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♪♪♪

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Downloaded from
YTS.MX

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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

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AUTOMATED VOICE: E-F-P.

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That is incorrect.

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The correct spelling
of "nuisance" is N-U--

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...soon to compete are some very
dazzling science fiction films.

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If you, like millions
of Trekkies, across the galaxy,

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then you're waiting
for "Star Trek II," the movie.

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MAN: "Blade Runner"
is a detective thriller

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set in a very crowded
Los Angeles in the year 2019.

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[MTV theme playing]

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In a bold move to get
the kids out of video arcades

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and back into the theaters,

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Disney Studios
is offering "Tron."

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The Columbia is back after
spending seven days in space.

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The movie
has plenty of ice, blood.

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and things
that go bump in the night.

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We'll also be reviewing
two eagerly awaited films

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from producer Steven Spielberg.

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MAN #2: Americans popped in

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between $5 and $9 billion worth
of quarters.

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MAN: "E.T." is heavy
in visual effects.

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It's set for release
on June 4th.

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♪♪♪

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I can't think of a year
during my life

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that the lineup was equivalent
as far as depth of storytelling,

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epicness,
significant storytelling.

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I've...seen things
you people wouldn't believe.

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They liked to think
back in the '80s.

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All those...moments will be
lost...in time.

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There's still a little hangover
from the '70s,

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And the '70s was,
I think, a golden age.

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That was a time
that just blew everything up,

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and so we were kind of
reaping the rewards.

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Coming out of the '70s,
there was more of a sense

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of character,
the antihero and the everyman.

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Then all of a sudden we're going
to take that language

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and put it into genre.

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-[growls]
-In the '70s, you had "Jaws."

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♪♪♪

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Biggest summer blockbuster ever.

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Why, you son of a...

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[gunshot]

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Followed up two years later
by "Star Wars,"

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which changed the world.

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That was, I think, where so
many of us got hooked on movies,

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when Spielberg and Lucas
changed everything.

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After 1977, it was game over.

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REPORTER: "Star Wars"--
it is more

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than just a successful movie.

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It is a box office phenomenon.

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The film is breaking attendance
records all over the country.

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Not since "Jaws"
have so many people

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stood in line to see a movie.

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"Star Wars" was a gateway.
We were hooked on sci-fi.

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That's what we talked about
when we went to school.

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Box office
was very much dominated

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by high concept ideas.

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Then in the wake of "Star Wars,"
you had "Superman," the movie.

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You had "Alien."
You had other indie films

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like "Dawn of the Dead"
and "Phantasm, "Halloween,"

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and all of the studios
are trying to figure out

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how can we duplicate
both the indie success

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and the studio success
of these one-off movies?

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We were doing very well
in the '60s and '70s.

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but when "Star Wars" came out,

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I thought, the major studios

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have figured out
what we've been doing

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on a low budget,
and they're taking these ideas,

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and we are going to be
in trouble.

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'Cause they saw
that stories of the fantastic

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had a really wide appeal

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and not just
for a teenage audience.

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So they started making
studio-level genre films.

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PENN:
People were starting to feel

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they could do something
interesting

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in a blockbuster template.

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The idea that you
could make movies as varied

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as "Poltergeist,"
"E.T.," and Blade Runner,

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it's kind of a maturing
of the summer blockbuster...

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It's too bad she won't live.

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But then again, who does?

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...a lot of which is
science fiction.

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People want to see
science fiction,

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and so we gotta give that
to them, and I think '82 is

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the year mass market
science fiction blockbusters--

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that's the year
their voice broke, if you will.

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You could certainly argue
there were better years

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for cinema than 1982,

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but there's no greater geek year
than 1982.

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There are a lot
of great years for movies.

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You could look at 1939
with "Wizard of Oz"

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and "Mr. Smith
Goes to Washington."

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So many people look at 1977
as the greatest geek year ever.

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but really,
when it comes down to it,

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1982 is the greatest year ever
for movies, period.

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Week after week, you have one
classic movie after another

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that holds up 40 years later.

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MILLER: The reason 1982
was such a unique year,

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it was a turning point
in a lot of ways.

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It was this great moment where,
for whatever reason,

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nerds accidentally won.

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FILONI: It was just a great time
to be a kid growing up.

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I think our imaginations
were running wild.

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We loved these adventures.

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They were all
pretty hopeful, too.

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You know, the feeling of the
films was something optimistic.

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As your teacher,
Mr. Spock, is fond of saying,

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I like to think that there
always are possibilities.

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They weren't cynical.
Somehow that really affect us.

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There's a feeling
to those movies...

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-Aloha, Spicoli.
-[laughs]

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...a sense of wonder
that is just in all of them,

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and that's something
that to this day I chase

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and try to capture,

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'cause you really wanna
pass it on to people.

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MEYER: So, when you're a kid,
kid experiences,

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it's about people,
scenery, books, movies--

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that's what imprints on you.

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The works of art, for example,
that you fall in love with,

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that are most lasting.

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You see "Star Trek" at age 12.

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You know, if it's any good,
it's going to be major.

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Or maybe
even if it's not any good,

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it's gonna be major.

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That's when
you're really consuming

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art, movies, and music

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that shape and mold you to who
you become later on as an adult.

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You can't separate people my age
from the movies

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of the early '80s
because they're so part

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of who we were growing up.

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BURNETT:
We were free-range kids.

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We got to go out. Our parents
were like, "Hey, man,

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come home when the sun
goes down. Be home for dinner."

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My parents didn't know
what I did.

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They just knew you had
gone off for the day,

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and you'd be home for dinner,
maybe.

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BURNETT:
Ride our bike somewhere.

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Nobody cared.
We had our secret lives.

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Even if "E.T."
wasn't about an alien,

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kids today would think
it was a science fiction movie

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because the kids leave
in the morning on bicycles.

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Their parents
don't know where they are.

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They show back up at dinner.

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Parents don't ask
where they were.

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They're not calling 'em
on cellphones.

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That was the life we had.

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I'm a proud geek, was one
before it became fashionable.

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Yeah, which I'm a little bitter
about....

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[laughs] because I feel like
I had to choose

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between cultivating
being attractive

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or reading comic books.

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Look, an authentic voodoo doll.

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And now you can technically
do both,

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and that's
a little frustrating.

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Everything felt awesome,

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and the movies
really reflected that.

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♪♪♪

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When you get to '82,
we're coming out of Watergate,

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we're coming out of Vietnam era.
Everyone's having a good time.

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Yeah. Britain went to war
with Argentina

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over the Falkland Islands,

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but it wasn't
any kind of huge wars.

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It coincided
with a time in America

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where everything seemed
possible.

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Reagan was in power.
People were more optimistic,

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The economy was better,
and the movies sort of reflect

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a sunnier, more fairy tale time.

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Who would have ever
thought that Ronald Reagan,

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the former movie star,

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that he would be the President
of the United States?

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-Bonzo!
-Mr. Boyd!

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Bonzo, that wasn't
a nice thing to do.

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The oldest President of
the United States at the time.

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REAGAN: You don't
really become president.

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The presidency
is an institution,

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and you have
temporary custody of it.

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That was all part of it.

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It was all part of the fantasy
landscape that we lived in.

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It was morning in America.
I wasn't politically aware.

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I didn't know about

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Ronald Reagan's sort
of politics.

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I mean, I didn't know that I
didn't agree with the politics.

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You just felt good
to be American.

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The groundwork has been laid,

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and now we will move forward
to capitalize

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on the tremendous potential

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offered by
the ultimate frontier of space.

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The '80s became about
Reaganomics and making money.

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People were feeling good,
so they wanted to play.

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But I feel like it was more of
a social-physical interaction

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with the entertainment
that we had back then.

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When I think of 1982,
I think of the arcade

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as being the clubhouse
of the teenage people.

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The joke is
that teenagers have to find

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their own place because
they're not civil yet. [laughs]

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That's why I loved
being a young teenager in 1982,

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because part of going
to the movies is you had

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to go to the movies
to see the movie.

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BIASELLI: We didn't have
the internet at our fingertips.

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We didn't have the opportunity
to have everything on demand.

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You couldn't press a button
and suddenly

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have these things appear.
You had to work for it.

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You had to take a chance.
Sometimes you'd ask the guy

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who sold you the ticket,
"What's good?"

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Our idea of social media
was standing on line

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waiting three hours to get
into a film

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where we would talk about
our enthusiasm, our excitement.

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It's the fun, the excitement.

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We get out here with all our
friends, and it's a good time.

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Waiting in line
is even a good time.

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You're like, "Oh, I'm not
going to see this movie today,"

214
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'cause there'd be
a long line around the block.

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Why are movies
called blockbusters?

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Because the anticipated movies

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have people
lined up around the block.

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I did like when
there were less choices

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and people
watched movies together.

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The experience that you have

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when you are
part of an audience

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is an experience that is
intensely intimate and personal

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and collective at the same time.

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We've gone
on this journey together.

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We have shared something.

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People we didn't even know
next to us laughing, crying,

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doing whatever it was,

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sharing that
unifying human bond.

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Stepping back from what makes
going to the movies magical,

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we have to look at entertainment
as medicinal.

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It takes us out of our pain.

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00:10:09,358 --> 00:10:11,694
It takes us out of our trauma
and allows us

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to go someplace where we can
feel safe for those two hours

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and not worry
about our troubles.

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These days,
with the way the world is,

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there's a lot to escape from,

237
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so it's a good bet
that many Americans this spring

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will be going to that galaxy
long ago and far, far away.

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I think that's one of the things
that whenever anybody

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dismisses fandom of any kind,

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my first thought is that
you don't really understand

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what it is to hurt
in a way as an adolescent

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00:10:38,721 --> 00:10:41,932
and to find solace and safety.

244
00:10:41,974 --> 00:10:44,602
At that time, certainly for me,

245
00:10:44,644 --> 00:10:46,979
growing up
in a very abusive home,

246
00:10:47,021 --> 00:10:49,482
movies were my safe space.

247
00:10:49,523 --> 00:10:51,525
Why wouldn't I want
to stand in line

248
00:10:51,567 --> 00:10:54,987
to have that ticket to peace
and escape?

249
00:10:55,029 --> 00:10:57,782
Recently, it's hard
not to look back on 1982

250
00:10:57,823 --> 00:11:01,160
and see it as a pioneering time
for original stories.

251
00:11:03,496 --> 00:11:05,790
Some of the formulas
that we would now say,

252
00:11:05,831 --> 00:11:08,042
"Oh, this is a formulaic movie,"

253
00:11:08,084 --> 00:11:10,252
sometimes you were seeing
that formula for the first time

254
00:11:10,294 --> 00:11:12,505
you know, in '82.

255
00:11:12,546 --> 00:11:15,257
Telling you, man, I've been
in places like this before,

256
00:11:15,299 --> 00:11:17,259
and white cops came and [bleep]
with me and my friends.

257
00:11:17,301 --> 00:11:18,678
The only thing that stopped us
from kicking their [bleep]

258
00:11:18,719 --> 00:11:20,137
is they had guns and badges.

259
00:11:20,179 --> 00:11:22,431
Takes years of experience
to handle a joy like this.

260
00:11:22,473 --> 00:11:23,432
Wanna bet?

261
00:11:23,474 --> 00:11:25,351
As you move into
this new decade,

262
00:11:25,393 --> 00:11:28,145
and you've got the benefit
of technology behind them,

263
00:11:28,187 --> 00:11:31,107
they were like,
how do we make a story

264
00:11:31,148 --> 00:11:35,111
that people care about
that also looks unbelievable,

265
00:11:35,152 --> 00:11:37,780
like nothing
that's ever come before?

266
00:11:37,822 --> 00:11:40,991
There is nothing like
that spirit of innovation

267
00:11:41,033 --> 00:11:43,744
when everything was new
and iconic.

268
00:11:43,786 --> 00:11:46,497
The movies that got made
are jaw-dropping.

269
00:11:46,539 --> 00:11:50,209
Was an unbelievable year
for culture in America.

270
00:11:50,251 --> 00:11:51,877
MALTIN: It didn't feel that way
at the time.

271
00:11:51,919 --> 00:11:54,046
I didn't think I'm in the midst
of a golden,

272
00:11:54,088 --> 00:11:55,381
you know, rainbow here.

273
00:11:55,423 --> 00:11:56,799
-What about "Swords of Glory"?
-Crap.

274
00:11:56,841 --> 00:11:58,134
-"Amarillo."
-Crap.

275
00:11:58,175 --> 00:11:59,927
-"Sands of the Sudan."
-Crap.

276
00:11:59,969 --> 00:12:01,971
Benjy, you want to see movies?
Get a job as an usher.

277
00:12:02,012 --> 00:12:03,222
The rest of us are here to write

278
00:12:03,264 --> 00:12:04,557
professional
show business comedy.

279
00:12:04,598 --> 00:12:06,726
Now, looking back,
I say we'd be lucky

280
00:12:06,767 --> 00:12:09,186
to get half as many good films
right now. [laughs]

281
00:12:09,228 --> 00:12:10,479
It was kind of a magical time

282
00:12:10,521 --> 00:12:12,815
when the commerce
was supporting art

283
00:12:12,857 --> 00:12:15,443
in a way that created
lasting legacy films,

284
00:12:15,484 --> 00:12:17,611
so we get
the best of all worlds,

285
00:12:17,653 --> 00:12:21,240
because somehow culture and
money meet around that time.

286
00:12:21,282 --> 00:12:24,535
You sort of see
the auteurist filmmaking

287
00:12:24,577 --> 00:12:27,246
converging
with the blockbuster mentality,

288
00:12:27,288 --> 00:12:29,582
so you have people
like Paul Schrader

289
00:12:29,623 --> 00:12:31,709
doing "Cat People"
for Universal.

290
00:12:31,751 --> 00:12:34,211
You have somebody like
Nick Meyer doing "Star Trek II."

291
00:12:34,253 --> 00:12:37,006
You have these
really original visions

292
00:12:37,047 --> 00:12:39,425
merging with more
commercial sensibilities.

293
00:12:39,467 --> 00:12:41,469
So many of these movies
feel so personal

294
00:12:41,510 --> 00:12:43,429
even when they're
in the mainstream space.

295
00:12:43,471 --> 00:12:45,598
These film brats were telling
you everything

296
00:12:45,639 --> 00:12:47,516
about what was important to them

297
00:12:47,558 --> 00:12:49,018
and what they had loved
growing up,

298
00:12:49,059 --> 00:12:51,020
and that's what all
these genre movies were.

299
00:12:51,061 --> 00:12:52,605
Could you even imagine
what the conversations

300
00:12:52,646 --> 00:12:54,482
were like at that time?

301
00:12:54,523 --> 00:12:55,858
"We're going to make
an entire movie

302
00:12:55,900 --> 00:12:57,693
with puppets, no people,

303
00:12:57,735 --> 00:13:00,821
and it's gonna cost just
as much as a movie with people.

304
00:13:00,863 --> 00:13:03,157
It's gonna be risky and crazy,
and we're gonna take chances."

305
00:13:03,199 --> 00:13:04,992
That's the spirit of

306
00:13:05,034 --> 00:13:07,536
"We're going to do something
that no one has done before."

307
00:13:07,578 --> 00:13:09,455
A lot of those movies in '82

308
00:13:09,497 --> 00:13:11,207
would never be made
these days

309
00:13:11,248 --> 00:13:12,958
because they are risky.

310
00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:15,753
Studios don't want to take risks
the way that they used to.

311
00:13:15,795 --> 00:13:17,505
No one actually can make
a creative decision

312
00:13:17,546 --> 00:13:19,799
without someone sitting down
and doing a spreadsheet on it.

313
00:13:19,840 --> 00:13:22,968
I mean, when you look at 1982,
the number of successes seem

314
00:13:23,010 --> 00:13:25,221
to really outweigh
the number of failures.

315
00:13:25,262 --> 00:13:28,057
I would say to the people
making the decisions,

316
00:13:28,098 --> 00:13:29,683
you know,
maybe take a few more chances.

317
00:13:29,725 --> 00:13:34,605
We are living in the age of IP
and--and sort of IP hackery

318
00:13:34,647 --> 00:13:37,274
in a sense that, like,
movies do not exist

319
00:13:37,316 --> 00:13:40,361
or have any sort of support
unless they are

320
00:13:40,402 --> 00:13:42,363
an existing property
of some kind.

321
00:13:42,404 --> 00:13:43,739
With the new way
in which they decide

322
00:13:43,781 --> 00:13:45,157
what big movies are made,

323
00:13:45,199 --> 00:13:46,909
you'd never have
a "Star Wars" today,

324
00:13:46,951 --> 00:13:48,661
you'd never have
an "Indiana Jones."

325
00:13:48,702 --> 00:13:51,872
Back then, these decisions
on what to make

326
00:13:51,914 --> 00:13:54,208
were made with instinct,
not algorithms.

327
00:13:54,250 --> 00:13:55,835
I went out with a movie
a few years ago,

328
00:13:55,876 --> 00:13:57,837
and all the studios said
it was a great script,

329
00:13:57,878 --> 00:13:59,380
but they were passing on it,
and finally,

330
00:13:59,421 --> 00:14:00,714
the very last studio
that passed on it,

331
00:14:00,756 --> 00:14:02,341
I went to the head
of the studio, and I said,

332
00:14:02,383 --> 00:14:03,968
"I don't understand this.
Everyone's saying how much

333
00:14:04,009 --> 00:14:05,261
they love the script
and no one's making it.

334
00:14:05,302 --> 00:14:06,762
Why won't you make it?"

335
00:14:06,804 --> 00:14:09,765
And he said, "Well, it's not
based on something else."

336
00:14:09,807 --> 00:14:14,103
And I said, "Well, you made
'Independence Day' with me.

337
00:14:14,144 --> 00:14:15,521
That wasn't based
on something else."

338
00:14:15,563 --> 00:14:16,146
And he goes,
"I wouldn't make it today

339
00:14:16,146 --> 00:14:18,023
unless you called it
'War of the Worlds.'"

340
00:14:18,065 --> 00:14:19,608
It's sad,
and I think it ultimately

341
00:14:19,650 --> 00:14:21,235
hurt the movie business.

342
00:14:21,277 --> 00:14:22,987
There were
over nine studios at the time.

343
00:14:23,028 --> 00:14:24,572
I think there's four now.

344
00:14:24,613 --> 00:14:28,784
This consolidation
really stifles competition,

345
00:14:28,826 --> 00:14:30,578
and the good thing
about competition was

346
00:14:30,619 --> 00:14:32,788
everyone wants to try
and do something different.

347
00:14:32,830 --> 00:14:35,040
That year is when I was hired
by "Entertainment Tonight"

348
00:14:35,082 --> 00:14:37,334
to be a film critic
on their show.

349
00:14:37,376 --> 00:14:39,128
I think audiences
are responding to sequels

350
00:14:39,169 --> 00:14:40,880
when the sequels are good.

351
00:14:40,921 --> 00:14:43,132
I don't think there's any
other criteria that they have.

352
00:14:43,173 --> 00:14:45,050
If the word of mouth
gets out that a sequel

353
00:14:45,092 --> 00:14:48,596
is just a ripoff and is, uh,
taking them for a ride,

354
00:14:48,637 --> 00:14:50,180
so to speak,
they're not going to show up.

355
00:14:50,222 --> 00:14:52,099
It was the first show
of its kind,

356
00:14:52,141 --> 00:14:55,436
but the other phenomena
was Siskel and Ebert,

357
00:14:55,477 --> 00:14:58,022
longtime newspaper critics
in Chicago,

358
00:14:58,063 --> 00:15:01,525
but their television show
made them household names.

359
00:15:01,567 --> 00:15:05,070
Imagine, film critics
becoming household names.

360
00:15:05,112 --> 00:15:06,739
1982 was the best year
at the box office

361
00:15:06,780 --> 00:15:08,490
in the last 30 years.

362
00:15:08,532 --> 00:15:11,994
You never saw people talk this
passionately about art on TV.

363
00:15:12,036 --> 00:15:13,537
Gene and Roger
were not scripted,

364
00:15:13,579 --> 00:15:15,789
and they disagreed,
and it was fun to watch.

365
00:15:15,831 --> 00:15:17,207
It seemed to me
that "Sophie's Choice"

366
00:15:17,249 --> 00:15:19,168
was about the fragility of love.

367
00:15:19,209 --> 00:15:21,045
I don't get
the treachery of the hearts bit.

368
00:15:21,086 --> 00:15:22,212
I also don't agree with you
that this film's that good.

369
00:15:22,254 --> 00:15:23,881
-We disagree.
-Okay.

370
00:15:23,923 --> 00:15:27,801
In 1982, Tribune hires them
to do a syndicated show

371
00:15:27,843 --> 00:15:29,845
called "At the Movies."
It's immediately success.

372
00:15:29,887 --> 00:15:31,555
They became
the nation's movie critics.

373
00:15:31,597 --> 00:15:33,057
And they end up really
influencing what people see.

374
00:15:33,098 --> 00:15:34,558
With the success
of Siskel and Ebert,

375
00:15:34,600 --> 00:15:36,477
this idea of, well,
you've got two guys together,

376
00:15:36,518 --> 00:15:39,063
and are they doing two thumbs up
or one thumb down?

377
00:15:39,104 --> 00:15:41,315
And suddenly it became about
aggregation of two critics,

378
00:15:41,357 --> 00:15:43,275
which then led on
to Rotten Tomatoes

379
00:15:43,317 --> 00:15:45,235
and this whole idea
of aggregating critics.

380
00:15:47,488 --> 00:15:49,657
DEVLIN: The strongest memory
I have of that year

381
00:15:49,698 --> 00:15:51,200
was the second week of June.

382
00:15:51,241 --> 00:15:54,286
And no other month
before or since

383
00:15:54,328 --> 00:15:57,289
has matched the quality
of June of 1982.

384
00:15:57,331 --> 00:15:59,208
That's the month and the year

385
00:15:59,249 --> 00:16:01,126
that I officially
fell in love with movies.

386
00:16:01,168 --> 00:16:04,296
Sometimes two or three
classic movies

387
00:16:04,338 --> 00:16:06,256
opening on the same weekend,

388
00:16:06,298 --> 00:16:08,258
and it's like,
jeez, what do you choose?

389
00:16:08,300 --> 00:16:10,260
On June 4, 1982,

390
00:16:10,302 --> 00:16:11,971
you had "Star Trek II:
The Wrath of Khan,"

391
00:16:12,012 --> 00:16:17,059
and "Poltergeist" opening
on the same freaking day.

392
00:16:17,101 --> 00:16:19,186
One week later, June 11th,

393
00:16:19,228 --> 00:16:21,146
you have
"E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial."

394
00:16:21,188 --> 00:16:22,940
For, like, decades, it was like

395
00:16:22,982 --> 00:16:24,483
the highest grossing movie
of all time.

396
00:16:24,525 --> 00:16:27,277
All of a sudden, there are
two Steven Spielberg movies

397
00:16:27,319 --> 00:16:28,904
coming out
within a week of each other,

398
00:16:28,946 --> 00:16:31,115
and the first one
that came out was "Poltergeist."

399
00:16:31,156 --> 00:16:35,452
"Poltergeist" was another film
that was fanciful in nature,

400
00:16:35,494 --> 00:16:38,372
with some scares built into it,

401
00:16:38,414 --> 00:16:42,292
almost any age group
could and did respond to.

402
00:16:42,334 --> 00:16:44,253
I think it was using
the child...

403
00:16:44,294 --> 00:16:47,297
Hello?

404
00:16:47,339 --> 00:16:49,133
...being sucked
into the television.

405
00:16:49,174 --> 00:16:52,678
She was so tuned in.
She was truly an empath,

406
00:16:52,720 --> 00:16:54,847
and she was 5.

407
00:16:54,888 --> 00:16:57,224
Mike Fenton and I were casting
"Poltergeist" and "E.T."

408
00:16:57,266 --> 00:16:58,684
almost simultaneously.

409
00:16:58,726 --> 00:17:01,603
So Heather O'Rourke
initially came in for "E.T."

410
00:17:01,645 --> 00:17:04,565
Steven saw her at
the commissary, and he's like,

411
00:17:04,606 --> 00:17:06,900
"Oh, you should really come in
for--for 'Poltergeist.'"

412
00:17:06,942 --> 00:17:09,778
[singsongy] They're here.

413
00:17:09,820 --> 00:17:12,156
It went more for the heart
than for the scare.

414
00:17:12,197 --> 00:17:15,117
Reach back into our past when
you used to have an open mind.

415
00:17:15,159 --> 00:17:16,702
-Remember that?
-Uh-huh.

416
00:17:16,744 --> 00:17:18,912
Okay. Just try to use that.

417
00:17:18,954 --> 00:17:20,539
I remember less the moments
I jumped

418
00:17:20,581 --> 00:17:23,584
than I do how much
I was rooting for these people.

419
00:17:28,756 --> 00:17:32,634
Whoo-hoo! Whoo! [laughs]

420
00:17:32,676 --> 00:17:33,802
[yawns]

421
00:17:33,844 --> 00:17:35,596
Stephen and Tobe both felt

422
00:17:35,637 --> 00:17:39,058
very strongly that the family
was the most important aspect.

423
00:17:39,099 --> 00:17:40,934
-Good night, sweetie.
-Good night.

424
00:17:40,976 --> 00:17:44,354
Okay, lights out.

425
00:17:44,396 --> 00:17:46,732
Closet light! Closet light!

426
00:17:46,774 --> 00:17:48,942
-My fault. My fault.
-[thunder rumbling]

427
00:17:48,984 --> 00:17:50,944
Turn it on, Mommy!

428
00:17:50,986 --> 00:17:52,404
[switch clicks]

429
00:17:52,446 --> 00:17:56,617
Tobe really had a real sense
of the horror,

430
00:17:56,658 --> 00:17:59,244
how to create the darker moods,

431
00:17:59,286 --> 00:18:02,498
but I think
it was Steven's influence

432
00:18:02,539 --> 00:18:06,960
to keep the family stuff
really strong in the foreground.

433
00:18:07,002 --> 00:18:09,505
That was the key in all
of Spielberg's movies,

434
00:18:09,546 --> 00:18:10,881
is that it really focused
on the heart.

435
00:18:10,923 --> 00:18:12,549
Are you with us now?

436
00:18:12,591 --> 00:18:18,555
Can you--Can you say hello
to Daddy?

437
00:18:18,597 --> 00:18:26,772
[indistinct whispering]

438
00:18:26,814 --> 00:18:28,148
CAROL ANNE: [distorted voice]
Hello, Daddy.

439
00:18:28,190 --> 00:18:30,692
[whimpering]

440
00:18:30,734 --> 00:18:32,861
Hello, sweet pea.

441
00:18:32,903 --> 00:18:34,988
A lot of this comes back
to verisimilitude,

442
00:18:35,030 --> 00:18:37,116
these art forms finding
a reality

443
00:18:37,157 --> 00:18:39,076
that's much closer
to your own experience,

444
00:18:39,118 --> 00:18:41,453
your own lived experience
than you expect it to be.

445
00:18:41,495 --> 00:18:43,956
Can you see Mommy?

446
00:18:43,997 --> 00:18:47,126
[indistinct whispering]

447
00:18:47,167 --> 00:18:50,963
distorted voice] Mommy,
where are you? Where are you?

448
00:18:51,004 --> 00:18:55,092
Why can't it be fantastic
and very real at the same time?

449
00:18:55,134 --> 00:18:57,678
Just sort of based
the lifestyle on a lifestyle

450
00:18:57,719 --> 00:19:00,430
I'm familiar with, growing up
in suburban Phoenix, Arizona,

451
00:19:00,472 --> 00:19:04,685
in tract homes with
cul-de-sacs and 2-car garages.

452
00:19:04,726 --> 00:19:07,354
And this
suburban lifestyle breeds

453
00:19:07,396 --> 00:19:09,231
a certain kind of individual.

454
00:19:09,273 --> 00:19:11,024
Seeing the parents
in their bedroom at night,

455
00:19:11,066 --> 00:19:13,193
trying to hide a joint
from the family,

456
00:19:13,235 --> 00:19:14,403
you know, I'd never seen
that in a movie before.

457
00:19:14,444 --> 00:19:16,029
-Hi, honey.
-[thunderclap]

458
00:19:16,071 --> 00:19:17,865
Is everything okay?

459
00:19:17,906 --> 00:19:20,033
And yet it still felt like
a wholesome family.

460
00:19:20,075 --> 00:19:22,452
Also has, like,
super babelicious mom and dad.

461
00:19:22,494 --> 00:19:24,121
Like, this... [laughs]

462
00:19:24,163 --> 00:19:26,748
Like, that era,
they're, like, very hot,

463
00:19:26,790 --> 00:19:30,335
cool mom and dad characters,
but it's also scary.

464
00:19:30,377 --> 00:19:32,963
EDWARDS: "Poltergeist"
scared me straight to 1983.

465
00:19:33,005 --> 00:19:34,965
Static on a television
still scares me,

466
00:19:35,007 --> 00:19:37,259
and we all owned
TVs like that in 1982.

467
00:19:37,301 --> 00:19:38,719
I'm like,
no, I'm not here for that.

468
00:19:38,760 --> 00:19:40,179
I don't understand the title.

469
00:19:40,220 --> 00:19:41,847
I still don't know
what it means.

470
00:19:41,889 --> 00:19:43,515
-What does "poltergeist" mean?
-No one knew what it was.

471
00:19:43,557 --> 00:19:46,852
We found a--
We found a German book, uh,

472
00:19:46,894 --> 00:19:49,188
that had--
it was "poltergeist,"

473
00:19:49,229 --> 00:19:52,232
And, uh, it was all in German,
so, you know,

474
00:19:52,274 --> 00:19:55,777
but we knew it was about ghosts,
and we showed that to Steven.

475
00:19:55,819 --> 00:19:57,779
He said, "That's the title."

476
00:19:57,821 --> 00:19:59,740
He gave us a page.

477
00:19:59,781 --> 00:20:02,159
There were some bullet points
that he wanted to hit.

478
00:20:02,201 --> 00:20:03,702
He wanted it to be
a ghost story set

479
00:20:03,744 --> 00:20:06,079
in a middle class
housing development,

480
00:20:06,121 --> 00:20:08,874
that the ghost comes
out of the TV.

481
00:20:08,916 --> 00:20:10,167
It had originally been
written by

482
00:20:10,209 --> 00:20:11,501
Michael Grace and Mark Victor,

483
00:20:11,543 --> 00:20:13,587
but Steven Spielberg
wrote the shooting draft.

484
00:20:13,629 --> 00:20:15,923
We only had six weeks
to write the screenplay

485
00:20:15,964 --> 00:20:18,050
because we were set
to go on strike.

486
00:20:18,091 --> 00:20:21,261
Film was in production, and we
were striking our own movie.

487
00:20:21,303 --> 00:20:25,140
Steven sent a PA out to get
us from the line... [laughs]

488
00:20:25,182 --> 00:20:26,892
'cause he said, "I think you
guys want to see this."

489
00:20:26,934 --> 00:20:28,435
It's a really cool scene.

490
00:20:28,477 --> 00:20:30,520
So we went in, and we
saw the room was on a gimbal,

491
00:20:30,562 --> 00:20:32,731
and it turned around
and all this.

492
00:20:32,773 --> 00:20:34,775
Steven is a strong producer.

493
00:20:34,816 --> 00:20:36,610
He was the guy who brought
Tobe Hooper in to direct.

494
00:20:36,652 --> 00:20:38,153
He was quite generous,

495
00:20:38,195 --> 00:20:40,113
offering it to this guy
who had only done

496
00:20:40,155 --> 00:20:42,741
the genius "Texas Chain Saw"
and then "Eaten Alive."

497
00:20:42,783 --> 00:20:44,451
It's very intimidating to have

498
00:20:44,493 --> 00:20:47,871
the world's most successful
filmmaker producing your movie

499
00:20:47,913 --> 00:20:51,583
and kind of talking about how
to do what he saw in his mind

500
00:20:51,625 --> 00:20:52,960
as a screenwriter.

501
00:20:53,001 --> 00:20:54,628
I was on the set
of "Poltergeist,"

502
00:20:54,670 --> 00:20:55,879
and I watched it happen.

503
00:20:55,921 --> 00:20:58,298
This thing
is growing out of her,

504
00:20:58,340 --> 00:21:00,008
and it's getting larger
and larger,

505
00:21:00,050 --> 00:21:02,469
and the shoulders are almost
going up to the ceiling.

506
00:21:02,511 --> 00:21:05,931
Just when you begin to see
the fingers, it goes, whoosh!

507
00:21:05,973 --> 00:21:10,143
Breaks up like blowing
a smoke ring apart in the air

508
00:21:10,185 --> 00:21:11,979
and then goes shooting up
into the area by location.

509
00:21:12,020 --> 00:21:14,898
He's an enthusiastic filmmaker.

510
00:21:14,940 --> 00:21:16,817
You know, he says, "Hey,
what about a two shot here?"

511
00:21:16,858 --> 00:21:20,237
And we move in, and Tobe was
hesitant to come in and say,

512
00:21:20,279 --> 00:21:21,989
"Well, how about this?"

513
00:21:22,030 --> 00:21:23,949
The collaboration
between Tobe and Steven

514
00:21:23,991 --> 00:21:25,367
was very interesting.

515
00:21:25,409 --> 00:21:27,911
Steven was there.
He was there every day,

516
00:21:27,953 --> 00:21:31,873
and I think truly, Steven
wanted to direct it himself,

517
00:21:31,915 --> 00:21:33,667
but because
he was going to do "E.T.,"

518
00:21:33,709 --> 00:21:37,879
he couldn't really do both,
and his price was too high.

519
00:21:37,921 --> 00:21:39,881
He was getting ready
to shoot "E.T.,"

520
00:21:39,923 --> 00:21:42,217
and he was under
a contractual obligation

521
00:21:42,259 --> 00:21:44,177
to Universal to make "E.T.,"

522
00:21:44,219 --> 00:21:46,638
which meant he couldn't work
on another film as a director.

523
00:21:46,680 --> 00:21:47,806
What we saw there was that

524
00:21:47,848 --> 00:21:49,933
Tobe was
in the director's chair,

525
00:21:49,975 --> 00:21:52,102
and Steven was standing
right behind him

526
00:21:52,144 --> 00:21:54,187
with his hands on the chair.
[laughs]

527
00:21:54,229 --> 00:21:57,190
Tobe, I think, respected Steven
and went along with it.

528
00:21:57,232 --> 00:21:59,943
I'm sure it was very hard
on Tobe in many ways

529
00:21:59,985 --> 00:22:01,945
'cause Steven is
a strong personality.

530
00:22:01,987 --> 00:22:05,615
I think the result
really had both influences.

531
00:22:05,657 --> 00:22:07,993
GARRIS: Tobe directed the movie.
He called "action" and "cut."

532
00:22:08,035 --> 00:22:10,037
His creative influence
was there,

533
00:22:10,078 --> 00:22:11,621
but both of those men
made that movie.

534
00:22:11,663 --> 00:22:14,333
Yes, there were a lot
of fights about who did it,

535
00:22:14,374 --> 00:22:16,293
but it was not
between the two of them.

536
00:22:16,335 --> 00:22:18,086
It was a collaboration,

537
00:22:18,128 --> 00:22:19,504
but doesn't feel like
a Hooper movie.

538
00:22:19,546 --> 00:22:21,173
It feels like a Spielberg movie.

539
00:22:21,214 --> 00:22:22,632
"Poltergeist" does feel
like a Spielberg film,

540
00:22:22,674 --> 00:22:24,885
but it is absolutely the lensing

541
00:22:24,926 --> 00:22:26,303
and framing
of a Tobe Hooper film.

542
00:22:26,345 --> 00:22:28,388
[both scream]

543
00:22:28,430 --> 00:22:30,265
I'm embarrassed to say I cried
in "Poltergeist."

544
00:22:30,307 --> 00:22:34,644
I remembered being so connected
to Heather,

545
00:22:34,686 --> 00:22:37,981
but I had no idea that it would
be that well received,

546
00:22:38,023 --> 00:22:40,359
not only critically,
but at the box office.

547
00:22:43,070 --> 00:22:45,614
I think that movie
is the perfect metaphor

548
00:22:45,655 --> 00:22:48,950
for the summer of 1982
because Tangina says...

549
00:22:48,992 --> 00:22:50,660
This house has many hearts.

550
00:22:50,702 --> 00:22:53,830
And the summer of 1982
has many hearts.

551
00:22:56,083 --> 00:22:59,586
ANNOUNCER: MGM has "Poltergeist"
for release on June 4th.

552
00:22:59,628 --> 00:23:02,297
This Steven Spielberg production
is about a suburban family

553
00:23:02,339 --> 00:23:05,092
terrorized
in their spooky new house.

554
00:23:05,133 --> 00:23:07,052
"Poltergeist"
is anxiously awaited

555
00:23:07,094 --> 00:23:09,137
by those who like to have
the heck scared out of them.

556
00:23:09,179 --> 00:23:10,931
[singsongy] They're here.

557
00:23:10,972 --> 00:23:13,141
Also from the mind
of Steven Spielberg is

558
00:23:13,183 --> 00:23:14,684
"E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial."

559
00:23:14,726 --> 00:23:16,645
Little is known about this film

560
00:23:16,686 --> 00:23:18,313
except that it stars
a friendly alien,

561
00:23:18,355 --> 00:23:21,358
lost and alone,
100,000 light-years from home.

562
00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:25,445
I had just joined the staff
of a still-new television show

563
00:23:25,487 --> 00:23:28,365
called "Entertainment Tonight,"
or "E.T,"

564
00:23:28,407 --> 00:23:32,285
and along came a movie called
"E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial."

565
00:23:32,327 --> 00:23:35,122
What a glorious movie--
A film that reminded the child

566
00:23:35,163 --> 00:23:39,584
inside you that there was
still such a thing as wonder,

567
00:23:39,626 --> 00:23:42,212
that that was a quality
that you didn't have to discard

568
00:23:42,254 --> 00:23:45,424
just because you're
growing older chronologically.

569
00:23:45,465 --> 00:23:47,426
[buzzing noises]

570
00:23:47,467 --> 00:23:50,095
[screaming]

571
00:23:50,137 --> 00:23:53,598
For me, the pinnacle of
Steven Spielberg's career.

572
00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:55,642
Since then,
they've come up with this jargon

573
00:23:55,684 --> 00:23:57,436
about four-quadrant movies.

574
00:23:57,477 --> 00:24:00,897
Screw the quadrants. He just
knew how to tell a great story

575
00:24:00,939 --> 00:24:03,316
that would have broad appeal.

576
00:24:03,358 --> 00:24:04,734
The craziest thing is that

577
00:24:04,776 --> 00:24:06,278
"E.T." started off
as a horror film.

578
00:24:06,319 --> 00:24:09,322
It began as an unofficial sequel
to "Close Encounters."

579
00:24:09,364 --> 00:24:11,324
Columbia wanted Spielberg
to do a sequel,

580
00:24:11,366 --> 00:24:14,119
and he wasn't
that interested in the sequel.

581
00:24:14,161 --> 00:24:16,204
He came up with the idea
for "Night Skies,"

582
00:24:16,246 --> 00:24:19,332
which was aliens landing
at a farm

583
00:24:19,374 --> 00:24:21,793
and attacking a farm family.
It was, uh, he described it as

584
00:24:21,835 --> 00:24:25,213
"Guns Along the Mohawk,"
um, with aliens,

585
00:24:25,255 --> 00:24:26,506
and it was a horror film.

586
00:24:26,548 --> 00:24:28,258
The screenplay was
written by John Sayles.

587
00:24:28,300 --> 00:24:30,343
Ron Cobb was going to direct it.

588
00:24:30,385 --> 00:24:33,722
Steven Spielberg was going
to be the executive producer.

589
00:24:33,763 --> 00:24:35,515
They had this basic idea

590
00:24:35,557 --> 00:24:37,392
based on research

591
00:24:37,434 --> 00:24:40,687
Spielberg had done when he was
working on "Close Encounters"--

592
00:24:40,729 --> 00:24:44,357
this, uh, incident that had
happened in a rural farm

593
00:24:44,399 --> 00:24:46,318
where the people claimed

594
00:24:46,359 --> 00:24:49,029
that they had been surrounded
by these little E.T.s.

595
00:24:49,070 --> 00:24:52,491
and this is during the cattle
and horse mutilation period.

596
00:24:52,532 --> 00:24:54,534
They're inside. The things
are trying to break in

597
00:24:54,576 --> 00:24:58,371
and, uh, fought them off with
shotguns and various things.

598
00:24:58,413 --> 00:25:02,083
And Rick Baker took the time
and designed these five aliens.

599
00:25:02,125 --> 00:25:03,793
They are pretty spectacular.

600
00:25:03,835 --> 00:25:06,421
The lead alien
is pretty terrifying.

601
00:25:06,463 --> 00:25:08,798
He's got this long,
bony finger with a blade,

602
00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:11,968
and that's what he's cutting
and dissecting the cattle with.

603
00:25:12,010 --> 00:25:13,595
There was
a character in the story

604
00:25:13,637 --> 00:25:15,472
who was a friendly alien,

605
00:25:15,514 --> 00:25:18,433
and there was a young child
in the story who was autistic,

606
00:25:18,475 --> 00:25:21,561
and Buddy and the autistic boy
created a connection.

607
00:25:21,603 --> 00:25:23,188
When he's clicking
with this alien,

608
00:25:23,230 --> 00:25:24,773
it's, like, touching,

609
00:25:24,814 --> 00:25:27,025
and John Sayles just nails
these scenes of this alien

610
00:25:27,067 --> 00:25:30,320
and this boy while all
this horror is going on.

611
00:25:30,362 --> 00:25:33,240
They had this plan,
and it all kind of fell apart,

612
00:25:33,281 --> 00:25:36,284
because eventually
what Steven Spielberg realized

613
00:25:36,326 --> 00:25:37,911
was that that wasn't the movie.

614
00:25:37,953 --> 00:25:40,288
I think it was at Columbia then,
and they said,

615
00:25:40,330 --> 00:25:43,291
"Oh, we've got this other movie,
'Starman,' with Jeff Bridges.

616
00:25:43,333 --> 00:25:46,002
We're not going to make some
big space fantasy for kids

617
00:25:46,044 --> 00:25:47,712
when we've already got
a space movie,"

618
00:25:47,754 --> 00:25:50,465
and I think that's when
he moved to another studio,

619
00:25:50,507 --> 00:25:52,842
and with that move,
I think, kind of rethought it.

620
00:25:52,884 --> 00:25:55,262
So he rethought it
with Melissa Mathison.

621
00:25:55,303 --> 00:25:57,806
She had co-written the script
for "The Black Stallion."

622
00:25:57,847 --> 00:26:00,183
She was also
Harrison Ford's girlfriend.

623
00:26:00,225 --> 00:26:02,769
She was with Harrison
on location in Tunisia

624
00:26:02,811 --> 00:26:04,563
when they were doing
"Raiders of the Lost Ark."

625
00:26:04,604 --> 00:26:06,147
They got together,
and they, you know,

626
00:26:06,189 --> 00:26:10,360
really didn't take much from--
from what I had done.

627
00:26:10,402 --> 00:26:11,736
The ending of the script,
I think,

628
00:26:11,778 --> 00:26:13,238
is what probably got her,

629
00:26:13,280 --> 00:26:15,448
because the last paragraph
of the script,

630
00:26:15,490 --> 00:26:18,952
Buddy, the nice alien,
is, like, kind of lost,

631
00:26:18,994 --> 00:26:22,330
walking around terrified, like
a stranger in a strange world.

632
00:26:22,372 --> 00:26:24,374
And because you see
his relationship with the boy

633
00:26:24,416 --> 00:26:26,167
throughout the whole movie,

634
00:26:26,209 --> 00:26:29,254
and just to know that he's now
stuck on Earth all by himself,

635
00:26:29,296 --> 00:26:30,880
it's like
a heartbreaking ending.

636
00:26:30,922 --> 00:26:32,674
Like, you really
feel bad for him.

637
00:26:32,716 --> 00:26:34,384
And that ending of "Night Skies"

638
00:26:34,426 --> 00:26:36,845
is the jumping off point
of "E.T."

639
00:26:36,886 --> 00:26:38,471
SAYLES: It was, really,
what about this thing,

640
00:26:38,513 --> 00:26:40,140
of this "E.T." who gets left
behind? Wouldn't that be cool?

641
00:26:40,181 --> 00:26:41,766
The intersection
of the two scripts

642
00:26:41,808 --> 00:26:43,935
is that I got to read it.

643
00:26:43,977 --> 00:26:45,604
When the Writers Guild said,
"Well, you were one

644
00:26:45,645 --> 00:26:47,689
of the writers
who was near this thing.

645
00:26:47,731 --> 00:26:49,274
Do you think you should get
any credit?" I just said,

646
00:26:49,316 --> 00:26:51,943
"No, not at all,
but this is really good."

647
00:26:51,985 --> 00:26:53,570
If Spielberg can
keep the budget down,

648
00:26:53,612 --> 00:26:55,905
he's got
a nice little Disney movie here.

649
00:26:55,947 --> 00:26:59,367
It got put into turnaround,
and then Universal was like,

650
00:26:59,409 --> 00:27:01,911
"Hey, Columbia, could we just,
like, buy that off you?"

651
00:27:01,953 --> 00:27:11,212
This story goes that Universal
gave Columbia 5% as the gift,

652
00:27:11,254 --> 00:27:14,132
thank-you for selling them
the script

653
00:27:14,174 --> 00:27:15,800
and getting it
out of turnaround.

654
00:27:15,842 --> 00:27:21,640
And quietly, Columbia said
they made more off that 5%

655
00:27:21,681 --> 00:27:24,976
than any of their studio's
films that year.

656
00:27:26,978 --> 00:27:28,813
Okay, Mom, you can look now.

657
00:27:30,190 --> 00:27:33,109
Aah! [laughs]

658
00:27:33,151 --> 00:27:35,612
-Oh, that's great!
-[squeaking]

659
00:27:35,654 --> 00:27:39,366
[laughs] Stay there!

660
00:27:39,407 --> 00:27:41,951
WALLACE: I auditioned
for "Used Cars,"

661
00:27:41,993 --> 00:27:43,078
and I didn't get it,

662
00:27:43,119 --> 00:27:45,914
but Steven
works very far ahead.

663
00:27:45,955 --> 00:27:48,833
He was already
playing around with "E.T.,"

664
00:27:48,875 --> 00:27:52,504
and he knew whatever adult
appeared in there,

665
00:27:52,545 --> 00:27:54,798
he wanted them to be childlike.

666
00:27:54,839 --> 00:27:59,344
And so when "E.T." came about,
they called and offered me...

667
00:27:59,386 --> 00:28:00,720
Bye!

668
00:28:00,762 --> 00:28:02,138
...the role of Mary.

669
00:28:02,180 --> 00:28:05,725
They had me come over
to the studio,

670
00:28:05,767 --> 00:28:10,105
and in a room
behind a locked door,

671
00:28:10,146 --> 00:28:14,442
I read what was entitled
"A Boy's Life."

672
00:28:14,484 --> 00:28:19,489
And I remember calling my agents
on a rotary phone

673
00:28:19,531 --> 00:28:24,327
and saying, "You know,
I don't know how much

674
00:28:24,369 --> 00:28:27,247
this is gonna do for me,

675
00:28:27,288 --> 00:28:30,667
but I think it's gonna do
a lot for the world,

676
00:28:30,709 --> 00:28:33,461
and I really wanna be
a part of this film."

677
00:28:33,503 --> 00:28:36,589
E.T...

678
00:28:36,631 --> 00:28:39,884
home phone.

679
00:28:43,138 --> 00:28:46,725
E.T. phone home.

680
00:28:46,766 --> 00:28:48,685
It's not a film about divorce,

681
00:28:48,727 --> 00:28:51,104
but it is about
the after effects of it,

682
00:28:51,146 --> 00:28:53,314
and that comes from
Spielberg's own life as well.

683
00:28:53,356 --> 00:28:55,775
His depiction of families,

684
00:28:55,817 --> 00:28:57,485
like this incredibly
naturalistic depiction

685
00:28:57,527 --> 00:28:59,237
that he had
in "Close Encounters"

686
00:28:59,279 --> 00:29:02,365
and in "Poltergeist,"
the fact that in "E.T.,"

687
00:29:02,407 --> 00:29:06,494
that felt like the most
real version of sitting around

688
00:29:06,536 --> 00:29:09,247
a dinner table to someone
who had a brother and sister.

689
00:29:09,289 --> 00:29:11,416
What are you going as
for Halloween?

690
00:29:11,458 --> 00:29:14,335
-Not going to stupid Halloween.
-Why don't you go as a goblin?

691
00:29:14,377 --> 00:29:15,879
Shut up.

692
00:29:15,920 --> 00:29:17,797
We're dropping in
on these people's lives.

693
00:29:17,839 --> 00:29:19,591
There was
a clutter to the house.

694
00:29:19,632 --> 00:29:21,384
There was a lived-in sense
to the house.

695
00:29:21,426 --> 00:29:23,094
Messy homes, messy lives.

696
00:29:23,136 --> 00:29:29,100
I remember the moment
I walked onto the soundstage,

697
00:29:29,142 --> 00:29:31,728
and E.T. was standing
over there,

698
00:29:31,770 --> 00:29:34,522
and I walked in,
and I just stopped,

699
00:29:34,564 --> 00:29:36,441
and I looked at him and I went,

700
00:29:36,483 --> 00:29:40,278
"Oh, my God. He's beautiful."

701
00:29:40,320 --> 00:29:44,073
I mean,
you just got him right away--

702
00:29:44,115 --> 00:29:47,702
all the love that the movie
brings forward through him.

703
00:29:47,744 --> 00:29:51,664
Carlo Rambaldi
did such an amazing job

704
00:29:51,706 --> 00:29:56,628
capturing the heart of who E.T.
was in his face and his eyes.

705
00:29:56,669 --> 00:29:59,088
SPIELBERG:
On three. One...two...three.

706
00:29:59,130 --> 00:30:02,008
-[screaming]
-No! Stop it!

707
00:30:02,050 --> 00:30:03,218
-[continues screaming]
-No!

708
00:30:03,259 --> 00:30:05,345
SPIELBERG: And cut. Cut.

709
00:30:05,386 --> 00:30:08,848
We all saw E.T. as another
character that we worked with,

710
00:30:08,890 --> 00:30:10,725
and for the kids,

711
00:30:10,767 --> 00:30:15,814
Steven went to incredible feats
of keeping E.T. alive.

712
00:30:15,855 --> 00:30:17,857
-And...
-He's really real.

713
00:30:17,899 --> 00:30:19,609
-Crazy story.
-Then why all those wires?

714
00:30:19,651 --> 00:30:23,154
These aren't wires.
Those are his feet.

715
00:30:23,196 --> 00:30:24,697
Do you know that?

716
00:30:24,739 --> 00:30:28,326
They would stick the hydraulic
E.T. over in a corner.

717
00:30:28,368 --> 00:30:31,079
Well, one day
we found Drew talking to him.

718
00:30:31,120 --> 00:30:35,041
So after that, Steven had
two guys on that E.T.

719
00:30:35,083 --> 00:30:36,709
the whole time,

720
00:30:36,751 --> 00:30:41,506
so he could make movements
and blink and do his head

721
00:30:41,548 --> 00:30:47,512
so that Drew kept that illusion
of life about E.T.

722
00:30:47,554 --> 00:30:49,889
What E.T. represents,
it's just imagination.

723
00:30:49,931 --> 00:30:51,516
And when the adults come,

724
00:30:51,558 --> 00:30:53,852
they're coming to destroy
this kid's imagination.

725
00:30:53,893 --> 00:30:58,022
How other people
are allowed to see E.T.--

726
00:30:58,064 --> 00:30:59,732
it's from Elliott being like,

727
00:30:59,774 --> 00:31:02,735
"I want you to see
my imagination."

728
00:31:02,777 --> 00:31:08,366
Grown-ups can't see him.
Only little kids can see him.

729
00:31:08,408 --> 00:31:10,076
I remember Mike Fulmer
and his team

730
00:31:10,118 --> 00:31:11,619
were building
the miniature bikes,

731
00:31:11,661 --> 00:31:13,746
and I think it was Tom St. Amand
sculpted the kids,

732
00:31:13,788 --> 00:31:15,123
and he had to sculpt
a little E.T.

733
00:31:15,164 --> 00:31:15,748
to put in the basket.

734
00:31:15,790 --> 00:31:18,585
Well, on his desk
were these photos of E.T.,

735
00:31:18,626 --> 00:31:21,087
and I remember looking at it,
going,

736
00:31:21,129 --> 00:31:24,674
"Oh, my God, this is the ugliest
thing I have ever seen.

737
00:31:24,716 --> 00:31:28,177
No one is gonna see this movie,"
and I was so wrong.

738
00:31:28,219 --> 00:31:30,013
BURNETT:
"E.T." was done in secret.

739
00:31:30,054 --> 00:31:32,307
The teaser was just
clouds with lights.

740
00:31:32,348 --> 00:31:34,851
You knew that it was gonna be
something to do with aliens,

741
00:31:34,893 --> 00:31:37,437
but you had no idea
what "E.T." was.

742
00:31:37,478 --> 00:31:39,230
Even I, who'd read Starlog,

743
00:31:39,272 --> 00:31:41,190
I'd read everything about "E.T."
I didn't know what it was about.

744
00:31:41,232 --> 00:31:42,775
Late May, they had
theatrical sneak previews

745
00:31:42,817 --> 00:31:44,444
around the country,

746
00:31:44,485 --> 00:31:45,904
and it just so happened
that in Fargo,

747
00:31:45,945 --> 00:31:48,531
they had--they had one of these,
so I went to the theater

748
00:31:48,573 --> 00:31:50,408
and had this experience
with this movie

749
00:31:50,450 --> 00:31:52,243
that just blew me away.

750
00:31:52,285 --> 00:31:53,870
And the movie obviously
hadn't opened widely yet,

751
00:31:53,912 --> 00:31:55,246
so nobody else had seen it,

752
00:31:55,288 --> 00:31:56,873
and I'm sitting here
trying to tell people,

753
00:31:56,915 --> 00:31:58,499
like, what it was that
I had seen and experienced.

754
00:31:58,541 --> 00:32:00,126
You just couldn't do it.
People looked at you

755
00:32:00,168 --> 00:32:01,711
like you were--
like you were crazy.

756
00:32:01,753 --> 00:32:05,506
We went over and stood in line
at the Cinerama Dome

757
00:32:05,548 --> 00:32:09,886
with everybody else
for three hours to see "E.T."

758
00:32:09,928 --> 00:32:11,596
People were screaming,

759
00:32:11,638 --> 00:32:14,515
they were crying,
they were applauding.

760
00:32:14,557 --> 00:32:15,892
It was the discovery
of that summer.

761
00:32:15,934 --> 00:32:17,268
I'm getting chills
even thinking about it.

762
00:32:17,310 --> 00:32:18,978
It was one of the most

763
00:32:19,020 --> 00:32:20,647
magically transporting movies
I'd ever seen.

764
00:32:20,688 --> 00:32:23,608
GRAIS: No matter who you were
or what ethnicity you were,

765
00:32:23,650 --> 00:32:25,735
you could see yourself
in that story.

766
00:32:25,777 --> 00:32:27,904
That's what made "E.T."
so special.

767
00:32:27,946 --> 00:32:30,156
Like, when Elliot
takes off on the bike,

768
00:32:30,198 --> 00:32:32,951
that's not Elliott on the bike.
That was me on the bike.

769
00:32:32,992 --> 00:32:35,745
That was me trying
to get E.T. home.

770
00:32:35,787 --> 00:32:38,831
That's the gift
that Steven Spielberg possesses.

771
00:32:38,873 --> 00:32:42,043
My acting teacher, who is
this Cuban émigré...

772
00:32:42,085 --> 00:32:45,004
[Cuban accent] ...who spoke
very strangely, um... [laughs]

773
00:32:45,046 --> 00:32:47,256
[normal voice] uh, had seen
a movie that changed his life.

774
00:32:47,298 --> 00:32:48,758
He said... [Cuban accent]

775
00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:50,760
"I've seen the best performance
by an actor ever.

776
00:32:50,802 --> 00:32:53,721
It is the E.T." [laughs]

777
00:32:53,763 --> 00:32:57,058
E.T., E.T., E.T. be good.

778
00:32:57,100 --> 00:32:59,811
And I remember
being so excited because, uh,

779
00:32:59,852 --> 00:33:02,814
'cause E.T. totally
transported me, and I bought it.

780
00:33:02,855 --> 00:33:06,401
I 100% bought that
this was an alien creature.

781
00:33:06,442 --> 00:33:07,986
You know, I know
Carlo Rambaldi designed it,

782
00:33:08,027 --> 00:33:10,279
and an army of technicians
brought him to life.

783
00:33:10,321 --> 00:33:13,324
For my acting teacher,
who was my God at the time,

784
00:33:13,366 --> 00:33:16,619
they had brought to the screen
the greatest performance ever.

785
00:33:16,661 --> 00:33:18,496
Steven asked me
during the filming--

786
00:33:18,538 --> 00:33:23,668
he said, "Dee, they're already
asking me about doing a sequel."

787
00:33:23,710 --> 00:33:25,712
He said, "What do you think?"

788
00:33:25,753 --> 00:33:28,131
And I said...

789
00:33:28,172 --> 00:33:31,467
"I think you should leave it
the classic it's gonna be."

790
00:33:31,509 --> 00:33:33,344
I'll...

791
00:33:33,386 --> 00:33:34,846
be...

792
00:33:34,887 --> 00:33:36,139
right...

793
00:33:36,180 --> 00:33:37,724
here.

794
00:33:37,765 --> 00:33:47,358
♪♪♪

795
00:33:47,400 --> 00:33:48,693
[voice breaking] Bye.

796
00:33:50,945 --> 00:33:52,905
"E.T." did a great job
with marketing

797
00:33:52,947 --> 00:33:56,117
because I still have "E.T." toys
and "E.T." everything.

798
00:33:56,159 --> 00:33:57,827
Like, you had to have
some sort of "E.T." toy

799
00:33:57,869 --> 00:33:59,078
so your friends
knew you were cool.

800
00:33:59,120 --> 00:34:00,621
E.T., E.T.

801
00:34:00,663 --> 00:34:03,124
My kids are wild about "E.T."

802
00:34:03,166 --> 00:34:05,835
Now there's a whole collection
of "E.T." toys.

803
00:34:05,877 --> 00:34:07,920
-This one talks.
-Home.

804
00:34:07,962 --> 00:34:11,132
The movie comes out.
Initially, there's no toys.

805
00:34:11,174 --> 00:34:13,634
Spielberg realizes his mistake,

806
00:34:13,676 --> 00:34:15,178
immediately
greenlights everything.

807
00:34:15,219 --> 00:34:17,597
They were literally
chartering the 747s

808
00:34:17,638 --> 00:34:19,640
with no passengers,

809
00:34:19,682 --> 00:34:21,726
filling the plane
with the "E.T." things.

810
00:34:21,768 --> 00:34:23,186
Luckily for Spielberg

811
00:34:23,227 --> 00:34:25,021
and everybody who had points
on the movie,

812
00:34:25,063 --> 00:34:27,774
the movie was in the theaters
for almost a year.

813
00:34:27,815 --> 00:34:30,359
So by the time it came,
the merch still did very well.

814
00:34:30,401 --> 00:34:32,779
There was an "E.T." game.
We actually had the "E.T." game.

815
00:34:32,820 --> 00:34:33,237
I remember it.
It was really hard.

816
00:34:33,237 --> 00:34:35,323
[laughs] No one could win it.

817
00:34:35,364 --> 00:34:39,660
"E.T." video game? Wow.

818
00:34:39,702 --> 00:34:40,912
ANNOUNCER:
It's the video game

819
00:34:40,953 --> 00:34:43,164
that lets you pretend
you're E.T.

820
00:34:43,206 --> 00:34:45,541
Basically, this game
comes out based on "E.T.,"

821
00:34:45,583 --> 00:34:48,628
and it's--it's not a good game.
It's a really frustrating game.

822
00:34:48,669 --> 00:34:51,964
I remember just, you know,
not really getting it

823
00:34:52,006 --> 00:34:54,759
and not in a not getting
"Blade Runner" kind of way.

824
00:34:54,801 --> 00:34:56,844
It was more like
it just wasn't fun to play.

825
00:34:56,886 --> 00:34:58,387
You play for two screens,
and all of a sudden,

826
00:34:58,429 --> 00:35:01,474
ET's in a hole again. It's
just--It's just a terrible game.

827
00:35:01,516 --> 00:35:03,476
A video game's
the opposite of a movie.

828
00:35:03,518 --> 00:35:05,603
It's how fun it is to play
that's important.

829
00:35:05,645 --> 00:35:07,063
It's not a passive experience.

830
00:35:07,105 --> 00:35:08,689
It's not something
you're watching.

831
00:35:08,731 --> 00:35:11,234
The "E.T." video game probably
was the start

832
00:35:11,275 --> 00:35:13,069
of what is a long lineage

833
00:35:13,111 --> 00:35:16,155
of crappy adaptations
of mainstream media.

834
00:35:16,197 --> 00:35:19,617
If this worked in this genre,

835
00:35:19,659 --> 00:35:23,287
those people, those geeks,
are gonna like this, too.

836
00:35:23,329 --> 00:35:25,790
I don't think
Steven Spielberg felt that way.

837
00:35:25,832 --> 00:35:27,667
I mean, he likes
playing video games.

838
00:35:27,708 --> 00:35:29,043
Best game--the game
that I still think

839
00:35:29,085 --> 00:35:30,378
is the best game...
-"Centipede."

840
00:35:30,419 --> 00:35:31,546
...they've ever made
is "Asteroids."

841
00:35:31,587 --> 00:35:34,841
I do think there was this hubris

842
00:35:34,882 --> 00:35:37,510
on the part of the people
running Atari at the time

843
00:35:37,552 --> 00:35:40,096
that, "Well, it's gonna say.
'E.T.' on the box,"

844
00:35:40,138 --> 00:35:43,349
and they loved 'E.T.'
Right? Isn't that enough?"

845
00:35:43,391 --> 00:35:45,852
You would go into like a Sears
or a JCPenney.

846
00:35:45,893 --> 00:35:47,353
The video game section

847
00:35:47,395 --> 00:35:49,188
would just be nothing
but stacks of "E.T."

848
00:35:49,230 --> 00:35:51,732
If any game ever deserved
to be headed for a landfill,

849
00:35:51,774 --> 00:35:53,484
it was Atari's "E.T."

850
00:35:53,526 --> 00:35:55,528
Literally, There was this
urban legend that Atari

851
00:35:55,570 --> 00:35:57,405
was so ashamed of the game

852
00:35:57,446 --> 00:36:00,074
that they buried all the unsold
cartridges in this landfill.

853
00:36:00,116 --> 00:36:01,784
It was a far more interesting
and nuanced story

854
00:36:01,826 --> 00:36:03,286
than I thought.

855
00:36:03,327 --> 00:36:04,662
"E.T." just seemed like
a crappy game

856
00:36:04,704 --> 00:36:06,164
that was made way too quickly,

857
00:36:06,205 --> 00:36:07,957
and that's the story
that was told

858
00:36:07,999 --> 00:36:10,209
and became
kind of the urban legend.

859
00:36:10,251 --> 00:36:12,962
The day that Warner
inked a deal with Spielberg,

860
00:36:13,004 --> 00:36:15,214
they set in motion a disaster.

861
00:36:15,256 --> 00:36:20,261
It was Atari trying to achieve
sales through a license.

862
00:36:20,303 --> 00:36:22,263
Now at Toys 'R' Us,
the new "E.T." cartridge,

863
00:36:22,305 --> 00:36:24,473
only $33.97.

864
00:36:24,515 --> 00:36:27,518
Help E.T. phone home with
the Atari Video Game System,

865
00:36:27,560 --> 00:36:29,520
now just $124.87.

866
00:36:29,562 --> 00:36:30,855
But it takes
a lot of negotiating

867
00:36:30,897 --> 00:36:33,232
and a lot of time and such,

868
00:36:33,274 --> 00:36:35,151
And by the time they were done
with a deal,

869
00:36:35,193 --> 00:36:37,528
it was schedule
driving a game development,

870
00:36:37,570 --> 00:36:39,238
which is never a good idea.

871
00:36:39,280 --> 00:36:41,657
The deal was inked in August,

872
00:36:41,699 --> 00:36:45,036
and the cartridge had to be
ready for release November 1st.

873
00:36:45,077 --> 00:36:47,872
At that time,
it took a full year

874
00:36:47,914 --> 00:36:53,836
to fully create a cartridge,
vet it, test it, tweak it.

875
00:36:53,878 --> 00:36:58,007
So you had September, October--
two months.

876
00:36:58,049 --> 00:37:00,843
The probability
of creating a good game

877
00:37:00,885 --> 00:37:03,512
in that amount of time is zero.

878
00:37:03,554 --> 00:37:05,264
And the creator of "E.T."
did a fantastic job

879
00:37:05,306 --> 00:37:07,099
for the amount of time
he was given.

880
00:37:07,141 --> 00:37:08,309
He actually
only had, like, five weeks,

881
00:37:08,351 --> 00:37:09,727
and we typically took
10 months.

882
00:37:09,769 --> 00:37:11,395
The heart
of the creative process

883
00:37:11,437 --> 00:37:12,980
is the programmer.

884
00:37:13,022 --> 00:37:16,192
I try and create
basically a sensory experience

885
00:37:16,234 --> 00:37:18,778
that evokes
a certain feeling in the user.

886
00:37:18,819 --> 00:37:20,446
I mean, I tend to program
from a concept.

887
00:37:20,488 --> 00:37:24,283
Poor Howard signed up for it,

888
00:37:24,325 --> 00:37:29,789
and he's been panned
as creating the worst game ever.

889
00:37:29,830 --> 00:37:33,125
No, he created
the best game ever

890
00:37:33,167 --> 00:37:34,669
that had ever been done
in two months.

891
00:37:34,710 --> 00:37:39,799
Only from Atari, made especially
for systems from Atari.

892
00:37:39,840 --> 00:37:44,553
The video game
that lets you help E.T. get home

893
00:37:44,595 --> 00:37:46,931
just in time for Christmas.

894
00:37:46,973 --> 00:37:51,310
Happy holidays from Atari.

895
00:37:51,352 --> 00:37:55,064
Video games were so important
because it allows kids

896
00:37:55,106 --> 00:37:57,149
to feel like they are
independent,

897
00:37:57,191 --> 00:37:59,694
and they're having an adventure
in and of themselves

898
00:37:59,735 --> 00:38:02,363
outside
of their parents' control.

899
00:38:02,405 --> 00:38:03,990
It empowered a lot of people

900
00:38:04,031 --> 00:38:06,492
who are not necessarily good
at sports

901
00:38:06,534 --> 00:38:09,203
to all of a sudden
get street cred.

902
00:38:09,245 --> 00:38:12,331
1982 is the--the peak
for the video game--

903
00:38:12,373 --> 00:38:14,500
original early video game boom.

904
00:38:14,542 --> 00:38:17,128
First of all, you think about
all of the great video games.

905
00:38:17,169 --> 00:38:19,088
One of my favorite games
was "Pitfall!"

906
00:38:19,130 --> 00:38:21,549
"Pitfall!"--designed by
David Crane for Activision.

907
00:38:21,590 --> 00:38:23,426
It was Indiana Jones.

908
00:38:23,467 --> 00:38:24,677
They didn't call it
"Raiders of the Lost Ark,"

909
00:38:24,719 --> 00:38:26,387
but that's what it was.

910
00:38:26,429 --> 00:38:28,931
I'll assume I was influenced
to put it in a jungle

911
00:38:28,973 --> 00:38:30,975
instead of somewhere else
because of a popular movie.

912
00:38:31,017 --> 00:38:32,601
No one ever seen
anything like that before.

913
00:38:32,643 --> 00:38:34,478
I only had eight bits
to work with,

914
00:38:34,520 --> 00:38:37,398
eight pixels to make
a character that looks human.

915
00:38:37,440 --> 00:38:39,358
You felt like
you were drawn into this story.

916
00:38:39,400 --> 00:38:43,321
Just last night, I was lost in
the jungle with Pitfall Harry,

917
00:38:43,362 --> 00:38:46,782
surrounded by giant scorpions
and man-eating crocodiles.

918
00:38:46,824 --> 00:38:48,367
There were
three different consoles

919
00:38:48,409 --> 00:38:49,910
that were all very popular.

920
00:38:49,952 --> 00:38:51,704
There was
the Mattel Intellivision.

921
00:38:51,746 --> 00:38:53,914
Mr. Intellivision, how come
all you ever talk about

922
00:38:53,956 --> 00:38:55,624
are sports games?
-Sorry?

923
00:38:55,666 --> 00:38:57,335
Intellivision now has games
like the arcade.

924
00:38:57,376 --> 00:38:58,544
I know.

925
00:38:58,586 --> 00:38:59,795
Magnavox Odyssey.

926
00:38:59,837 --> 00:39:02,048
More than 40 games in all.

927
00:39:02,089 --> 00:39:04,091
Odyssey--
the excitement of a game,

928
00:39:04,133 --> 00:39:06,093
the mind of a computer.

929
00:39:06,135 --> 00:39:08,512
It was also
the Atari 2600 or the VCS,

930
00:39:08,554 --> 00:39:10,097
they called it back then.

931
00:39:10,139 --> 00:39:12,558
More color, more sound,
and more action,

932
00:39:12,600 --> 00:39:14,477
and naturally, it's from Atari.

933
00:39:14,518 --> 00:39:15,853
[electronic music plays]

934
00:39:15,895 --> 00:39:18,022
♪ Have you played Atari today? ♪

935
00:39:18,064 --> 00:39:20,524
Atari was almost like the Apple
of the time. It was huge.

936
00:39:20,566 --> 00:39:23,277
The reason why
you see a big "Atari" logo

937
00:39:23,319 --> 00:39:25,404
in "Blade Runner"
is nobody at the time

938
00:39:25,446 --> 00:39:27,281
would have ever thought
Atari would go downhill.

939
00:39:27,323 --> 00:39:29,283
Well, I was watching
"Blade Runner," loved the movie.

940
00:39:29,325 --> 00:39:31,077
It was this vision
of the future,

941
00:39:31,118 --> 00:39:36,707
and there was the Atari logo.
And I said, "Yo!" [laughs]

942
00:39:36,749 --> 00:39:39,835
♪♪♪