Drew Barrymore and her onscreen mother in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Dee Wallace, reunited, and it was the nicest thing ever! On Drew’s eponymous talk program, the couple took a journey down memory lane to rave about the 1982 hit film ahead of its 40th anniversary.
“That was the first day on the set, and I was sitting in this incredibly high director’s chair,” Dee, 73, recalled from a snapshot of the two of them. And Drew walks up to me and she says, ‘Hi, I’m going to sit on your lap now.’ And I answered, “Well, come on up, Drew.” She said, “I mean, I knew you were going to be a director/producer back then.”
Drew then gushed about how “sexy” Dee looked in the cheetah costume her character donned for the Halloween sequence in the movie. “I still fit in it too,” Dee said. “Oh, I bet you do,” Barrymore informed her. “You are giving me objectives!”
Drew went on to add that she “saw the wires” and “knew the deal” regarding the mechanical E.T. puppets utilized on set, but Dee butted in: “Oh, do not believe it for a moment.” She remembers discovering young Drew in the corner one day talking to the puppet — as any imaginative child would want to do.
From that time on, [director Steven Spielberg] had two guys on E.T. at all times, so that any time you went over to talk to him, his eyes could operate, his head could go up and down, and he could reply to you,” she claimed.
Dee Wallace and Drew Barrymore reunite (CBS).
The actress then went on to describe Drew’s emotional connection to the character of E.T., which made the 7-year-old tearful when E.T. was on his deathbed.
“Being the mother that I am with all the kids that I work with… I went over and I said, “OK Drew, now we’re going to go shoot the scene where E.T.’s dying, but you know, he’s not really dying.” She remarked, “He’s acting just like we are, OK? “she said. And you looked at me and you said, ‘I know, Dee. Do you think I’m stupid? “
So, I picked you up, and we strolled into the set. You took one glance at E.T. and went (sobbing) “Ah, he’s dying, Dee! He’s dying,'” Dee counted, chuckling.
In addition to Dee, Drew is preparing to also reunite with filmmaker Speilberg and her onscreen brother Henry Thomas to honor the film’s 40th anniversary, which will take place this week at the 2022 TCM Classic Film Festival.
