Steven Spielberg has revealed his film E.T., The Extra-Terrestrial was inspired by his parents’ divorce.
The renowned director brought the classic film to our screens back in 1982, and it remains a childhood favourite today.
It’s been 40 years since the ridiculously cute alien critter was introduced to households around the world, and the film industry is ready to celebrate.
Turner Classic Movies for the epic on the opening night of its film festival, which included a speech and Q&A from the director himself.
At the celebration, director Spielberg spoke to audiences and revealed he came up with the entire concept of the film by combining his thoughts about his former film, Close Encounters of the Third Kind – and his parents’ divorce.
The ending scene of Close Encounters features the alien mothership revealing itself to a select portion of the human race.
And it made Spielberg think: ‘What if that little creature never went back to the ship?’
Spielberg had already been working on ‘an actual literal script about [his] parents’ separation and divorce’ when he was filming Close Encounters, focusing on the effect it had on himself and his sisters.
Divorce, he recalled, created a responsibility for him and his siblings as children as you’re forced to ‘take care of each other’, and he considered the idea while working on his first alien epic.
He asked himself: What if his child hero ‘needed to, for the first time in his life, become responsible for a life form to fill the gap in his heart?’
‘What if the creature was part of a foreign-exchange program?’ he went on.
‘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?’
The 40th anniversary screening also featured the reunion of some of the beloved film’s cast, including the then-little boy who played the extra-terrestrial itself.
Matthew De Merritt, now 52, was 11 years old when he was one of three people to spend time inside the 4ft rubber E.T. suit as he played the adorable alien.
The actor, who was born without legs, played the lost critter in some of the most beloved scenes in the classic film.
De Merritt and Spielberg caught up with other cast members at the event, including Dee Wallace, who played single mum Mary in the film, K.C. Martel (Greg) and Robert MacNaughton, who appeared alongside Drew Barrymore (Gertie) and in the film as their older brother Michael.
Spielberg had already more than proved himself as a director by the time E.T. has come out, with the likes of Jaws, Indiana Jones and Close Encounters already released.
However E.T. was something else entirely – at the time of its release, it was the highest-grossing film of all time.
It grossed $619 million (£482 million) worldwide, and the record stood for over a decade until  surpassed it in 1993.
