Summary
-
E.T.
was originally going to include a B-plot of the alien having a crush on Mary. - Keeping
E.T.
a family film was the right choice to maintain the core values of acceptance and love. - Emphasizing
E.T
.’s crush on Mary would have distracted from the film’s main message and theme.
E.T.‘s Dee Wallace reveals that the titular alien originally had a crush on a human. Wallace played Mary in the film, who is the mother to Gertie, Elliot, and Michael. Mary’s children were portrayed by Henry Thomas, Robert MacNaughton, and most famously, Drew Barrymore in Spielberg’s 1982 sci-fi classic. E.T. went on to be nominated for multiple Oscars, winning awards for Best Sound, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Effects Editing, and Best Original Score.
E.T.
was also nominated for Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Film Editing.
Speaking on The Spiel podcast, Wallace reveals that Spielberg originally had a very different plan for her character’s arc in E.T. According to the actor, there was originally going to be “a whole B story in there about how E.T. had a crush on Mary.” In the iconic scene wherein E.T. leaves Reese’s Pieces on Mary’s nightstand while she is sleeping, Spielberg originally wanted “the sheet way far down on” the character’s back. Wallace felt it out of place to include a shot like this, so after talking to Spielberg, a producer, and the film’s writer, the team decided to change the scene. Check out the full quote from Wallace below:
There was a whole B story in there about how E.T. had a crush on Mary. There’s a couple of little shots in there. You know when he walks in and leaves Reese’s Pieces when I’m sleeping? You remember that scene? Okay. Well, Steven saw it with the sheet way far down on my back. I’ll just let your imagination ride with that. And I said, Steven, I don’t feel right about this. This is a family film, it’s about love. I understand why the parents and poser guy smoked pot, I got that. But I really don’t think this is right, this doesn’t feel right. So he called in Kathy Kennedy, and Melissa, our writer, so that we could talk about it. And they both agreed that probably it didn’t fit with this film for this sheet to be…it took it in a whole different way. So we ended up pulling the sheet up, I think to my shoulder blades.
Why The E.T. Choice Was The Right One
E.T. Needed To Be A Family Film
For those who have seen E.T., it is strange to imagine what the film would have been like had E.T.’s infatuation with Mary been emphasized. While E.T. does develop a found family with Elliot and the Taylor family, and thus acts somewhat humanlike, the emotions at the core of the film emphasize that of acceptance and radical love. Romantic love was never a heavy part of E.T.‘s main story. By leaning into this would-be B-plot, Spielberg would have distracted from the core messaging of the film.
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Not only would E.T. have lost some of its themes by exploring this B plot, but it would also turn the Spielberg film into a far different type of movie than it currently is. As Wallace mentions, it is a “family film,” and the kind of love portrayed in it is not one that should come down to a distorted version of love across species. If it had gone down this route, E.T. would probably have gained notoriety for the creepiness of this scene, which is instead viewed as a sweet moment of extending the olive branch.
Instead of creating an icky romance with Mary, E.T.‘s iconic scenes have allowed the film to go down in history as one of Spielberg’s best. The image of Elliot and E.T. riding a flying bicycle past the moon is still one of the most iconic in cinema history, as are images such as the lovable alien buried within Gertie’s stuffed animals. Sticking to its roots, E.T. will continue to be a beloved and classic ’80s family film, and one of Spielberg’s best works.
Source: The Spiel Podcast
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Steven Spielberg’s 1982 sci-fi classic E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial tells the story of Elliott Taylor (Henry Thomas), who befriends a small alien left stranded on Earth. When government forces come to take the benevolent creature away, Elliott does everything he can to protect his new friend, risking his own safety in the process in order to help E.T. return home.
- Release Date
- June 11, 1982
- Studio(s)
- Universal Pictures
- Distributor(s)
- Universal Pictures
- Writers
- Melissa Mathison
- Runtime
- 1h 55m
- Franchise(s)
- E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
- Budget
- 10.5 million