Movies

E.T. Star Reveals Steven Spielberg Wanted a Racy Scene That Was Cut to Protect Family Film

BBG News

For four decades, E.T., directed by Steven Spielberg, has been highly regarded as one of the greatest films in cinema history. Recently, the actress who played a key role in the movie, Dee Wallace, reminisced about this iconic production. She shared that she advocated to tone down one scene to make it less suggestive during filming.

Wallace played a significant role as Marty Taylor in the movie “E.T.”, where she was a divorced mother of three, including Elliott, who befriends E.T. Originally, there were plans for E.T. to have stronger feelings towards Mary, but these aspects were less emphasized in the final version of the film. Wallace mentioned during an interview with Steve Kmetko on the “Still Here Hollywood” podcast that one scene would have shown more of her character in bed than she was comfortable with. As a result, there was a compromise made for her character to be more modestly dressed in the end.

In the beginning, there was an additional subplot in the movie E.T., where E.T. had feelings for Mary, or you could say he had a strong liking for her – almost a crush. Remnants of this can still be seen in the film. There was a scene where he left Reese’s Pieces on your bedside table while you were asleep. However, Spielberg preferred the sheet to be pulled lower than you found comfortable during the shooting of that scene.

Wallace went on to explain, “I made clear that this film was intended for families. I could accept parents smoking pot in Poltergeist, but this one was different for me – it was innocent and about love. So we invited Kathleen Kennedy and Melissa Mathison, our talented writer, to discuss the matter. They agreed with my perspective, Steven, so we reached a consensus. We raised the sheet covering me nearly to my shoulder blades, which I found acceptable.

Wallace shared that there was a different scene in the initial draft of the movie which was altered for the final cut. In one version, when Wallace’s character finds out her ex-husband is with his new partner in Mexico, she decides to walk away from the dining table instead of staying put as written in the script, so her children wouldn’t witness her crying. This spontaneous action was approved by Spielberg after Wallace explained her reasoning, leading to a change in how the scene was filmed for more authenticity.

Dee Wallace Improvised the Emotional Moment

In response to Wallace’s statement, “Steven approached me, questioning why I had left unexpectedly. He remarked that it wasn’t part of the script. I shared with him what transpired. Then, he faced the crew and challenged them to construct a wall with a running water sink within half an hour. As expected, they quickly got to work. Later, he led me over to the sink and positioned me for another close-up where I said, ‘He hates Mexico.’

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2025-05-04 23:20

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