During the early days of the film industry, the stereotype of the alien with a singularly thin human body, elongated fingers, disproportionate head, lack of ears, flat eyes, with or without a mouth, and metallic skin was cultivated in the collective imagination. The inexpressiveness was one more element that contributed to the increase of concern in the spectators.
That was until a 37-year-old filmmaker decided to revisit a subject he'd already tackled, albeit with a completely different approach. After making "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," turning it into a box office hit and receiving rave reviews, Steven Spielberg took on another challenge: the film "ET: The Extra-Terrestrial."
The story of the little brothers who discover a being from another planet forgotten by their family on Earth, offered a different image from that of the traditional Martians, resorting to tenderness. This explains why, since its premiere on June 11, 1982, the film continues to win the hearts of successive generations who capture the clarity of the message, based on friendship. Not in vain has it been described as a timeless film.
what do your eyes have
ET was the culmination of an idea that had been on Spielberg's mind for years, who, after his parents' divorce, created an imaginary friend. Together with the screenwriter Melissa Mathison, he worked on the episode from his childhood until turning it into the plot of the feature film that was shot between September and December 1981, in California.
The creature was the responsibility of Carlo Rambaldi and had a total cost of a million and a half dollars. The eyes were worked with special care, so that they would allow empathy with the child audience, after the initial rejection that the appearance of the character could produce. The team also spent significant time perfecting the neck stretch.
In the end, they created four heads to reflect different emotions and dwarf actors were in charge of moving the body, with someone else placing their hands with the iconic lit index finger.
The selection of the human protagonist was meticulous. The casting brought together more than 300 children and, although Henry Thomas failed a test, he aroused the director's interest when he broke down in tears when he told him about the recent death of his pet. So he stayed with the character of Elliot.
The opposite happened with Drew Barrymore, who convinced Spielberg from the beginning, for showing unusual self-confidence in a six-year-old girl. She played Gertie, the little sister who is an accomplice in the adventures that the alien unleashes in a traditional Californian home.
Price
"ET the Extra-Terrestrial" is the second highest-grossing film in Steven Spielberg's personal filmography. Surpassed only by "Jurassic Park," its gross exceeds $790 million. It also ranks seventh in the annals of cinema, if inflation is calculated.
From an artistic point of view, the scene of the flying bicycles crossing the full moon, in a frantic escape sequence, is included among the most iconic in the history of cinema. It has so much power that it became the image of the American filmmaker's production company.
