Forty Years Since ET Released: Why Is It Still Our Favorite Movie Generation After Generation?

On June 11, 1982, the film was released in the United States. ET the alien and became, almost immediately, a reference in the fantastic cinema. It remains immortal in our memory, making us continue to be moved by hearing a simple word such as telephone. The data confirm it and it is that, Such was the boom of the film, that it has only been surpassed at the box office by another by the same director, Jurassic Park. In addition, it has also been the film that has lasted the longest on the billboard.

Conceived by the filmmaker to help other children in the same situationWith parents divorced and feeling lonely, Spielberg sought to reflect a possible friendship between beings of different species to send a message of support to young people.

Many classify it as autobiographical and it is not the first time that the director captures some of his personal experiences in his films.

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The context. Steven Spielberg He had in mind making a movie about aliens, since science-fiction movies had always had a place in his house. In fact, he even commissioned a script in which “imp-like” aliens terrorized a family of farmers. The director did not quite fit what he was looking for, something more intimate and personal with some relationship between beings of different species, and he decided to leave it aside. he was recording Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark when the idea came to mind. Thanks to his protagonist, Harrison Ford, he met the one who would become blockbuster screenwriter Melissa Mathison, couple then of the actor. Mathison had written the black steed and with it the filmmaker saw his potential. After telling him her idea, she handed him the 107-page manuscript and he considered it ready to start filming. He describes it as “an honest and moving tale.”

• The director was clear that ET had to be a “disguise”, one more actor from the cast to interact with the children and that he managed to create an affective bond with them. Such was so Drew Barrimore became so fond of him that he even thought he was real, giving him food and a scarf for when he was cold. Actress Caprice Rothe got some realistic touches with her performance, such as when she matter-of-factly wipes the leftover watermelon from the corner of her mouth. The alien’s voice was achieved thanks to a mixture of snoring, animals and the voice actress pat welshwho smoked two packs of cigarettes a day and who was discovered by George Lucas in an unexpected way, in the laundry.

• The casting for the role of Elliott was attended by more than 300 children and Henry Thomas was chosen after auditioning which shocked the director by improvising a scene in which he ended up crying. Thomas acknowledged having thought of his deceased dog to get emotional.

• The collection of the film was 359 million dollars worldwide, thus becoming the highest grossing film in history until a decade later, when another Spielberg feature took number one, Jurassic Parkreaching 978 million dollars.

And meanwhile…The Academy nominated ET for nine Oscars, including Best Picture, Director and Original Screenplay. She was ultimately awarded the Oscar for Original Soundtrack, Visual Effects, Sound and Sound Effects Editing. It was also nominated for 5 Golden Globes in the categories of Best Director, Best Screenplay and New Star of the Year (male). It won in the categories of Best Motion Picture (Drama) and Best Original Score.

yes, but… As in almost all series or movies, there is always someone who refuses to participate in the cast because they do not believe in the project or because of discrepancies with the remuneration. In this case it was with the advertising part. Despite the fact that everyone thinks that the candies that Elliott gives ET are M&M’s, they are actually called Reese’s Pieces and the truth is that the Mars group, the makers of M&M’s, declined the offer to participate in the film because he thought that the children would be scared. Thanks to this, Reese’s Pieces, which did know how to see it as a great opportunity, tripled its sales in just two weeks.

The same thing happened with Columbia, the company considered it too “soft” to be about aliens and gave up buying it. Instead, Universal did buy the project for a million dollars.

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Some information that might interest you.

• In the presentation during the closing day of the Cannes Film Festival, people applauded up to 6 times unexpectedly during the screening of the film. By the end, got a 3 minute ovation, what the credit titles lasted.

• Michael Jackson declared himself a follower of the film and kept one of the dolls created for the recording.

• Thanks to advances in technology, in the second edition on the occasion of the twenty years of the premiere, we were able to see how the cape of ET’s costume moved in the mythical scene of the first bicycle flight, while in the original version this was not. occurs.

• The creation of the creature cost one and a half million dollars.

• Filming was done continuously from September to December to get the children to follow a common thread as real as possible.

• The Oscar-winning soundtrack was created by John Williams.