For many of us, Steven Spielberg’s “E.T. The Extra Terrestrial” was one of our favorite movies as kids. It was full of wonder and surprise, and still fills us with nostalgia 40 years later. It’s hard to believe that it’s been four decades since it was released, really. However, Drew Barrymore decided the occasion couldn’t go by unnnoticed. So, she decided to stage an E.T. reunion on “The Drew Barrymore Show.”
- The E.T. reunion brought Barrymore back together with three of her former castmates. She welcomed Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace, and Robert McNaughton to her talk show. The episode is due to air on Halloween on CBS. It’s exactly the kind of feel-good reminiscence w all need.
- Barrymore was only a child when she was in the movie. It’s strange to think that the actress was only 7 years old when she was in “E.T.,” but that may have something to do with why she thought the alien was actually real! It was a puppet voiced by an actor named Pat Welsh, but Barrymore didn’t realize that. “I really loved him in such a profound way,” Barrymore admitted. “I would go and take lunch to him.”
We learned more from the E.T. reunion than that
- Her co-stars remembered her special bond with the alien being. As Thomas recalled: “The first thing I remember is that we were on stage and it was quite cold on the stage and you asked the wardrobe lady if you could have a scarf for E.T.’s neck because he was gonna get cold, so you wrapped the scarf around his neck.” However, Wallace had an even better story, saying: “We found you over there just talking away to E.T. and so we let Steven know. So Steven, from that time on, appointed two guys to keep E.T. alive so whenever you came over to talk to him, he could react to you.”
- Sadly, an on-screen “E.T.” reunion will never come to pass. While E.T. and Elliot did come together for the Super Bowl a couple of years ago, that was a one-off. The former co-stars talked about whether or not they’d ever be interested in a sequel. However, the answer was a unanimous no. Original screenwriter Melissa Mathison died in 2015, and no one else could do it justice.
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