Drew Barrymore was the breakout star of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial — and she left a particularly significant impression on the film’s director.
Steven Spielberg, who produced and directed a then-seven-year-old Barrymore in the 1982 film, revealed during an appearance at New York City’s TCM Film Festival on Saturday, January 25, that the actress, 49, inspired fresh ambition in him at the time.
“Up until that point … I was just making movies,” Spielberg, 78, said during a panel at the festival moderated by Dave Karger, per People. “That was my life. I was obsessed with telling stories, but making E.T. made me want to be a father for the first time. I never even thought about that until E.T.”
Barrymore, who appeared alongside the iconic filmmaker, said in response, “I didn’t ruin that for you?” to which Spielberg sweetly replied, “The opposite.”
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Starring as Gertie, the kind hearted younger sister of Elliot, played by Henry Thomas, and Michael, played by Robert MacNaughton, in E.T., Barrymore was also profoundly impacted by the filming experience at the time.
“I think E.T., for me, is the [film] I’m the most proud of,” Barrymore said, “because it’s the one that changed my life.”
She continued, “There’s no question about that. Everything in my life is about how I got believed in by one human being, and that is the life that I try to honor every day.”
The duo’s trip down memory lane also saw Spielberg, who is a father to seven children aged between 28 and 48, reveal that E.T. serves as one of his most-watched projects. He told the panel’s crowd that he’s seen the film, “probably more than I’ve seen any other movie I’ve ever directed, partially because I’ve shown the film to all my kids.”
Spielberg shares Max, 39, with ex-wife Amy Irving, as well as Jessica, 48, Theo, 36, Sasha, 34, Sawyer, 32, Mikaela, 28, and Destry, 28, with wife Kate Capshaw. He is also a grandfather to six children.
“I’ve shown the film to all my kids and a couple of my grandkids,” he detailed. “Some of them are still too young, because I’m always worried about them being worried about E.T. and I want to let them know before they turn the corner and are surprised by something, what to expect.”
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Spielberg said in April 2022 while interviewed at the Turner Classic Movies Film Festival that E.T. and the alien character itself was partly inspired by his parents’ divorce. “What if the creature was part of a foreign-exchange program?” said Spielberg at the time. “What if I turn my story about divorce into a story about children, a family, trying to fill the great need and creating such responsibility?”
He continued, “A divorce creates great responsibility, especially if you have siblings; we all take care of each other. What if Elliott … needed to, for the first time in his life, become responsible for a life form to fill the gap in his heart?”
In 1983, E.T. surpassed Star Wars to become the highest-grossing film production of all time. According to a New York Times article published in July 1982, E.T. made $87 million at the box office, with the outlet labeling it as the “hit of summer.”
