E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is about as timeless as family cinema gets. The movie is 34 years old today and remains as beloved and charming as it's ever been, which might be why nobody has (yet) attempted to remake it. Touch wood.
Here are 11 things you may not know about everybody's favourite friendly extraterrestrial, including controversial guns, Harrison Ford's lost role, and the sequel we're grateful never saw the light of day.
1. E.T. is more bootylicious than you realised.
Allow us to explain. That distinctive sound that E.T. makes when he walks? It was created using a wet T-shirt stuffed with jelly. Insert "I don't think you're ready for this jelly" joke here.
2. Much of the script was written on the Raiders of the Lost Ark set.
Because movie magic is infectious. Legend has it that Spielberg dictated story elements to Melissa Mathison during filming breaks on Raiders.
3. There's a specific reason why the movie is shot largely from low angles.
This is to replicate the eye-level of a child – and aside from Elliot's mother, there are no adult faces shown until the final act.
4. Harrison Ford was cast as Elliot's headmaster.
Yet his only scene was cut from the movie. Ford's soon-to-be-wife Mathison wrote the screenplay and made an appearance herself as the school nurse – who also ended up on the cutting-room floor.
5. E.T. is oooooold.
He may seem childlike, but according to the movie novelisation, E.T. is actually more than 10 million years old. Which explains the wrinkles.
6. A lot of very famous actresses auditioned for Gertie.
Among them Sarah Michelle Gellar and Juliette Lewis! We wouldn't trade Drew Barrymore's performance for anything, but just imagine a world in which the little girl from E.T. grew up to be Buffy.
7. A sequel almost happened, and it was every bit as bad as you're imagining.
E.T. II: Nocturnal Fears was a concept dreamed up by Steven Spielberg and Mathison in what we can only assume was a moment of temporary insanity. The proposed plot sounds closer to an Alien spinoff than anything in the E.T. universe – in brief, Elliot, Gertie and their friends sneak off to investigate a spaceship that has landed nearby, assuming that all aliens are as friendly as E.T. As it turns out, they're not. Elliot & co are kidnapped and tortured, and E.T. himself – his name is Zrek, by the way – has to come and save them. Birth.Movies.Death has a great, thorough rundown of Nocturnal Fears which will leave you weak with gratitude that this thing never got made.
8. Sick of product placement in movies? You've got E.T. to thank.
The practice became much more commonplace after sales of Reese's Pieces soared following their appearances in E.T. The real kicker is that Spielberg & co originally wanted to use M&Ms, but the company denied their request for clearance.
9. Spielberg spent $100k to digitally remove guns from the 20th anniversary cut.
He famously gave the government-employed villains walkie-talkies in place of their weapons. A decade later, he admitted that the digital altering was a bad idea (has George Lucas taught us nothing?), and restored the guns to their rightful place for the 30th anniversary Blu-ray. "I was disappointed in myself," Spielberg admitted. "I got overly sensitive."
10. E.T.'s communicator was a real device that actually worked.
Spielberg was so committed to authenticity throughout that he enlisted Henry Feinberg, a specialist in science and technology interpretation, to create a working communicator for E.T. to use.
11. E.T. takes after Albert Einstein.
Now one of the most iconic faces in cinema, E.T.'s features were apparently modelled on a blend of faces including Einstein, Ernest Hemingway and a pug. We can… kind of see it?
12. Neil Diamond's 1982 song 'Heartlight' was inspired by E.T.
The title come from the way E.T.'s heart glows red as he leaves Earth. Even though the song doesn't overtly reference the movie, Diamond and his co-writers had to pay around $25k for use of "ideas from the film".
13. The film was shot in chronological sequence from beginning to end.
Spielberg felt this would encourage a more authentic response from the child actors when E.T. leaves at the end. Safe to say it worked.
14. There's not a single fake doctor on screen.
We weren't kidding about that authenticity thing. The filmmakers hired real ER technicians to play the doctors and nurses who treat E.T. Reportedly, they were instructed to treat E.T. exactly as they would any other patient, which you'd imagine had to be challenging on an anatomical level.
Emma Dibdin is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles who writes about culture, mental health, and true crime. She loves owls, hates cilantro, and can find the queer subtext in literally anything.
