ET: The extraterrestrial it is one of the greatest films of all time. It tops lists of its director’s best films, Steven Spielbergas well as its young cast members, including Drew Barrymorewho famously bonded with the film’s director, becoming his goddaughter after the film was made.
Barrymore went on to have a fantastic career, but not before enduring a rocky teenage years filled with drugs and alcohol at an early age, a stint in rehab, and an emancipation from her parents, who never worked in her best interests . Spielberg could see all that trouble coming already ETwhen the actress was only seven and he did his best to give her what she was missing.
In a new profile Vulture posted via Variety, Barrymore praised Spielberg as “the only person in my life to date who has ever been a parental figure.” Eventually he agreed to be his godfather. Barrymore’s father, the actor John Drew Barrymore, was a violent alcoholic. “It’s about someone who wasn’t a careerist,” Barrymore said. “He was like, ‘I’m going to burn this fucking dynasty to the ground.'”
During the making of ET, Spielberg made it his top priority to preserve the magic of the title character for young Barrymore. In other words, he thought ET was real and he wanted to keep it that way. A couple of weeks into filming, Barrymore noticed several men running ET and asked to leave the set.
“I didn’t want to burst the bubble,” Spielberg said. “So I just said, ‘Okay, ET is so special. ET has eight assistants. I’m the director, I only have one.”
Spielberg also kept camera operators on hand during off-shoot hours, such as lunch breaks, so that Barrymore could eat with ET. As Vulture relates, Barrymore also stayed with Spielberg “on the weekends; he gave her a cat she named Gertie and took her to Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm.
Meanwhile, in her personal life, she “was up well past bedtime, went places she should only hear about, and lived a life at an early age that I think robbed her of her childhood,” Spielberg told Vulture. . “And yet I felt very helpless because I was not her father. I may just be an advisor to her.
But the director must have done something right. Spielberg and Barrymore remain close to this day.
by Jessica Fisher
Source: Geek Tyrant
Lloyd Grunewald is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. He is a talented writer who focuses on bringing the latest entertainment-related news to his readers. With a deep understanding of the entertainment industry and a passion for writing, Lloyd delivers engaging articles that keep his readers informed and entertained.
