WEBVTT - E.T. and Me 0:00:09.562 --> 0:00:10.162 Originals. 0:00:10.322 --> 0:00:19.602 This is an iHeart original. It's late summer nineteen eighty one. 0:00:20.202 --> 0:00:23.162 Eleven year old Matt de Merit is at his house 0:00:23.322 --> 0:00:27.962 in Torrance, California. When the phone rings, his mother picks 0:00:27.962 --> 0:00:32.802 it up. Matt can hear just one side of the conversation. 0:00:33.562 --> 0:00:39.402 Yes, Yes, that's my son. Who jaws Steven Spielberg. 0:00:40.162 --> 0:00:44.762 Jaws Steven Spielberg, the same director who has spent the 0:00:44.802 --> 0:00:49.282 past six years on top of Hollywood and who currently 0:00:49.482 --> 0:00:53.322 has the highest grossing movie of the summer in Raiders 0:00:53.362 --> 0:00:54.362 of the Lost Arc. 0:00:55.042 --> 0:00:56.762 In the distance, I could hear my mom and I 0:00:56.842 --> 0:00:59.962 keep having this very interesting conversation with someone who is 0:01:00.002 --> 0:01:05.242 interested in hiring me. That's Matt, and basically told my 0:01:05.282 --> 0:01:08.282 mom that they're doing a movie and it involves someone 0:01:08.362 --> 0:01:10.602 being in a costume. Didn't want to give away too 0:01:10.682 --> 0:01:13.962 much for someone being in a costume to walk around. 0:01:14.442 --> 0:01:18.282 To put this call in perspective, Matt wasn't a child 0:01:18.402 --> 0:01:22.522 actor or a performer of any kind at eleven. He 0:01:22.602 --> 0:01:27.442 also wasn't a cinematographer or effects artist. He was just 0:01:27.602 --> 0:01:31.202 a suburban kid enjoying his summer before he had to 0:01:31.242 --> 0:01:35.082 go back to school, and school wasn't going so well 0:01:35.122 --> 0:01:39.202 for Matt, which we'll get too shortly. But Matt had 0:01:39.242 --> 0:01:43.882 something no other kid had, something that made him shy 0:01:44.082 --> 0:01:48.562 at times, but something Steven Spielberg needed in order to 0:01:48.642 --> 0:01:52.962 embark on his most ambitious movie yet, a movie that 0:01:53.362 --> 0:01:57.922 for many years held the title highest grossing film of 0:01:58.002 --> 0:02:02.522 all time, and from a certain point of view, a 0:02:02.602 --> 0:02:05.602 movie that would feature Matt as the star. 0:02:06.642 --> 0:02:06.922 The movie. 0:02:06.922 --> 0:02:11.482 Movie went by many different names during its development, Watch 0:02:11.602 --> 0:02:16.522 the Skies, Night Skies, a Boy's Life, Et and Me, 0:02:17.162 --> 0:02:23.282 and finally Et the Extra Terrestrial, And for Matt Demerit, 0:02:23.322 --> 0:02:27.322 it would prove a bitter sweet experience, one that would 0:02:27.402 --> 0:02:30.562 help him through one of the most formative events in 0:02:30.602 --> 0:02:33.482 his life. For now, all he knew was that he 0:02:33.562 --> 0:02:37.282 needed to have a conversation with his parents and go 0:02:37.362 --> 0:02:41.762 meet Steven Spielberg, And well there was one other thing. 0:02:42.202 --> 0:02:44.562 Mom, Who's Stephen Spielberg? 0:02:46.322 --> 0:02:52.002 For iHeartRadio? This is very Special episodes an iHeart original podcast, 0:02:52.482 --> 0:02:56.722 I'm your host Danish Schwortz and this is Et and Me. 0:03:01.322 --> 0:03:03.442 Et is one of those movies that I have such 0:03:03.482 --> 0:03:06.522 a distinct memory of my dad taking us to see 0:03:06.562 --> 0:03:09.442 the re release in theaters when we were kids. So 0:03:09.482 --> 0:03:12.122 it was very, very exciting for me just to listen 0:03:12.122 --> 0:03:14.722 to this episode because, to be honest, I knew absolutely 0:03:14.962 --> 0:03:16.882 nothing about how it was made. 0:03:17.042 --> 0:03:17.522 I love it. 0:03:17.642 --> 0:03:20.522 One of our best episodes last season was the Titanic 0:03:20.562 --> 0:03:24.242 episode about how the cast and crew got poisoned on set, 0:03:24.282 --> 0:03:26.362 and it's similar. This is a good lane for us 0:03:26.402 --> 0:03:29.402 where we have some beloved film and we're getting a 0:03:29.402 --> 0:03:31.202 lot of the behind the scenes from the people who 0:03:31.242 --> 0:03:32.122 actually made it. 0:03:32.242 --> 0:03:32.442 Yeah. 0:03:32.442 --> 0:03:34.562 Also this speak surprises like the creature for the Black 0:03:34.602 --> 0:03:36.402 Lagoon shows up. I love this one for I was 0:03:36.402 --> 0:03:37.362 all the Hollywood history. 0:03:37.402 --> 0:03:38.962 Should we dive back in hell y. 0:03:42.682 --> 0:03:45.642 In a lot of ways, Matt de Merritt's childhood looked 0:03:45.682 --> 0:03:50.042 a lot like everyone else's, maybe like yours. He grew 0:03:50.122 --> 0:03:53.202 up in the suburbs of Torrance, a coastal city in 0:03:53.242 --> 0:03:58.282 southern California with beautiful views and a laid back atmosphere. 0:03:58.722 --> 0:04:02.202 The local newspaper is named the Daily Breeze, if that 0:04:02.322 --> 0:04:07.122 tells you anything. Matt had some artistic inclinations, which he 0:04:07.202 --> 0:04:10.642 might have inherited from his father, an illustrator for the 0:04:10.682 --> 0:04:11.442 Post Office. 0:04:12.002 --> 0:04:14.362 I would draw a lot as a kid. I love 0:04:14.482 --> 0:04:17.122 to look at my dad's drawings and ask him to 0:04:17.202 --> 0:04:19.882 draw me monsters and stuff. I was so fascinated when 0:04:19.882 --> 0:04:22.842 he could draw creatures for me, so I tried to 0:04:22.922 --> 0:04:26.522 emulate him. That was kind of kid I was. I 0:04:26.642 --> 0:04:30.562 drew a lot, and I skateboarded a lot, and I 0:04:30.682 --> 0:04:33.082 like to hang out with my friends and go to 0:04:33.122 --> 0:04:37.642 the park and do stuff like that. That's Matt. 0:04:37.882 --> 0:04:41.162 And while there was plenty of normal kid stuff to do, 0:04:41.722 --> 0:04:45.642 Matt did it a little differently. That's because Matt was 0:04:45.722 --> 0:04:47.082 born without legs. 0:04:47.562 --> 0:04:51.362 Well, apparently, my mother took an anti nausea medication which 0:04:51.362 --> 0:04:54.842 she was pregnant with me called ben Deckton, and that 0:04:54.962 --> 0:04:58.002 was a popular drug at the time for that condition, 0:04:58.562 --> 0:05:01.082 and it turned out that there were a lot of 0:05:01.082 --> 0:05:04.322 birth defects that seemed to be correlated with the drug, 0:05:04.922 --> 0:05:08.362 and so all the parents filed a class action lawsuit 0:05:08.402 --> 0:05:12.522 against the maker the drug, Meryl Dow. Meryl Dao had 0:05:12.522 --> 0:05:17.322 a lot of lawyers and basically were able to counter 0:05:17.402 --> 0:05:19.522 all the evidence that they had that it might have 0:05:19.642 --> 0:05:22.962 caused birth effects. So nothing really ever came for it 0:05:23.002 --> 0:05:24.522 could either have been that or could have been a 0:05:24.602 --> 0:05:27.362 natural birth effect. You know, sometimes it happens where you 0:05:27.362 --> 0:05:29.202 can't really attreat to anything specific. 0:05:29.682 --> 0:05:32.962 For a variety of reasons, prosthetic legs were a poor 0:05:32.962 --> 0:05:37.602 solution for Matt, who learned to locomot around in a wheelchair. 0:05:37.922 --> 0:05:41.122 In addition to walking on his hands. He even learned 0:05:41.162 --> 0:05:42.202 to use a skateboard. 0:05:42.922 --> 0:05:45.002 I loved skateboard parks when I was a kid. I 0:05:45.002 --> 0:05:48.082 couldn't do tricks, you know, quite at the Tony Hawk level, 0:05:48.442 --> 0:05:50.282 but I could go on those bowls, and I could 0:05:50.362 --> 0:05:53.202 do like hand plants and stuff like that. 0:05:53.802 --> 0:05:57.162 Matt says that because he didn't lose his legs exactly, 0:05:57.482 --> 0:05:59.242 he never really missed them. 0:05:59.602 --> 0:06:02.322 I just always perceived my condition as normal. That's all 0:06:02.362 --> 0:06:05.082 I was used to. It wasn't struggling with the loss 0:06:05.082 --> 0:06:08.322 of limbs. I just always got around own naturally, you know. 0:06:08.402 --> 0:06:10.802 I learned to walk on my hands, just like anyone 0:06:11.042 --> 0:06:14.162 learns to walk on their legs. Reaching for stuff or 0:06:14.202 --> 0:06:16.762 asking for help wasn't of a problem. I could either 0:06:16.802 --> 0:06:19.162 climb up and get the thing that I needed, or 0:06:19.562 --> 0:06:22.202 I always aid the support system for people who could 0:06:22.282 --> 0:06:24.002 get stuff that was out of my reach. 0:06:25.562 --> 0:06:29.082 But there were other challenging things about Matt's life. His 0:06:29.162 --> 0:06:33.682 father had been diagnosed with a serious issue bipolar disorder. 0:06:34.242 --> 0:06:37.722 The condition used to be referred to as manic depression. 0:06:38.402 --> 0:06:42.722 According to the National Institute of Mental Health, the diagnosis 0:06:42.802 --> 0:06:48.402 is characterized by clear changes in mood, energy, and activity levels. 0:06:48.442 --> 0:06:53.402 Depending on the particular diagnosis, people can experience moods that 0:06:53.522 --> 0:06:58.122 range from euphoric or energized to extremely despondent. 0:06:59.042 --> 0:07:02.002 My dad was in denial that he had bipolar, and 0:07:02.042 --> 0:07:06.202 so he wouldn't take this medication, and he'd be very withdrawn, 0:07:07.082 --> 0:07:09.642 which is one of the symptoms of being depressed. So 0:07:10.122 --> 0:07:12.842 the times he wouldn't communicate at all. 0:07:12.882 --> 0:07:16.042 But there was something that did help strengthen the bond 0:07:16.122 --> 0:07:21.802 between Matt and his dad. Creature features monster movies, men 0:07:21.922 --> 0:07:25.842 in rubber suits. It was a fantasy escape from a 0:07:25.922 --> 0:07:29.522 reality that could often prove challenging, and a way to 0:07:29.562 --> 0:07:33.802 get closer to his father, who sometimes seemed far away. 0:07:34.442 --> 0:07:37.842 My dad and I used to watch monster movies on Saturdays. 0:07:37.922 --> 0:07:40.122 There was a kind of a marathon that happened every 0:07:40.122 --> 0:07:45.282 Saturday on Channel five called Monster Rally, and so the 0:07:45.322 --> 0:07:48.722 first horror film I saw was a Creature from the 0:07:48.802 --> 0:07:49.562 Black Lagoon. 0:07:51.602 --> 0:07:55.322 While all this was happening, Steven Spielberg was grappling with 0:07:55.562 --> 0:07:59.042 something of a creature feature of his own, one that 0:07:59.122 --> 0:08:03.922 would require Math's unique abilities, though no one quite knew 0:08:03.922 --> 0:08:07.282 that yet. By this point in the nineteen eight eighties, 0:08:07.362 --> 0:08:11.642 the director was enjoying that rare blend of critical, commercial 0:08:11.962 --> 0:08:16.882 and financial success that proved elusive for a lot of filmmakers. 0:08:17.322 --> 0:08:21.562 His adaptation of Peter Benchley's beach read Jaws in nineteen 0:08:21.602 --> 0:08:26.362 seventy five was a phenomenon. In nineteen seventy seven, he 0:08:26.442 --> 0:08:30.362 led Jaws co star Richard Dreyfuss to a fateful meeting 0:08:30.362 --> 0:08:35.042 with aliens in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Raiders 0:08:35.082 --> 0:08:37.962 of the Lost Arc meanwhile, was waiting in the wings. 0:08:38.442 --> 0:08:42.562 It would spawn four sequels and make Indiana Jones one 0:08:42.602 --> 0:08:47.202 of the great movie heroes. Spielberg's only misfire had been 0:08:47.402 --> 0:08:51.282 nineteen forty one, a big World War II comedy that 0:08:51.442 --> 0:08:56.242 audiences didn't find very funny in Hollywood terms. Spielberg had 0:08:56.282 --> 0:09:01.442 a blank check, the ability to make practically anything he wanted, 0:09:01.922 --> 0:09:04.962 and what Spielberg was looking to do was tell a 0:09:05.002 --> 0:09:08.962 story about a skiddish, harmless alien who comes to Earth 0:09:09.322 --> 0:09:14.122 and befriends a boy still coming to terms with his parents' separation. 0:09:14.922 --> 0:09:18.402 It would be a family movie, something with themes that 0:09:18.562 --> 0:09:23.202 resonated deeply with Spielberg, who was himself a product of divorce. 0:09:23.802 --> 0:09:27.082 His parents, Arthur and Leah, had gone their separate ways 0:09:27.162 --> 0:09:32.282 when Spielberg was nineteen after several years of acrimony. His 0:09:32.362 --> 0:09:36.442 mother had grown close with his father's best friend. Though 0:09:36.562 --> 0:09:40.322 Arthur told his children he was responsible for the separation, 0:09:41.162 --> 0:09:45.322 it strained Spielberg's relationship with his dad for years, and 0:09:45.362 --> 0:09:49.482 there's no question it informed his filmmaking. But e T 0:09:49.802 --> 0:09:53.722 would be his most personal work to date, a close 0:09:53.802 --> 0:09:57.082 look at a child dealing with the anger of a 0:09:57.202 --> 0:10:03.002 fractured household, not yet able to process the convoluted adult world, 0:10:03.562 --> 0:10:07.682 something plenty of kids, including Matt, could understand. 0:10:08.402 --> 0:10:12.082 It was the story of his youth, It was his childhood, 0:10:12.122 --> 0:10:13.402 It was his parents' divorce. 0:10:14.322 --> 0:10:17.842 That's Simon brew Simon is the founder of the Den 0:10:17.842 --> 0:10:21.642 of Geek website and a pop culture historian. Jason and 0:10:21.722 --> 0:10:24.322 I actually used to work with him at Mental Floss, 0:10:24.762 --> 0:10:29.042 and he hosts a podcast, Film Stories, that goes deep 0:10:29.202 --> 0:10:32.922 into the making of great films. You should listen after 0:10:33.002 --> 0:10:35.122 you finished this episode, of course. 0:10:34.842 --> 0:10:37.882 And the idea wasn't that this would be his biggest film. 0:10:38.082 --> 0:10:40.882 Although you can't ever design how an audience will react, 0:10:40.922 --> 0:10:43.842 the whole idea was, this is something smaller, This is 0:10:43.882 --> 0:10:46.082 me going right back to my roots. I'm just gonna 0:10:46.322 --> 0:10:47.442 almost do one for me. 0:10:49.842 --> 0:10:53.482 A couple of years prior, Spielberg had envisioned a movie 0:10:53.522 --> 0:10:58.602 with a spaceship full of sinister aliens descending on a farmhouse. 0:10:59.362 --> 0:11:02.642 Just one of the aliens in that script, called Watch 0:11:02.682 --> 0:11:07.602 the Skies and later Night Skies was friendly. But after 0:11:07.642 --> 0:11:11.482 developing the film and even having its alien creatures designed, 0:11:12.042 --> 0:11:16.842 Spielberg realized that wasn't the movie he wanted to make. Instead, 0:11:16.922 --> 0:11:20.602 he commissioned a script for his alien buddy story from 0:11:20.642 --> 0:11:24.362 Melissa Matheson, whom he had met filming Raiders of the 0:11:24.442 --> 0:11:28.962 Lost Arc. Matheson was the future wife of that movie's star, 0:11:29.282 --> 0:11:33.522 Harrison Ford, but more importantly, she was a screenwriter who 0:11:33.642 --> 0:11:37.122 was extremely adept at getting to the beating heart of 0:11:37.202 --> 0:11:42.202 Spielberg's story, the bond between an alien stranded on Earth 0:11:42.762 --> 0:11:46.562 and Elliott, a boy mourning the absence of his father 0:11:47.122 --> 0:11:52.002 after his parents separate. That left just one major piece 0:11:52.082 --> 0:11:56.962 of the puzzle, how to create E T. While the 0:11:57.002 --> 0:12:02.402 technology was rapidly finding itself in summer blockbusters, artists couldn't 0:12:02.442 --> 0:12:06.522 just turn to computer animation. The alien would have to 0:12:06.562 --> 0:12:11.042 be the scene with the actors. Early on, someone broached 0:12:11.082 --> 0:12:14.682 the idea of sticking a monkey in a costume. That 0:12:14.962 --> 0:12:19.842 was quickly discarded. Then someone suggested putting a person in 0:12:20.002 --> 0:12:24.562 a suit, but Spielberg vetoed that as well. The entire 0:12:24.722 --> 0:12:28.082 point of ET's physique was that it was something other 0:12:28.282 --> 0:12:31.362 than human. He didn't want anyone to think it was 0:12:31.482 --> 0:12:37.162 merely someone encased in rubber. Instead, Spielberg approached his close 0:12:37.362 --> 0:12:43.602 encounter's colleague, a special effects artist named Carlo Rambaldi. A 0:12:43.722 --> 0:12:49.042 prop expert, Carlo had helped reimagine King Kong for the 0:12:49.282 --> 0:12:54.762 nineteen seventy six remake, but despite that movie's giant ape, 0:12:55.242 --> 0:12:59.922 Et would prove to be the bigger problem. Carlow was 0:12:59.962 --> 0:13:03.402 given just a few months to conjure up Et as 0:13:03.402 --> 0:13:08.562 an animatronic puppet. He'd be animated by servos and wires 0:13:08.682 --> 0:13:12.962 by a team of puppeteers. They would control everything from 0:13:12.962 --> 0:13:16.642 his eyes to his mouth to his elongated neck, which 0:13:16.682 --> 0:13:19.122 went up and down like a carjack. 0:13:19.882 --> 0:13:23.122 It was in the end production illustrator Ed Verrow, who 0:13:23.442 --> 0:13:26.442 got kind of the eureka moment of what he was 0:13:26.482 --> 0:13:29.482 the one who twigged what Spielberg was actually afterwards that 0:13:29.602 --> 0:13:33.082 he wanted. It was described as a combination of the 0:13:33.122 --> 0:13:35.802 innocence of youth and the wisdom of age, and that 0:13:36.002 --> 0:13:38.402 was in the design and the sketches that were being 0:13:38.442 --> 0:13:42.442 done for the creature. There was also the idea that 0:13:42.482 --> 0:13:45.362 they wanted ET to be quote a creature that only 0:13:45.362 --> 0:13:48.362 a mother could love, which I really really love as well. 0:13:49.722 --> 0:13:53.962 Rambaldi was a master and ET quickly evolved into a 0:13:54.122 --> 0:13:59.122 highly convincing presence with big, bulbous eyes that took inspiration 0:13:59.282 --> 0:14:05.962 from Albert Einstein. The various ets Rambaldi built could express themselves, blink, 0:14:06.282 --> 0:14:08.242 move their mouth, health furrow a brow. 0:14:09.002 --> 0:14:11.922 And what Rambaldi told Spielberg is you're gonna need nine 0:14:11.962 --> 0:14:14.522 months to do this. Spielberg gave him six, and they 0:14:14.602 --> 0:14:17.402 just worked around the clock to put this creature together. 0:14:18.042 --> 0:14:21.202 And I mean they really made it. I think they 0:14:21.282 --> 0:14:24.882 made in the end three different ets with different electronics 0:14:25.242 --> 0:14:30.322 and different capabilities within them. And what Spielberg was wanting 0:14:30.642 --> 0:14:33.402 really that he wanted a creature that was slow and 0:14:33.482 --> 0:14:36.922 sure footed, and as Spielberg said, he's much more conditioned 0:14:36.922 --> 0:14:40.722 to a heavier atmosphere, a heavier gravity. And they got really, 0:14:40.762 --> 0:14:44.682 really forensic on what this creature and what this character was. 0:14:44.762 --> 0:14:47.562 It's supposed to be an alien walking on a planet 0:14:47.962 --> 0:14:49.682 which it wasn't familiar with. 0:14:50.802 --> 0:14:54.522 But even Rembaldi didn't have a perfect solution for Et 0:14:54.802 --> 0:15:00.322 walking or performing big physical movements like falling down. To 0:15:00.482 --> 0:15:05.282 try and control his feet via remote robotics would make 0:15:05.362 --> 0:15:09.082 him look like a jerky ma net or a clumsy 0:15:09.122 --> 0:15:13.642 battery operated toy. It would also cost another million dollars 0:15:13.722 --> 0:15:17.882 for what was supposed to be Spielberg's tiny movie, So 0:15:18.002 --> 0:15:23.002 Spielberg listened as his producer, Kathleen Kennedy suggested having a 0:15:23.122 --> 0:15:27.322 human performer inside of a costume, provided it was someone 0:15:27.442 --> 0:15:33.802 close to ET's stature that eliminated most adults. Rambaldi quickly 0:15:33.842 --> 0:15:37.002 created a simple mock up suit that the four year 0:15:37.042 --> 0:15:41.522 old daughter of Spielberg's lawyer climbed into for a screen test. 0:15:42.042 --> 0:15:47.122 She hated every minute of it, throwing a tantrum, but 0:15:47.242 --> 0:15:50.802 the idea itself was sound. The kid in a suit 0:15:51.082 --> 0:15:54.562 looked convincing. Now all they had to do was find 0:15:54.722 --> 0:16:00.202 the right kid. Someone had the idea to call UCLA 0:16:00.402 --> 0:16:05.042 Medical Center. UCLA had a program devoted to the treatment 0:16:05.162 --> 0:16:10.402 of individuals with uniek physical attributes. One of the physicians 0:16:10.442 --> 0:16:15.482 at UCLA recommended Matt, who had undergone physical therapy there. 0:16:16.242 --> 0:16:20.562 What made Matt unique was how he got around. Walking 0:16:20.602 --> 0:16:25.242 on his hands gave Matt a very specific skill, giving 0:16:25.282 --> 0:16:29.802 him a profile similar to Et. By using his hands 0:16:29.882 --> 0:16:33.642 as ET's feet, he could step in when Et needed 0:16:33.682 --> 0:16:38.442 more agility than the puppeteers could provide. Matt could tackle 0:16:38.562 --> 0:16:42.362 stunt that might prove too daunting for a little person 0:16:42.522 --> 0:16:43.482 inside the suit. 0:16:44.682 --> 0:16:48.482 So Universal Studios reached out to UCLA Medical Center to 0:16:48.522 --> 0:16:51.562 see if there was anyone with dwarfism or was in 0:16:51.602 --> 0:16:54.602 a small stature that could fit in the costume. And 0:16:54.722 --> 0:16:56.962 the only one they had on hand who was short 0:16:57.122 --> 0:17:00.762 was me, and I think they kind of pitched it 0:17:00.762 --> 0:17:02.962 to them. They said that I could walk on my 0:17:03.082 --> 0:17:05.602 hands just like my hands were legs, and they said, 0:17:05.602 --> 0:17:09.242 that's intriguing be able to come down for an audition, 0:17:09.762 --> 0:17:11.362 so that the doctor gave him my number. 0:17:12.122 --> 0:17:17.962 Matt's doctor acted as his talent agent very la That's 0:17:18.002 --> 0:17:22.002 how a producer wound up phoning Matt's mom and how 0:17:22.082 --> 0:17:26.642 Matt wound up going to audition for Steven Spielberg, a 0:17:26.682 --> 0:17:30.602 guy he barely knew. In fact, Matt's father needed to 0:17:30.642 --> 0:17:33.522 take him to see Raiders that summer to give Matt 0:17:33.562 --> 0:17:36.602 a better idea of just what he was getting himself into. 0:17:37.562 --> 0:17:41.482 Oddly enough, Matt was already a fan of Carlo Rambaldi. 0:17:42.002 --> 0:17:45.362 Carlo had done the mechanical effects for the alien head 0:17:45.402 --> 0:17:49.522 in the movie Alien the R Rated Gorefest, which Matt 0:17:49.522 --> 0:17:53.122 had seen in nineteen seventy nine as a nine year old. 0:17:53.682 --> 0:17:58.202 He was a monster kid, remember, So for Matt, going 0:17:58.242 --> 0:18:02.722 to Rambaldi's effects house was like going to Willywanka's chocolate factory. 0:18:03.242 --> 0:18:05.242 He was in creature Heaven. 0:18:05.642 --> 0:18:09.282 Got in a studio in Oh. It smelled so interesting too. 0:18:09.322 --> 0:18:10.802 It was like a workshop, you know. It was like 0:18:10.802 --> 0:18:15.482 Geppetto's workshop. Smelled like wood and sawdust and plaster. And 0:18:15.562 --> 0:18:20.362 that was very intriguing that I was going into this 0:18:20.562 --> 0:18:23.562 very creative environment, you know, where there are all these 0:18:23.682 --> 0:18:26.602 creatures that Carlo had designed for other movies. 0:18:27.442 --> 0:18:31.282 At the shop, Matt met Spielberg, who did something that 0:18:31.442 --> 0:18:36.602 immediately endeared him to his would be Et. Spielberg didn't 0:18:36.722 --> 0:18:40.322 loom over him like a gargoyle, hands on knees. He 0:18:40.402 --> 0:18:42.922 bent down so he could look Matt eye to eye, 0:18:43.362 --> 0:18:47.282 the same way ET's telescoping neck allowed him to come 0:18:47.362 --> 0:18:51.722 face to face with new friends. Spielberg understood how looking 0:18:51.802 --> 0:18:55.242 up at the world can be intimidating. He wanted Matt 0:18:55.242 --> 0:18:57.002 to feel comfortable. 0:18:57.722 --> 0:19:00.202 That was something interesting about him. Not everybody did that. 0:19:00.242 --> 0:19:03.282 I remember Carlo doing that, and it's not that it's 0:19:03.402 --> 0:19:06.162 rude that other people don't do that. They just it's 0:19:06.202 --> 0:19:09.522 something that some people think about immediately and some people 0:19:09.522 --> 0:19:13.282 don't really take into consideration until maybe later. He did 0:19:13.322 --> 0:19:15.442 it immediately, and I thought that that was pretty cool. 0:19:15.882 --> 0:19:20.362 Spielberg asked Matt about getting around on a skateboard. Matt 0:19:20.402 --> 0:19:23.562 offered that it wasn't his only way of travel. In 0:19:23.602 --> 0:19:27.482 the shop, Matt was stuffed into another makeshift et suit 0:19:27.882 --> 0:19:30.962 and then showed them a couple different ways he got around. 0:19:31.362 --> 0:19:35.362 Then I demonstrated to him the walk that I did 0:19:35.602 --> 0:19:38.882 eventually use in the movie, where my hands are the 0:19:38.962 --> 0:19:41.322 feet and I lift my torso up so it's not 0:19:41.402 --> 0:19:44.402 touched any ground at all, and my hands ambled back 0:19:44.442 --> 0:19:47.522 and forth, just like legs, wood or feet, And he 0:19:47.562 --> 0:19:49.642 said that's the one that he thinks is going to work. 0:19:49.682 --> 0:19:54.522 And they captured me doing that walk on camera, played 0:19:54.522 --> 0:19:57.842 a back and looked really good to them. 0:19:58.242 --> 0:20:03.802 The hands for feet method proved surprisingly effective. It gave 0:20:03.882 --> 0:20:07.522 et the kind of distinctive not of this earth Gate 0:20:07.882 --> 0:20:13.402 Spielberg wanted one people weren't used to seeing, and practically 0:20:13.602 --> 0:20:16.682 no one but Matt could do it. But it would 0:20:16.722 --> 0:20:21.002 be a little while before Matt heard anything definitive. Then 0:20:21.162 --> 0:20:26.642 came another phone call. Matt was offered the job. Matt 0:20:26.642 --> 0:20:30.042 and his parents had a talk. Sure it was cool, 0:20:30.202 --> 0:20:33.682 but it would also interrupt the start of Matt's school year. 0:20:34.242 --> 0:20:39.562 The movie would shoot from September to December nineteen eighty one. 0:20:39.682 --> 0:20:42.562 They wanted to be sure it was something he really 0:20:42.762 --> 0:20:46.762 wanted to do. But for Matt, delaying school was no 0:20:46.882 --> 0:20:50.282 big deal. On top of everything else, he had the 0:20:50.362 --> 0:20:56.122 bane of any shy kid's existence. Bullies, and Matt's bullies 0:20:56.242 --> 0:20:57.922 were especially cruel. 0:20:59.322 --> 0:21:02.082 Boy, was it great to get away from school because 0:21:02.122 --> 0:21:05.402 around that time I was bullied a lot. That was 0:21:05.442 --> 0:21:09.122 like the peak time of my bullying. Some of the 0:21:09.162 --> 0:21:11.442 bullies would come up from behind my wheelchair. I'd take 0:21:11.482 --> 0:21:15.322 my wheelchair to school and they'd tip the wheelchair over. 0:21:15.922 --> 0:21:18.282 That would be enough for any kid to have to 0:21:18.322 --> 0:21:22.202 deal with, but the situation at home was also coming 0:21:22.242 --> 0:21:26.682 to a head. Matt's mother was frustrated his father wasn't 0:21:26.722 --> 0:21:28.562 willing to get the help he needed. 0:21:29.042 --> 0:21:30.802 They would get a lot of fights about that kind 0:21:30.802 --> 0:21:34.082 of stuff. He wasn't abusive, or he wasn't emotionally abusive. 0:21:34.122 --> 0:21:36.442 He didn't yell, he wasn't that kind of person, but 0:21:37.042 --> 0:21:42.242 just the general atmosphere at home when he was deep 0:21:42.282 --> 0:21:47.162 in depression was something that was great to escape from 0:21:47.282 --> 0:21:48.402 during that time. 0:21:49.162 --> 0:21:53.402 So in September nineteen eighty one, Matt went off to 0:21:53.442 --> 0:21:57.242 do something he never dreamed of, play a crucial role 0:21:57.402 --> 0:22:02.242 in making the Ultimate Creature feature come to life. Like Elliott, 0:22:02.402 --> 0:22:06.162 he'd be taking on new responsibilities that would distract him 0:22:06.202 --> 0:22:09.602 from his own problems, but in order to do that, 0:22:10.122 --> 0:22:14.882 he'd have to overcome his inherent shyness while taking a 0:22:15.002 --> 0:22:28.762 direction from the most successful director in the world. You'd 0:22:28.842 --> 0:22:31.962 think a kid going off to shoot a Stephen Spielberg 0:22:32.042 --> 0:22:35.162 movie would be the talk of the playground, but Matt 0:22:35.242 --> 0:22:38.762 left to film the movie with relatively few people knowing 0:22:38.802 --> 0:22:39.642 what he was up to. 0:22:40.202 --> 0:22:41.962 I didn't have a lot of friends at the time. 0:22:42.002 --> 0:22:44.402 I think I told my best friend that I was 0:22:44.442 --> 0:22:47.322 doing it, And he also didn't know that much about 0:22:47.322 --> 0:22:51.602 movies and about Spielberg. He came from a really religious background, 0:22:51.682 --> 0:22:53.722 so his parents would he let him see any kind 0:22:53.722 --> 0:22:56.202 of movies. So I think I only told him. 0:22:56.482 --> 0:23:01.922 This was probably something Spielberg preferred. The details surrounding the 0:23:02.042 --> 0:23:06.642 character of Et were highly classified in the pre Internet, 0:23:06.642 --> 0:23:09.682 as it was easier to plug leaks to the media. 0:23:10.322 --> 0:23:14.522 Spielberg wanted his young actors left in the dark, making 0:23:14.562 --> 0:23:19.082 their first impression of the creature a genuine one. Matt, 0:23:19.162 --> 0:23:22.482 of course, had already gotten a preview, and by the 0:23:22.522 --> 0:23:26.842 time he showed up on location in Tahunga, California, a 0:23:27.002 --> 0:23:31.522 custom rubber Latex suit had been crafted just for him. 0:23:31.882 --> 0:23:36.122 It weighed thirty pounds, and yes, it made him sweat 0:23:36.762 --> 0:23:37.202 a lot. 0:23:37.882 --> 0:23:41.202 One interesting thing is though, that the recipe for Latex 0:23:42.242 --> 0:23:47.802 was much worse back then, because latex shrank and latex 0:23:47.802 --> 0:23:49.362 doesn't have a lot of pores in it. But if 0:23:49.362 --> 0:23:53.282 he shrinks, the porson and it smaller. So long story short, 0:23:53.362 --> 0:23:57.202 the costume would get smaller and hotter every time I 0:23:57.242 --> 0:24:00.882 got into it because the latex shranks. So thankfully that 0:24:00.922 --> 0:24:03.282 didn't show on camera, I definitely felt it. 0:24:04.322 --> 0:24:08.642 Originally, Matt was hired for just one scene where Et 0:24:08.962 --> 0:24:12.082 needed to take a tumble, but it turned out Et 0:24:12.282 --> 0:24:16.482 would be doing that a lot, so Matt's responsibilities kept 0:24:16.602 --> 0:24:21.402 growing on set. He quickly became known as stunt et. 0:24:22.322 --> 0:24:26.682 Pratfalls. Yeah, Pratfall's agility, falling down, all that stuff. 0:24:27.322 --> 0:24:31.362 Matt, of course was no practiced stunt person, but this 0:24:31.562 --> 0:24:35.682 was the eighties and film producers sometimes pushed the edges 0:24:36.162 --> 0:24:37.322 of what was appropriate. 0:24:37.762 --> 0:24:40.762 That's one of the kind of dangerous aspects of filmmaking, 0:24:40.842 --> 0:24:43.722 especially back then, is this like a lot of fly 0:24:43.882 --> 0:24:47.042 by the seat of your pants kind of attitude. You know, 0:24:47.122 --> 0:24:49.362 it's like they're going to make budgets, they can't go 0:24:49.482 --> 0:24:53.162 over budget. Just fussing with something and make sure that 0:24:53.202 --> 0:24:55.242 someone's not going to get hurt. They put a lot 0:24:55.322 --> 0:24:57.762 of padding in the costume, so even when I fell 0:24:57.842 --> 0:25:00.402 flat on my face, there was like lots of styrofoam 0:25:00.442 --> 0:25:01.242 protecting my faith. 0:25:02.122 --> 0:25:05.162 One of Matt's bigger scenes as Et was when the 0:25:05.202 --> 0:25:08.842 alien falls over drunk, which we remind you is not 0:25:09.002 --> 0:25:12.282 something an eleven year old can portray with any conviction. 0:25:12.962 --> 0:25:14.322 But Matt was up for it. 0:25:15.242 --> 0:25:19.202 And I remember being so excited because I was walking 0:25:19.322 --> 0:25:22.282 very easily in the costume, and I felt like I 0:25:22.282 --> 0:25:25.562 could do everything that they're directing me too. I could 0:25:25.602 --> 0:25:28.562 hear all the directions very clearly. I saw the marks 0:25:28.562 --> 0:25:31.842 that they wanted me to hit, and whenever they want 0:25:31.962 --> 0:25:35.602