything about the phases and appearance of the moon is wrong for the northern hemisphere.
Factual Mistake
In addition to the other lunar errors, at first we see a crescent moon then the famous full moon being crossed by the bicycles (later to become Amblin Entertainment's signature logo). From thin crescent to full moon takes about half a lunar cycle, 14 days, but the time frame of the movie suggested only a few days at most.
Factual Mistake
When Elliot goes to sleep outside to look for E.T., the moon is directly behind him. When he is awakened several hours later, the moon is in the same position.
Miscellaneous
Some are confused when E.T. magically heals Elliot's cut finger that the blood disappears. E.T.'s true powers are not fully known so it is possible E.T. made the blood go back into his body along with healing the wound.
Revealing Mistakes
One of the boys moves his lips in sync with Elliot's line, "Nobody go out there."
Revealing Mistakes
When "Keys" goes inside the Clean room created for ET and Elliot, he and others wear a "Clean Suit" , but the tubes coming out of the helmet go nowhere, not even a filter, meaning they are breathing contaminated air and that the suit is useless.
Revealing Mistakes
[20th Anniversary Edition] The government agents and police have had their hand guns replaced with walkie-talkies, but they are still extending their trigger fingers for no apparent reason.
Revealing Mistakes
When the boys are racing away on their bicycles from the Feds, the stunt doubles for Elliott and his friends are obviously way too tall to be children.
Revealing Mistakes
When Elliot returns with a snack for a frightened E.T. hiding among stuffed animals in his toy closet and asks "want a Coke?", the stuffed animals around E.T. fall down, knocking off some chips from Elliot's plate on to the animals. There are already chips on one of the animals as it falls, before it has a chance to actually touch the plate (possibly left behind from earlier takes).
Audio/Video Mismatch
When Mary reads "Peter Pan" to Gertie, there's a view of her silhouette on the closet door slats. Her lips don't match the narration.
Audio/Video Mismatch
Near the beginning of the film, when the trucks race through the woods approaching the expected location of the spaceship landing, one of the trucks "screeches" when it stops. A vehicle's tires would not screech on wet, muddy ground.
Audio/Video Mismatch
When E.T. takes a can of beer from the fridge, we see Harvey the dog bark twice - but we don't hear the first bark.
Continuity
In the 20th Aniversary Edition, when Eliott is showing E.T. the bathroom and is then on the phone with his mother, the Coke can changes designs. At first, it is the older version from 1982, then it changes to the updated 2002 can design. It switches back and forth for the entire length of the scene.
Continuity
Gertie's hamburger changes size, and eventually disappears (inconsistent with her eating it).
Continuity
When E.T. gets on his ship, Elliot's mother gets up twice, and Elliot is (not) holding his dog by the collar.
Continuity
Elliot crashes his bike during the chase through the new housing development, but is back in the pack an impossibly short time later.
Continuity
After one of the kids whips off his balaclava and says, "We made it!" during the bike chase, a hoard of government agents rush into the street behind him. In the next shot of Michael reacting, his friend takes off the balaclava again and the agents run into the street again.
Continuity
When E.T. is alone in the house and misspells "nuisance" on the toy, we see that the back panel has been removed, but in the next shot the panel is back on. Later, when E.T. drags the blanket with the "phone" ingredients on it, the panel is back off.
Continuity
At the beginning when the men are searching for E.T., the keys on the "Key Man" keep changing sides between shots.
Continuity
The size of the eye holes on E.T's ghost outfit change shape and size several times (most noticeable when Michael finds the abandoned outfit when he is looking for E.T.)
Continuity
When the plastic hallway with the scientists in it detaches from the speeding van, the ramp that was seen in the shots before is gone.
Continuity
When the boys are playing around the kitchen table, the cigarette and ashtray disappear.
Continuity
When Elliot thinks E.T. is dying, and is talking to him through the window of the box, the towel that is wrapped around Elliot keeps changing position - sometimes it is wrapped tightly around his neck, and other times it reveals a bit of his left side.
Continuity
When Gertie is waiting with the bike at the rendezvous, the sun is just about to set behind the mountains. Yet there is still plenty of daylight for the Halloween street scenes. The sun is then shown much higher above a smaller foothill. Finally, when the kids and E.T. meet up at the bicycle, the sun has just dropped below the mountain peak.
Continuity
Elliott is given money and told to wait for the pizza guy outside, indicating the pizza has been ordered and on its way. But a line or two later, the boys ask him to make sure he orders lots of pepperoni and sausage. He is then seen outside meeting the driver at the foot of the driveway.
Continuity
The first time E.T. makes Elliott's bike fly, E.T.'s sheet goes from opened to wrapped tightly in alternating views - wrapped in far shots, opened in close-ups.
Continuity
When E.T. runs through the swing set he sets everything moving. The far shot of Elliot shows the two-man swing is stationary. In the next close shot it is moving again.
Continuity
When Elliott and his four companions "land" their bikes in the forest on their way to the spaceship, there are clearly six sets of bike wheels landing, not just five.
Continuity
When Elliot disconnects the tunnel and two men from the back of the van, the men's air hoses remain attached to the van as it speeds away, however the air hoses are gone a second later when the van is shown from a different camera angle.
When Elliot, Michael, and E.T. arrive at the park after escaping the scientists, a ramp can be seen where they drive over the curb.
Crew/Equipment Visible
As Michael leads Mary into the bathroom where Elliot and E.T. lay sick, the camera dollies backwards, brushing past and visibly disturbing an indoor bamboo tree.
Crew/Equipment Visible
The silhouette of the mime wearing the E.T. gloves can be seen through the railing when Elliot is luring E.T. with the Reese's Pieces.
Errors in Geography
The street the boys turn onto during the chase when the boy says "we made it" isn't the same street as they had turned into. There should have been houses, but instead, there were just trees and cars.
Errors in Geography
Almost everything about the phases and appearance of the moon is wrong for the northern hemisphere.
Factual Mistake
In addition to the other lunar errors, at first we see a crescent moon then the famous full moon being crossed by the bicycles (later to become Amblin Entertainment's signature logo). From thin crescent to full moon takes about half a lunar cycle, 14 days, but the time frame of the movie suggested only a few days at most.
Factual Mistake
When Elliot goes to sleep outside to look for E.T., the moon is directly behind him. When he is awakened several hours later, the moon is in the same position.
Miscellaneous
Some are confused when E.T. magically heals Elliot's cut finger that the blood disappears. E.T.'s true powers are not fully known so it is possible E.T. made the blood go back into his body along with healing the wound.
Revealing Mistakes
One of the boys moves his lips in sync with Elliot's line, "Nobody go out there."
Revealing Mistakes
When "Keys" goes inside the Clean room created for ET and Elliot, he and others wear a "Clean Suit" , but the tubes coming out of the helmet go nowhere, not even a filter, meaning they are breathing contaminated air and that the suit is useless.
Revealing Mistakes
[20th Anniversary Edition] The government agents and police have had their hand guns replaced with walkie-talkies, but they are still extending their trigger fingers for no apparent reason.
Revealing Mistakes
When the boys are racing away on their bicycles from the Feds, the stunt doubles for Elliott and his friends are obviously way too tall to be children.
Revealing Mistakes
When Elliot returns with a snack for a frightened E.T. hiding among stuffed animals in his toy closet and asks "want a Coke?", the stuffed animals around E.T. fall down, knocking off some chips from Elliot's plate on to the animals. There are already chips on one of the animals as it falls, before it has a chance to actually touch the plate (possibly left behind from earlier takes).
Audio/Video Mismatch
When Mary reads "Peter Pan" to Gertie, there's a view of her silhouette on the closet door slats. Her lips don't match the narration.
Audio/Video Mismatch
Near the beginning of the film, when the trucks race through the woods approaching the expected location of the spaceship landing, one of the trucks "screeches" when it stops. A vehicle's tires would not screech on wet, muddy ground.
Audio/Video Mismatch
When E.T. takes a can of beer from the fridge, we see Harvey the dog bark twice - but we don't hear the first bark.
Continuity
In the 20th Aniversary Edition, when Eliott is showing E.T. the bathroom and is then on the phone with his mother, the Coke can changes designs. At first, it is the older version from 1982, then it changes to the updated 2002 can design. It switches back and forth for the entire length of the scene.
Continuity
Gertie's hamburger changes size, and eventually disappears (inconsistent with her eating it).
Continuity
When E.T. gets on his ship, Elliot's mother gets up twice, and Elliot is (not) holding his dog by the collar.
Continuity
Elliot crashes his bike during the chase through the new housing development, but is back in the pack an impossibly short time later.
Continuity
After one of the kids whips off his balaclava and says, "We made it!" during the bike chase, a hoard of government agents rush into the street behind him. In the next shot of Michael reacting, his friend takes off the balaclava again and the agents run into the street again.
Continuity
When E.T. is alone in the house and misspells "nuisance" on the toy, we see that the back panel has been removed, but in the next shot the panel is back on. Later, when E.T. drags the blanket with the "phone" ingredients on it, the panel is back off.
Continuity
At the beginning when the men are searching for E.T., the keys on the "Key Man" keep changing sides between shots.
Continuity
The size of the eye holes on E.T's ghost outfit change shape and size several times (most noticeable when Michael finds the abandoned outfit when he is looking for E.T.)
Continuity
When the plastic hallway with the scientists in it detaches from the speeding van, the ramp that was seen in the shots before is gone.
Continuity
When the boys are playing around the kitchen table, the cigarette and ashtray disappear.
Continuity
When Elliot thinks E.T. is dying, and is talking to him through the window of the box, the towel that is wrapped around Elliot keeps changing position - sometimes it is wrapped tightly around his neck, and other times it reveals a bit of his left side.
Continuity
When Gertie is waiting with the bike at the rendezvous, the sun is just about to set behind the mountains. Yet there is still plenty of daylight for the Halloween street scenes. The sun is then shown much higher above a smaller foothill. Finally, when the kids and E.T. meet up at the bicycle, the sun has just dropped below the mountain peak.
Continuity
Elliott is given money and told to wait for the pizza guy outside, indicating the pizza has been ordered and on its way. But a line or two later, the boys ask him to make sure he orders lots of pepperoni and sausage. He is then seen outside meeting the driver at the foot of the driveway.
Continuity
The first time E.T. makes Elliott's bike fly, E.T.'s sheet goes from opened to wrapped tightly in alternating views - wrapped in far shots, opened in close-ups.
Continuity
When E.T. runs through the swing set he sets everything moving. The far shot of Elliot shows the two-man swing is stationary. In the next close shot it is moving again.
Continuity
When Elliott and his four companions "land" their bikes in the forest on their way to the spaceship, there are clearly six sets of bike wheels landing, not just five.
Continuity
When Elliot disconnects the tunnel and two men from the back of the van, the men's air hoses remain attached to the van as it speeds away, however the air hoses are gone a second later when the van is shown from a different camera angle.
Trivia:
At one point during filming, Drew Barrymore was consistently forgetting her lines, annoying Steven Spielberg to the point where he actually yelled at her. He later found out that she had reported to work with a very high fever. Feeling guilty, he hugged her and apologized repeatedly as she cried and cried. He then sent her home - with a note from her director.
E.T. riding in the basket on Elliot's bicycle flying in front of the moon is the trademark image of Amblin Entertainment.
Steven Spielberg's original concept was for a much darker movie in which a family was terrorized in their house by aliens. When Spielberg decided to go with a more benevolent alien, the family-in-jeopardy concept was recycled as Poltergeist (1982).
The young actors (Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore, and Robert MacNaughton) found the ET puppet's eyes too far apart to comfortably look ET in the eye when they had to act with it. The actors solved the problem themselves by selecting a single eye to look at for every scene.
E.T.'s voice was provided by Pat Welsh, an elderly woman who lived in Marin County, California. Welsh smoked two packets of cigarettes a day, which gave her voice a quality that sound effects creator Ben Burtt liked. She spent nine-and-a-half hours recording her part, and was paid $380 by Burtt for her services. Burtt also recorded 16 other people and various animals to create E.T.'s "voice". These included Spielberg; Debra Winger; Burtt's sleeping wife, who had a cold; a burp from his USC film professor; as well as raccoons, sea otters and horses.
ET's face was modeled after poet Carl Sandburg, Albert Einstein and a pug dog.
With the exception of Elliot's mom, no adults' faces are shown until the last half of the film.
ET's plants included some made from inflated condoms with polyester blooms.
Foley Artist John Roesch said he used a wet T-shirt crammed with jello to simulate the noise of E.T.'s waddling walk.
When this film was released on video in the U.S., the cassette was made from green plastic as a measure to confound video pirates. By December 31st 1988, it had sold 15 million.
At the auditions, Henry Thomas thought about the day his dog died to express sadness. Director Steven Spielberg cried, and hired him on the spot.
Steven Spielberg personally screened his film at the White House for president Ronald Reagan and first Lady Nancy Reagan.
Through the entirety of this movie Elliot's last name is never mentioned.
Harrison Ford was initially intended to have a cameo role in the film as Elliot's school headmaster, but the scene was cut.
The filmmakers had requested that M&M's be used to lure E.T., instead of Reese's Pieces. The Mars company had denied their request and so Reese's Pieces were used instead. As a direct result, Reese's Pieces sales skyrocketed. Because of this, more and more companies began requesting that their products be used in movies - a common practice which was done previously with the James Bond film franchise (the end credits of a Bond film prior to 1982 have had their end credits when contributing companies had their product used in a feature film). Thus, product placement was born.
The gag where the mother looks in the closet and sees the alien surrounded by toys was dreamed up by Robert Zemeckis.
The script was largely written while on location filming for Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) during filming breaks. Steven Spielberg dictated the story to screenwriter Melissa Mathison who was there with her then-boyfriend and future husband Harrison Ford.
According to the film's novelization, E.T. is over ten million years old.
Steven Spielberg worked simultaneously on both this film and Poltergeist (1982) in 1982 (which was directed by Tobe Hooper but produced by Spielberg), and both were made to complement each other. "E.T." represented suburban dreams, and "Poltergeist" represented suburban nightmares.
Though many have suggested that the film contains elements of Christian allegory, director Steven Spielberg says any parallels are strictly coincidental. Furthermore, Spielberg adds that if he ever made a Christian allegory, his mother, a devout Jew would probably never forgive him.
ET's communicator actually worked, and was constructed by Henry Feinberg, an expert in science and technology interpretation for the public.
Corey Feldman was originally scheduled for a role in E.T., but over the course of a script re-write, his part was eliminated. Steven Spielberg felt bad about the decision and promised Feldman a part in his next planned production which turned out to be Gremlins (1984).
Juliette Lewis auditioned for the role of Gertie, but her father reportedly made her turn it down.
Steven Spielberg asked Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones to contribute a song for the E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Story Book Album. Spielberg was so pleased with their song "Someone in the Dark" that he asked them to make the entire album, which, in spite of the size of the task, they agreed to do. This boxed set included an LP, a book to read along with it and a poster of E.T. and Jackson. Epic Records allowed Jackson to record the album for MCA Records on the conditions that it not be released until after Christmas of 1982 so as to not compete with 'Thriller' and that "Someone in the Dark" not be released as a single. Both of the conditions were breached by MCA Records; they released the storybook in November 1982 and gave promo copies of "Someone In the Dark" to radio stations. MCA Records were forced to withdraw the album and were prohibited from releasing "Someone In the Dark" as a single after court action was taken by Epic against them in a $2 million lawsuit, which MCA settled by paying Epic chief Walter Yetnikoff $500,000. Jones claims neither he nor Jackson received a dime for making the record, in spite of the large cash settlement involved and its considerable success: The audio book earned Jackson a Grammy Award in 1984 for Best Recording for Children. Upon collecting the award, and taking home a record eight Grammy Awards from an unprecedented twelve nominations, the singer stated that of all the awards had gotten that night, he was "most proud of this one".
The end of the film was one of the most significant musical experiences for composer John Williams. After several attempts were made to match the score to the film, Steven Spielberg took the film off the screen and encouraged Williams to conduct the orchestra the way he would at a concert. He did, and Spielberg slightly re-edited the film to match the music, which is unusual since normally the music would be edited to match the film. The result was Williams winning the 1982 Academy Award for Best Original Score.
In mid 2009, the home featured in this film, located in the Tujunga Canyon was saved from immolation in the treacherous Station Fire. The owner of the residence said the scorched hill behind the house "looks like the surface of the moon," but that the structure itself incurred no damage in the wildfire, which up to that time had burned over 127,000 acres and claimed 62 homes.
The doctors and nurses that work on E.T. are all real emergency room technicians. They were told to treat E.T. the same way they would treat a real patient so that their dialogue and actions would seem real.
Was the highest-grossing movie of all time worldwide until Spielberg's Jurassic Park (1993) was released. Adjusted for inflation today, it's still the fourth highest-grossing movie of all time.
Peter Coyote's character's name is never revealed, and is referred to as "Keys" in the novelization and end credits because he is identified by wearing a key-chain in the first half of the movie.
When it was test-screened at the Cannes Film Festival as an unofficial entry, it brought the house down, receiving a standing ovation that had eluded most of the official entries.
Elvis Costello was asked by Q music magazine March 2008 if he was paid handsomely for the use of 'Accidents Will Happen' of which two lines were sung by Michael (Robert MacNaughton) when he is looking in the fridge. He replied: "No, I don't think they offered any money. We had no way of knowing it was going to be so huge so there was the chance we'd given it for nothing and they'd use it for some big production number. Haha! But you really have to paying attention to notice."
This was the highest grossing film of 1982. It became the most successful movie in film history until Steven Spielberg beat that record with Jurassic Park (1993), released on the same date 11 years later, June 11. In a strange coincidence, the next film to snatch that title was Titanic (1997), only for James Cameron to also outdistance himself with Avatar (2009).
In the doorway conversation between Keys, played by Peter Coyote, and Gertie, played by Drew Barrymore, Keys asks Gertie if there are any "Coyotes" in the neighborhood.
Steven Spielberg shot most of the film from the eye-level of a child to further connect with Elliot and E.T.
The Sesame Street (1969) scene shown on the family TV, with Big Bird and Grover, was first aired in the premier episode of the show's 5th season, on November 19th, 1973.
The late Michael Jackson owned one of the E.T. puppets.
Most of the full-body puppetry was performed by a 2' 10 tall stuntman, but the scenes in the kitchen were done using a 10-year old boy who was born without legs but was an expert on walking on his hands.
John Sayles wrote a semi-sequel to Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) called 'Night Skies', about a group of hostile aliens that come to Earth and lay siege to an isolated farmhouse where a terrified family has barricaded itself inside. Spielberg decided not to go ahead with the rather dark project, but a subplot about the relationship between the lone good alien and an autistic boy inspired him to redevelop the concept as 'E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial".
E.T. riding in the basket on Elliot's bicycle flying in front of the moon is the trademark image of Amblin Entertainment.
Steven Spielberg's original concept was for a much darker movie in which a family was terrorized in their house by aliens. When Spielberg decided to go with a more benevolent alien, the family-in-jeopardy concept was recycled as Poltergeist (1982).
The young actors (Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore, and Robert MacNaughton) found the ET puppet's eyes too far apart to comfortably look ET in the eye when they had to act with it. The actors solved the problem themselves by selecting a single eye to look at for every scene.
E.T.'s voice was provided by Pat Welsh, an elderly woman who lived in Marin County, California. Welsh smoked two packets of cigarettes a day, which gave her voice a quality that sound effects creator Ben Burtt liked. She spent nine-and-a-half hours recording her part, and was paid $380 by Burtt for her services. Burtt also recorded 16 other people and various animals to create E.T.'s "voice". These included Spielberg; Debra Winger; Burtt's sleeping wife, who had a cold; a burp from his USC film professor; as well as raccoons, sea otters and horses.
ET's face was modeled after poet Carl Sandburg, Albert Einstein and a pug dog.
With the exception of Elliot's mom, no adults' faces are shown until the last half of the film.
ET's plants included some made from inflated condoms with polyester blooms.
Foley Artist John Roesch said he used a wet T-shirt crammed with jello to simulate the noise of E.T.'s waddling walk.
When this film was released on video in the U.S., the cassette was made from green plastic as a measure to confound video pirates. By December 31st 1988, it had sold 15 million.
At the auditions, Henry Thomas thought about the day his dog died to express sadness. Director Steven Spielberg cried, and hired him on the spot.
Steven Spielberg personally screened his film at the White House for president Ronald Reagan and first Lady Nancy Reagan.
Through the entirety of this movie Elliot's last name is never mentioned.
Harrison Ford was initially intended to have a cameo role in the film as Elliot's school headmaster, but the scene was cut.
The filmmakers had requested that M&M's be used to lure E.T., instead of Reese's Pieces. The Mars company had denied their request and so Reese's Pieces were used instead. As a direct result, Reese's Pieces sales skyrocketed. Because of this, more and more companies began requesting that their products be used in movies - a common practice which was done previously with the James Bond film franchise (the end credits of a Bond film prior to 1982 have had their end credits when contributing companies had their product used in a feature film). Thus, product placement was born.
The gag where the mother looks in the closet and sees the alien surrounded by toys was dreamed up by Robert Zemeckis.
The script was largely written while on location filming for Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) during filming breaks. Steven Spielberg dictated the story to screenwriter Melissa Mathison who was there with her then-boyfriend and future husband Harrison Ford.
According to the film's novelization, E.T. is over ten million years old.
Steven Spielberg worked simultaneously on both this film and Poltergeist (1982) in 1982 (which was directed by Tobe Hooper but produced by Spielberg), and both were made to complement each other. "E.T." represented suburban dreams, and "Poltergeist" represented suburban nightmares.
Though many have suggested that the film contains elements of Christian allegory, director Steven Spielberg says any parallels are strictly coincidental. Furthermore, Spielberg adds that if he ever made a Christian allegory, his mother, a devout Jew would probably never forgive him.
ET's communicator actually worked, and was constructed by Henry Feinberg, an expert in science and technology interpretation for the public.
Corey Feldman was originally scheduled for a role in E.T., but over the course of a script re-write, his part was eliminated. Steven Spielberg felt bad about the decision and promised Feldman a part in his next planned production which turned out to be Gremlins (1984).
Juliette Lewis auditioned for the role of Gertie, but her father reportedly made her turn it down.
Steven Spielberg asked Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones to contribute a song for the E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Story Book Album. Spielberg was so pleased with their song "Someone in the Dark" that he asked them to make the entire album, which, in spite of the size of the task, they agreed to do. This boxed set included an LP, a book to read along with it and a poster of E.T. and Jackson. Epic Records allowed Jackson to record the album for MCA Records on the conditions that it not be released until after Christmas of 1982 so as to not compete with 'Thriller' and that "Someone in the Dark" not be released as a single. Both of the conditions were breached by MCA Records; they released the storybook in November 1982 and gave promo copies of "Someone In the Dark" to radio stations. MCA Records were forced to withdraw the album and were prohibited from releasing "Someone In the Dark" as a single after court action was taken by Epic against them in a $2 million lawsuit, which MCA settled by paying Epic chief Walter Yetnikoff $500,000. Jones claims neither he nor Jackson received a dime for making the record, in spite of the large cash settlement involved and its considerable success: The audio book earned Jackson a Grammy Award in 1984 for Best Recording for Children. Upon collecting the award, and taking home a record eight Grammy Awards from an unprecedented twelve nominations, the singer stated that of all the awards had gotten that night, he was "most proud of this one".
The end of the film was one of the most significant musical experiences for composer John Williams. After several attempts were made to match the score to the film, Steven Spielberg took the film off the screen and encouraged Williams to conduct the orchestra the way he would at a concert. He did, and Spielberg slightly re-edited the film to match the music, which is unusual since normally the music would be edited to match the film. The result was Williams winning the 1982 Academy Award for Best Original Score.
In mid 2009, the home featured in this film, located in the Tujunga Canyon was saved from immolation in the treacherous Station Fire. The owner of the residence said the scorched hill behind the house "looks like the surface of the moon," but that the structure itself incurred no damage in the wildfire, which up to that time had burned over 127,000 acres and claimed 62 homes.
The doctors and nurses that work on E.T. are all real emergency room technicians. They were told to treat E.T. the same way they would treat a real patient so that their dialogue and actions would seem real.
Was the highest-grossing movie of all time worldwide until Spielberg's Jurassic Park (1993) was released. Adjusted for inflation today, it's still the fourth highest-grossing movie of all time.
Peter Coyote's character's name is never revealed, and is referred to as "Keys" in the novelization and end credits because he is identified by wearing a key-chain in the first half of the movie.
When it was test-screened at the Cannes Film Festival as an unofficial entry, it brought the house down, receiving a standing ovation that had eluded most of the official entries.
Elvis Costello was asked by Q music magazine March 2008 if he was paid handsomely for the use of 'Accidents Will Happen' of which two lines were sung by Michael (Robert MacNaughton) when he is looking in the fridge. He replied: "No, I don't think they offered any money. We had no way of knowing it was going to be so huge so there was the chance we'd given it for nothing and they'd use it for some big production number. Haha! But you really have to paying attention to notice."
This was the highest grossing film of 1982. It became the most successful movie in film history until Steven Spielberg beat that record with Jurassic Park (1993), released on the same date 11 years later, June 11. In a strange coincidence, the next film to snatch that title was Titanic (1997), only for James Cameron to also outdistance himself with Avatar (2009).
In the doorway conversation between Keys, played by Peter Coyote, and Gertie, played by Drew Barrymore, Keys asks Gertie if there are any "Coyotes" in the neighborhood.
Steven Spielberg shot most of the film from the eye-level of a child to further connect with Elliot and E.T.
The Sesame Street (1969) scene shown on the family TV, with Big Bird and Grover, was first aired in the premier episode of the show's 5th season, on November 19th, 1973.
The late Michael Jackson owned one of the E.T. puppets.
Most of the full-body puppetry was performed by a 2' 10 tall stuntman, but the scenes in the kitchen were done using a 10-year old boy who was born without legs but was an expert on walking on his hands.
John Sayles wrote a semi-sequel to Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) called 'Night Skies', about a group of hostile aliens that come to Earth and lay siege to an isolated farmhouse where a terrified family has barricaded itself inside. Spielberg decided not to go ahead with the rather dark project, but a subplot about the relationship between the lone good alien and an autistic boy inspired him to redevelop the concept as 'E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial".
