Steven Spielberg has often described how unhappy he was after his parents' divorce in 1960. The future director had no-one to share his misery with, so instead he invented a cuddly little creature from outer space. And Spielberg didn't forget his made-up comrade. Years later, he presented Columbia Pictures with a proposal for a new film. A story about a kind-hearted alien who befriends an autistic child. The movie studio wasn't interested, though. They didn't believe the material had any commercial potential whatsoever.
Fortunately, the management at Universal was of a different opinion. They allocated a budget of $10 million to the film and then used another $1.5 million to construct the director's little buddy from space. That job went to Carlo Rambaldi, who previously had designed the aliens for Spielberg's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". Rambaldi had to work on the creature for three months, though. It turned out to be really complicated to make its extendible neck function as intended.
The E. T. actually existed in multiple forms. First, an animatronic figure, then a close-up version for facial expressions and finally a full-body costume with a little person inside. Spielberg constantly encouraged his young stars to act spontaneously. He also shot the entire film from such a low angle that the adult characters could rarely be seen from the waist up. The director wanted everything that happened in the movie to be perceived from a child's-eye view of the world.
"E. T. The Extra-Terrestrial" had its world premiere at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival in 1982. And it brought the house down. The film received a twenty-minute standing ovation. The success then continued back in the United States. The movie spent an extraordinary twelve consecutive weeks as number one at the American box office. At the end of the year, "E. T. The Extra-Terrestrial" was officially regarded as the highest-grossing picture of all time.
Fortunately, the management at Universal was of a different opinion. They allocated a budget of $10 million to the film and then used another $1.5 million to construct the director's little buddy from space. That job went to Carlo Rambaldi, who previously had designed the aliens for Spielberg's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". Rambaldi had to work on the creature for three months, though. It turned out to be really complicated to make its extendible neck function as intended.
The E. T. actually existed in multiple forms. First, an animatronic figure, then a close-up version for facial expressions and finally a full-body costume with a little person inside. Spielberg constantly encouraged his young stars to act spontaneously. He also shot the entire film from such a low angle that the adult characters could rarely be seen from the waist up. The director wanted everything that happened in the movie to be perceived from a child's-eye view of the world.
"E. T. The Extra-Terrestrial" had its world premiere at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival in 1982. And it brought the house down. The film received a twenty-minute standing ovation. The success then continued back in the United States. The movie spent an extraordinary twelve consecutive weeks as number one at the American box office. At the end of the year, "E. T. The Extra-Terrestrial" was officially regarded as the highest-grossing picture of all time.
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