Casting the role of E.T. the Extra Terrestrial’s supposed to be friend was not easy for the casting director Marci Liroff. The young actor originally chosen failed miserably, revealing that he was not the sweet little angel director Steven Spielberg was looking for. When Henry Thomas was recommended he was flown out from Texas to read lines in front of Liroff and Spielberg.
When he came in he was sat in the office and made him read the script to familiarize him with the story. He was brought to a room where he was given an improvisation that Spielberg prepared, it was about his friend being taken away by NASA. And in just seconds he had everybody crying behind the camera. He used his fear and anxiety to push further into the role.
Steven Spielberg was blown away by the honest and heartfelt improvisation that he was given the part right away. According to him Thomas was not a 9-year-old boy but an adult actor and treated him as his buddy. It worried Spielberg a bit that he might be too serious but was put at ease at once when the boy started laughing when he met E.T.
Henry Jackson Thomas Jr. was born on September 9, 1971, in San Antonio, Texas. He started off his acting career at a very young age as a lonely 10-year-old boy Elliott in E. T. the Extra Terrestial in 1982. This movie is an American science fiction produced and directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Melissa Mathison in 1982. It is a story about an extraterrestrial E.T. who was stranded on Earth and befriends a boy Elliott. It became an instant blockbuster that surpassed Star Wars and it became the highest-grossing film of all time.
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E.T. became an instant blockbuster that surpassed Star Wars and it became the highest-grossing film of all time.
