Elliott Taylor (character)

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Elliott Taylor
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial character
Elliott from ET.jpg
Elliott, as he appears in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
First appearance
Last appearance
Created by Steven Spielberg
Melissa Mathison
Portrayed by Henry Thomas
In-universe information
Species Human
GenderMale
AffiliationHuman friend of E.T.
FamilyMary Taylor (mother)
Unnamed father (divorced)
Gertie Taylor (sister)
Michael Taylor (brother)
SpouseGrace (A Holiday Reunion)
ChildrenElliott Jr. (son; A Holiday Reunion)
Maggie (daughter; A Holiday Reunion)
NationalityAmerican
Hometown San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, California

Elliott Taylor is a fictional character from Steven Spielberg's 1982 science fiction film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial . Created by Spielberg and the film's screenwriter Melissa Mathison, and portrayed by then 10-year-old Henry Thomas, Elliott serves as the main human protagonist who, along with his friends and family, helps find a way to help the titular extraterrestrial return home. The character is considered to be Thomas' breakthrough role and his most famous, earning him widespread acclaim from critics and the public. The character has also appeared in all of its other media, including books and video games, as well as a short film sequel in which Thomas reprised his role.

Contents

Inspiration and casting

While the character is original, parts of Elliott are based on Spielberg himself, mainly involving the fact that he is a child of divorced parents, except that unlike Spielberg, he lives with his mother, Mary (Dee Wallace), older brother Michael (Robert MacNaughton) and younger sister Gertie (Drew Barrymore). [1]

Spielberg auditioned hundreds of boys for the role of Elliott, [2] including Keith Coogan; [3] before Jack Fisk suggested Henry Thomas for the role because Henry had played the part of Harry in the film Raggedy Man , which Fisk had directed. [4] Thomas, who auditioned in an Indiana Jones costume, did not perform well in the formal testing, but got the filmmakers' attention in an improvised scene. Thoughts of his dead dog inspired his convincing tears. [5]

Appearances

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

Unrealized feature sequel

In July 1982, during the film's first theatrical run, Spielberg and Mathison wrote a treatment for a sequel to be titled E.T. II: Nocturnal Fears. [6] It would have shown Elliott and his friends getting kidnapped by evil aliens, and attempting to contact E.T. for help. Spielberg decided against pursuing it, feeling it "would do nothing but rob the original of its virginity. E.T. is not about going back to the planet". [7] [8] However, on June 28, 2022, Henry Thomas said that he hopes a feature-length sequel never gets made, but added "I guarantee you, there are a few men in a very big room now salivating and using their Abacus and slide rules to come up with some really, really big numbers." [9]

A Holiday Reunion (2019)

Elliott and E.T. during a scene in the short film sequel A Holiday Reunion (2019). Elliott and E.T. in A Holiday Reunion (2019).jpg
Elliott and E.T. during a scene in the short film sequel A Holiday Reunion (2019).

On November 28, 2019, during NBC's broadcast of the 93rd Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Xfinity released a four-minute commercial directed by Lance Acord, calling it a "short film sequel" to the original film, titled A Holiday Reunion. [10] The commercial stars Henry Thomas, reprising his role as Elliott, now an adult with a family of his own. Julianne Hoyak played his wife, Grace, while Zebastin Borjeau and Alivia Drews played their children, Elliott Jr. and Maggie. The story follows E.T. as he returns to Earth for the holiday season, and focuses on the importance of bringing family together. References and nods to the original film are featured, such as a photo of the Taylors' family dog Harvey on the kitchen fridge and a replica of the makeshift Speak & Spell communication device. [11] Spielberg was consulted by Comcast (parent company of NBCUniversal, which itself owns Universal Pictures) before production on the commercial began. [12] Before the commercial was released, Thomas assured that viewers would "get everything they want out of a sequel without the messy bits that could destroy the beauty of the original and the special place it has in people's minds and hearts ... Looking at the storyboards, I could see exactly why Steven was really behind it, because the integrity of the story isn't lost in this retelling." [12]

Books

William Kotzwinkle, author of the film's novelization, wrote a sequel, E.T.: The Book of the Green Planet, which was published in 1985. In the novel, E.T. returns home to the planet Brodo Asogi, but is subsequently demoted and sent into exile. He attempts to return to Earth by effectively breaking all of Brodo Asogi's laws. Elliott appears, playing a supporting role. [13]

Video games

Atari, Inc. produced a video game based on the film for the Atari 2600 and hired Howard Scott Warshaw to program the game. The game was rushed in five weeks to release within the 1982 holiday season. [14] Released in Christmas 1982, the game was critically panned, with nearly every aspect of the game facing heavy criticism. It has since been considered to be one of the worst video games ever made. [15] It was also a commercial failure. It has been cited as a major contributing factor to the video game industry crash of 1983, and has been frequently referenced and mocked in popular culture as a cautionary tale about the dangers of rushed game development and studio interference. In what was initially deemed an urban legend, reports from 1983 stated that as a result of overproduction and returns, millions of unsold cartridges were secretly buried in an Alamogordo, New Mexico landfill and covered with a layer of concrete. In April 2014, diggers hired to investigate the claim confirmed that the Alamogordo landfill contained many E.T. cartridges, among other games. [16] [17] [18]

In 2017, video game developer Zen Studios released a pinball adaptation as part of the Universal Classics add-on pack for the virtual pinball game Pinball FX 3 . [19] It features 3-D animated figures of Elliot, E.T. and his spacecraft.

Reception and legacy

Like the film, the character of Elliott, especially Henry Thomas' performance, has been widely acclaimed by critics and audiences alike, and has become one of the top examples of the best child performances ever seen on film. [20] The character was nominated for the "Heroes" list on AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains but didn't make the final list. [21] For his performance, Thomas won the Young Artist Award for Best Leading Young Actor in a Feature Film and received nominations for the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actor, the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles, and the Saturn Award for Best Actor.

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References

  1. ↑ McBride, Joseph (1997). Steven Spielberg: A Biography. Faber and Faber. p. 72. ISBN   0-571-19177-0.
  2. ↑ Brode, Douglas (1995). "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" . The Films of Steven Spielberg. Citadel. pp.  114–127. ISBN   0-8065-1540-6.
  3. ↑ "Interview with Actor Keith Coogan from 'Adventures in Babysitting' & More". www.rediscoverthe80s.com. Archived from the original on October 5, 2021. Retrieved October 5, 2021.
  4. ↑ Pierce, Tony (November 3, 2014). "How Steven Spielberg chose Henry Thomas to play Elliott in E.T." Archived from the original on December 23, 2015. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
  5. ↑ Nathan, Ian (January 2003). "The 100 DVDs You Must Own". Empire . p. 27.
  6. ↑ Wampler, Scott (April 13, 2015). "The Incredibly Ill-Advised E.T. Sequel That Almost Was". Birth.Movies.Death. Archived from the original on November 8, 2016. Retrieved November 8, 2016.
  7. ↑ "A look at the E.T. sequel we mercifully never saw". Blastr. Archived from the original on November 8, 2016. Retrieved November 8, 2016.
  8. ↑ "The E.T. Sequel That Never Was". June 12, 2012.
  9. ↑ Scott, Ryan (June 28, 2022). "Why An E.T. Sequel Should Never Happen, According To Original Star Henry Thomas". /Film. Retrieved July 6, 2022.
  10. ↑ "E.T. is home for the holidays". Xfinity. Archived from the original on December 3, 2019. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
  11. ↑ "'E.T.' Reunion Behind-The-Scenes Featurette Shows Craft of Revisiting a Classic". December 6, 2019.
  12. 1 2 Hayes, Dade (November 28, 2019). "'E.T.' Phones Home Again In Reunion Short Film Premiering On NBC And Syfy". Archived from the original on November 29, 2019. Retrieved November 29, 2019.
  13. ↑ Kotzwinkle, William (1985). E.T.: The Book of the Green Planet. Berkley Books. ISBN   0-425-07642-3.
  14. ↑ "DP Interviews". Digitpress.com. Archived from the original on August 31, 2014. Retrieved March 6, 2014.
  15. ↑ Warshaw, "Core Memory"
  16. ↑ "Alamogordo approves Atari excavation". ALAMOGORDO, N.M. (KRQE). Archived from the original on May 30, 2013. Retrieved June 2, 2013.
  17. ↑ Schreier, Jason (April 26, 2014). "E.T. Found In New Mexico Landfill". Kotaku. Archived from the original on February 11, 2015. Retrieved February 4, 2015.
  18. ↑ Llorca, Juan Carlos (September 28, 1983). "Diggers Find Atari's E.T. Games in Landfill". ABC News. Archived from the original on April 26, 2014. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
  19. ↑ Good, Owen (August 26, 2017). "Pinball FX3 has big names lining up for a table". Polygon. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
  20. ↑ "The 10 Great Performances by a Child Actor". Screen Rant . 16 August 2010.
  21. ↑ "AFI's 100 YEARS...100 HEROES & VILLAINS". American Film Institute. Retrieved 2021-05-09.
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