If you’re asking who directed the film ET, you’re looking for a name that is basically synonymous with the phrase "blockbuster." It was Steven Spielberg. Honestly, it feels weird to even imagine anyone else behind the lens for this one. Think about it. Could a cynical director have made a rubber puppet look so soulful? Probably not. Spielberg wasn’t just a guy for hire here; he was exercise his own childhood demons.
He was already the guy who made everyone afraid of the ocean with Jaws. He'd already messed with our heads using Close Encounters of the Third Kind. But E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) was different. It wasn't about the spectacle of a mothership landing on a mountain. It was about a lonely kid in the suburbs.
Why Steven Spielberg was the only choice for E.T.
At the time, people expected Spielberg to keep making "big" movies. Huge sets. Massive explosions. Instead, he went small. He went personal. The movie actually started as a much darker concept called Night Skies, which was basically a horror flick about aliens terrorizing a family. Thank goodness he pivoted. He realized he didn't want to make people scream; he wanted to make them cry.
The core of the movie comes from Spielberg’s own life. His parents got divorced in the 1960s. He has explicitly said in interviews, including the 2017 HBO documentary Spielberg, that he imagined a companion—an alien friend—to help him cope with the loneliness of that split. That’s why the movie feels so real. It’s not a sci-fi epic. It’s a divorce drama with a space traveler in the middle of it.
The Melissa Mathison Connection
While Spielberg directed, we have to talk about Melissa Mathison. She wrote the screenplay. She was actually dating Harrison Ford at the time (who was filming Raiders of the Lost Ark with Spielberg). Spielberg pitched her the idea on a location scout in Tunisia. She initially said no, but he wore her down. Her script is what gave the film its heart. She understood that the kids needed to talk like actual kids. No "movie dialogue." Just messy, overlapping, suburban chatter.
How the direction changed the industry
When who directed the film ET becomes a trivia question, people often forget the technical risks taken on set. Spielberg decided to shoot the movie in chronological order. That is almost never done in Hollywood because it is a logistical nightmare and costs a fortune. But he did it for the child actors.
He wanted Drew Barrymore, Henry Thomas, and Robert MacNaughton to actually experience the story. By the time they filmed the ending, those kids weren't "acting" sad. They were legitimately devastated because their "friend" was leaving. That is a directorial masterstroke. It’s the kind of decision that separates a craftsman from a genius.
- The puppet cost $1.5 million.
- The eyes were placed further apart to make him look more "human" and sympathetic.
- Legendary mimes and performers helped move the suit.
The "God View" vs. The Child's Eye
Another thing Spielberg did—and you’ll notice this if you rewatch it tonight—is the camera height. For the majority of the film, the camera is at the eye level of a child. Adults are often shot from the waist down or kept in the shadows. Look at "Keys," the government agent. You don't see his face for a long time. He's just a pair of jangling keys and a silhouette. This makes the world of adults feel scary and intrusive, exactly how a ten-year-old feels.
The music that made the director look even better
You can't talk about Spielberg without John Williams. Period. The score is basically the dialogue of the film. Since E.T. can only say a few words, the orchestra has to do the heavy lifting. There’s a famous story about the final chase scene. Spielberg couldn't get the film to sync up with Williams’ music. Finally, Spielberg told Williams, "Forget the screen. Conduct the music the way you feel it." Williams did, and Spielberg then re-edited the entire ending of the movie to match the music. That is the ultimate sign of respect between a director and a composer.
What most people get wrong about the production
People think E.T. was a guaranteed hit. It wasn't. Columbia Pictures actually passed on it. They called it a "wimpy Walt Disney movie." They thought there was no market for a sweet alien story. They wanted something more like Star Wars. Universal eventually picked it up, and well, the rest is history. It became the highest-grossing film of all time (until Spielberg beat his own record with Jurassic Park a decade later).
The movie also faced weird controversies. Satyajit Ray, the legendary Indian filmmaker, claimed that E.T. was based on a script he wrote in the 60s called The Alien. Spielberg denied ever seeing it, but the debate still lingers in film school hallways to this day. Regardless of where the seed came from, the execution was pure Spielbergian magic.
Essential takeaways for film buffs
If you're studying who directed the film ET, look closely at the lighting. Spielberg worked with cinematographer Allen Daviau to create a look that felt like a "suburban dream." They used high-contrast lighting that made the ordinary ranch houses of California look like something out of a fairy tale.
- Watch the shadows. Notice how E.T. is often hidden in plain sight using light.
- Listen to the silence. The first ten minutes of the movie have almost no dialogue.
- The Reese's Pieces factor. Mars, Inc. turned down the chance to use M&Ms. Hershey said yes to Reese's Pieces. Sales tripled. It’s one of the first major examples of product placement changing a brand's fate.
How to explore the Spielberg legacy today
If you want to understand the man who directed the film ET, don't just stop at the movie itself. To get the full picture of how this film fits into his career, you should watch The Fabelmans (2022). It's his semi-autobiographical movie. It explains exactly why he was obsessed with the idea of a broken family and why he spent his entire career trying to find his way back home.
Next Steps for the curious:
- Visit the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles to see the original E.T. mechanical models.
- Compare the 1982 version to the 20th Anniversary Edition. (Spielberg famously regretted digitally swapping the police officers' guns for walkie-talkies and later reverted the change for 4K releases).
- Check out the "E.T. Adventure" ride at Universal Studios Orlando. It's the only remaining original opening-day ride and features a unique "sequel" story directed/supervised by Spielberg himself.
The impact of this film isn't just in the box office numbers. It’s in the way we look at the stars. Spielberg took the "scary alien" trope and turned it into a story about empathy. He proved that the most powerful special effect isn't a spaceship—it's a glowing finger and a boy who doesn't want to say goodbye.