‘E.T.’ : the Steven Spielberg movie he describes as “pretty perfect”
One word that is best used to describe auteur Steven Spielberg is consistent. Across his career, he has continued to deliver a high-quality canon that only cinema’s true greats can boast. His perfection of the blockbuster proved to be transformative for the form and broader popular culture. Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Jurassic Park are just four titles of his that spring to mind, representing just how impressive his filmography is.
Spielberg continued his consistent trend with the release of his semi-autobiographical opus, The Fabelmans, at the end of 2022. It has been nominated for seven awards at the upcoming 95th edition of The Oscars, including ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Best Director’, 11 nominations at the 28th Critics’ Choice Awards, and many others.
Despite releasing a host of successful flicks that will be analysed by film lovers and armchair critics for years to come, to Spielberg, there is one in particular that he believes is “pretty perfect” — 1982’s E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. Telling the story of Elliott, a boy who befriends the alien ‘E.T.’ who is left on Earth, it stars Dee Wallace, Henry Thomas, Peter Coyote and a young Drew Barrymore. It won four Oscars, including ‘Best Visual Effects’ and ‘Best Original Score’.
“I don’t look a lot at my movies after I’ve made them,” Spielberg said during a recent appearance on The Late Late Show With Stephen Colbert. “I don’t look back that often, but every once in a while, I’ll see a movie with my kids.”
“I want to accompany my kids when I see E.T. with them for the first time. I don’t want them to see E.T. without dad sitting there, especially the scary parts at the beginning.” He continued: “Sometimes I see things that I had intended to do that I didn’t do, and sometimes I see things that would have been a better idea than what I’m now seeing all these years later – but for the most part, E.T. is a pretty perfect movie.”
The director added: “It’s one of the few movies I’ve made that I can actually look back at again and again.”
Spielberg then explained that E.T. isn’t the only one of his movies that he can re-watch: “I’ve made like 34 films and – and I’m not gonna name which ones they are beyond E.T. – there’s about five or six films that I can watch again, but I don’t usually do that”.
