Drew Barrymore reflected on one of her most iconic roles in 1982’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial as she shared a childhood throwback video showing her promoting the film aged seven.
The actress, now 49, shot to fame aged just six when she starred as Gertie in the Steven Spielberg film and won acclaim for her performance – with the adorable clip showing the youngster explaining her acting process.
She says: ‘I just prepare myself. Sometimes when I’m doing the shot I get nervous, but I say to myself, everybody makes mistakes.’
When asked ‘is it hard to learn the lines?’ she responds ‘No!’
Drew captioned the clip: ‘This feels like yesterday. I will be forever grateful for E.T.’
Drew Barrymore reflected on one of her most iconic roles in 1982’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial as she shared a childhood throwback video showing her promoting the film aged seven
The actress, now 49, shot to fame aged just six when she starred as Gertie in the Steven Spielberg film and won acclaim for her performance – with the adorable clip showing the youngster explaining her acting process
Drew is seen in the 1982 film with the E.T. puppet, who was voiced by Pat Welsh
In the movie, 10-year-old Elliott (Henry Thomas) befriends an alien, who becomes stranded on Earth after his fellow aliens depart in their spaceship without him.
Elliott later introduces the alien, who names himself E.T. for Extra-Terrestrial, to Gertie and his older brother Michael (Robert MacNaughton).
The siblings, along with their mother Mary (Dee Wallace) and Elliott’s friends, later help E.T. escape from the government and return home – with the film becoming the highest-grossing movie of all time – a record it held for 11 years.
As the group reflected on their touching memories of the making of the film, Drew said she ‘believed E.T. was real.’
She said: ‘I really loved him in such a profound way. Is it like true that, what would happen, because I would go and take lunch to him.’
Henry added: ‘The first thing I remember is that we were on stage and it was quite cold on the stage and you asked the wardrobe lady if you could have a scarf for E.T.’s neck because he was gonna get cold, so you wrapped the scarf around his neck. But Dee has a great story.
Dee revealed that director Spielberg, touched by Drew’s love for the alien, ensured that she would always be able to chat to E.T.
She said: ‘We found you over there just talking away to E.T. and so we let Steven know and so Steven from that time on appointed two guys to keep E.T. alive so whenever you came over to talk to him he could react to you.’
When asked ‘is it hard to learn the lines?’ she responds ‘No!’
n the movie, 10-year-old Elliott (Henry Thomas) befriends an alien , who becomes stranded on Earth after his fellow aliens depart in their spaceship without him
Heartbreaking: Elliott later introduces the alien, who names himself E.T. for Extra-Terrestrial, to Gertie and his older brother Michael (Robert Macnaughton)
In 2022 Barrymore reunited with the cast of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial to mark the film’s 40th anniversary on her chat show (pictured Drew with L-R Henry Thomas (who played Elliott) Robert McNaughton (who played Michael) and Dee Wallace (who played mom Mary)
Over the years, Drew has frequently spoke of her friendship with Steven, who she credits with launching her career.
During a September 2021 appearance on Dax Shepherd’s Armchair Podcast, she said, ‘I got lucky.
She continued, ‘He single-handedly changed my life. He was also someone who I didn’t realize until I was older was also very fatherly.
‘He calls me his first kid. He was appalled by me wearing red lipstick or when I did Playboy. He sent me a note, “Cover up!” ‘
