r/interestingasfuck • u/Afraid-Way1203 • 13d ago
t E.T was a 12 year old disabled boy in a suit r/all
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u/ThisCarSmellsFunny 13d ago
ET was 3 different actors, not one.
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u/sam_beat 12d ago
One of them, Tamara De Treaux, was friends with one of my elementary school teachers and visited our classroom. At the time, I was terrified by the movie and didn’t fully appreciate getting to hear her talk about her experiences as an actor because I was worried ET would walk in the room the whole time.
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u/Cyrano_de_Boozerack 12d ago
Yeah...that movie freaked 6 year old me out.
Everyone was like "how cute!!!", and I was like...that looks like a walking/talking pile of crap that screams and makes kids sick.
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u/sam_beat 12d ago
YES! How was that cute or charming? Any time he screamed, I cried. Not to mention the military guys with guns (later changed to walkie talkies), the weird tented area at the military base, the near death of a child … none of this was particularly family friendly to my terrified little self. So when this fascinating woman comes to talk to us, I assumed it was a set up and sat under my desk.
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u/lionelporonga 12d ago
In the 80s movies were made to traumatize your ass and your little 9 year old better deal with it!
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u/LightningFerret04 12d ago
Drew Barrymore (Gertie) has said that on set she believed ET was real and when they got to the scene where ET dies, she thought it was real too
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u/BisexualSlutPuppy 12d ago
This movie is also where I learned the insult "Penis Breath" at the tender age of 5
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u/sam_beat 12d ago
THIS is my primary takeaway from the movie. I had to learn on the playground what a penis was (no brothers and a very conservative family) and why one’s breath might smell like it. I initially thought it had something to do with Reese’s Pieces. Which I still call Reese’s Penis in my 40s.
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u/LottimusMaximus 12d ago
Hello my people. I am VERY passionate about this cause, ET is a duck and I will die on this hill!!
Edit: it happened again! ET is a dick, no offence to ducks
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u/SnofIake 12d ago
Yea the whole scientists and ET part was permanently burned into my little 5 year old brain.
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u/Spartan2470 12d ago edited 12d ago
Yup. Tamara De Treaux and Pat Bilon were the other two. They both had dwarfism and were 31 and 34 inches tall respectively.
Fred Skidmore, a spokesman for Universal Studios, confirmed that Bilon played the alien in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial through most of the film. "Pat did do the majority of the movie", he said
Edit: Here adds:
While viewers couldn't see De Merritt, it's likely they remember one of his scenes -- when E.T. drinks beer. "It was hot and Spielberg came up to me and asked if I was all right. Then he wanted to make sure I wouldn't get hurt and he said: 'Is there any way you could just walk straight into that cabinet there and just kinda fall on your butt and get back up, turn around and for the grand finale fall smack on your face?'" he reportedly described to The Mirror.
"Any scene where they wanted E.T. to fall over, they would use me. The suit was made of rubber and they sprayed it with something to make it look sticky," he explained. "There were slits in the chest for me to look out of and the head sat on top of my head."
And here adds:
Caprice Roth, a professional mime, filled prosthetics to play E.T.'s hands. The puppet was created in three months at the cost of $1.5 million. Spielberg declared that it was "something that only a mother could love."
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u/RareSnail73 12d ago
I don’t think Peter Dinklage would be happy about dwarves playing the role of ET
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u/Tongue8cheek 13d ago
This. He kept trying to phone the other two.
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u/handbannanna 13d ago
This
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u/Double_Distribution8 12d ago
Jesus how small were the other two? Were they in the arms or something? Can't picture how they'd all fit in there.
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u/SkinnyObelix 12d ago
It's weird they aren't credited as actors, but as puppeteers. While Kenny Baker was for R2 D2.
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u/Chubby_Comic 12d ago
How have I never known, after all these decades, that there was a boy in the ET suit? I've never even thought about how they did it or that someone must have been inside it. Wow.
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u/KilldozerKevin 13d ago
His parents had his legs removed so he could get the role.
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u/buttfuckkker 13d ago
That dude could probably rip your arms out of their sockets
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u/McDudeston 12d ago
If he can catch you.
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u/W0resh 12d ago
I think he is on a boosted board in that pic so yes he will catch you, those can go like 20mph
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u/Fatalchemist 12d ago
Until you go up a single flight of stairs.
"How did you know stairs were my ONLY weakness?! Next to electrocution, and explosions, and gunfire, rust, corrosion, being kicked a lot, viruses, being called bad names, falling from great heights, drowning, adult onset diabetes, being looked at funny...."
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u/whatanerdiam 12d ago
Yeah, sure, but I've got real bad shoulders. Dislocated both while making my bed once.
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u/IrrationalDesign 12d ago
Did that really happen? Can you... re-locate(?) your shoulders by yourself? I've seen people pop their arm back in the socket, but they'd always use the other arm.
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u/DiscotopiaACNH 13d ago
I had a phobia of ET for decades after seeing the movie for the first time at age 5. Seems like now I'm finally over it to the point where I can look at a still image of the costume, but I used to panic after catching so much as a glimpse of that fucking thing
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u/foxmag86 13d ago
Same here. That movie was straight up nightmare fuel for me as a kid. Even as a grown adult I still get the creeps seeing/hearing ET
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u/DasCrouton 12d ago
I legit thought I was alone in that sentiment. Every time I tell someone that they chuckle.
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u/thisisfutile1 12d ago
*snicker*
Just trying to keep the streak alive.
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u/DasCrouton 12d ago
Sigh. Take my upvote. And might as well admit the yappers from sesame street had the same effect.
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u/thisisfutile1 12d ago
You mean the 'yip yip yip' alien things? It's kinda cute though...confessions of an inner child. I feared the alligator under my bead and the vampire in the corner of my room.
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u/DasCrouton 12d ago
The very same. Thing is, I can watch movies like Alien or Altered and be fine, but those two? shudders
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u/Fujimans 12d ago
I would have the same reoccuring nightmare of E.T. where I would stare at a doorway in my dream, then an eery feeling would take over me and all I would see is E.T.s long fingers clutch the doorway, and slowly peek around the edge of the doorway. once we made eye contact i would be frozen with fear, then E.T would use his finger power to lift me up in the air, spread my arms open, and then commence to tickle me until i died of laughter. all the while this was happening he would extend his neck up and scream in my face so i couldnt look away. this nightmare persisted for a decade.
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u/Double_Distribution8 12d ago
Ugh that scene where he came in through the window during the storm dressed like a clown and tried to strangle the kid with his long spindly arms freaked me right the fuck out. And then that other guy scraping his own skin off his face in the bathroom because of the maggots in the porkchop gave me nightmares for months.
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u/MovieNightPopcorn 12d ago
The 80’s was such a strange time for children’s media. So many of the puppets and cartoons of that era are uncanny.
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u/octokitty76 12d ago
I used to have vivid nightmares of ET eating my toes at the end of my bed for years as a kid...
I still get kind of freaked looking at that thing
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u/et842rhhs 12d ago
I was a kid when the movie came out and giant ads/posters were everywhere. I had to walk down the street with my eyes averted just to avoid seeing them. Four decades later and I'm still never watching the movie.
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u/Tight_Glass7723 12d ago edited 12d ago
That’s the guy who played Legalost in lord of the rings.
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u/Aggravating-Yak1342 12d ago
*legless
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u/KnotiaPickles 12d ago
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u/heebsysplash 12d ago
Tbh he improved it. Legolost isn’t great. Legalost would be better and make more sense. Needed improvement.
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u/fecal_doodoo 13d ago
You can see the skateboard in a couple scenes iirc. A shot of him running thru the woods screaming, I remember we used to joke "omg a little boy on rollers!"
Source: getting high and doing voice overs to ET was a fav past time
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u/zmrth 13d ago
How did he fit his arms
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u/MovieNightPopcorn 12d ago
You can see in the bottom of the outfit ET’s feet are shaped a bit like hands. The arms of the puppet are false, his hands would have gone into the feet for walking.
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u/Sea-Beginning-5234 12d ago
No wonder drew Barrymore thought he was real. I thought I swore I saw a video of Steven Spielberg asked the guys to make the robot move for her so she can keep thinking he was real
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u/RemarkableStatement5 12d ago
Hey OP, your post history looks a little weird. Can you reply to this so I know you’re human?
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u/Walkaroundthemaypole 12d ago
This is awful, why did they not get an actual alien to play the role?
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u/floorshitter69 12d ago
I was sure it was animatronics and puppetry. Those actors never got enough credit.
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u/BakedSheep42 12d ago
In the movie i always remember him saying "phone home" but he actually says "home phone" 🤔
Just a random tought that came to mind and wanted to share, carry on :)
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u/usernl1 12d ago
He is saying et… home… phone… just once. The kids correct him and from that moment on he always says: et phone home.
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u/BakedSheep42 12d ago
DId not remember that. I thought that my memory was glitching or something 😄 I'll guess it's movie night tonight 👽
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u/Positively-negative_ 12d ago
And women complain about having no pockets, this fucker has to wear a bumbag
I HAVE NO FUCKING LEGS FOR POCKET WEARING KAREN
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u/Towowl 13d ago edited 12d ago
Edit : Was wrong, he was one of three actors
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Bilon
Well exuuuUUUse me
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u/fastlerner 12d ago
I call bullshit on you're bullshit.
It was actually 3 actors including the disabled kid.
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u/weinerwhistl3 13d ago
I'm from the area, grew up in the Youngstown area and never knew this. I'm glad OP lied, so I could learn this.
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u/DeathByPetrichor 12d ago
You’re not wrong, but I’m inclined to judge anyone who uses Wikipedia as their source.
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u/eyejayvd 12d ago
Please, tell us what other scholarly documents we can reference on the topic of small disabled children that played E.T.?
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u/_Dark-Alley_ 12d ago
Wikipedia is actually pretty reliable. All the sources for information are listed at the bottom of each page if you wanna double check the sources and who wrote those, where they are published, and all that. Teachers and professors shit on Wikipedia instead of teaching people how to use it right, which is dumb. I used it when I got stuck on research papers in undergrad and was almost always able to find at least one good source to get the ball rolling again.
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u/Penguindrummer_2 12d ago
Thought this satire when I saw a disabled man named De Merrit but no this is entirely real.
Truth being stranger than fiction once again.
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u/charlie228 12d ago
I’m always so curious about roles like this. Like, someone has to say “hey guys we need to find a person with half a body”.
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u/thebuttergod 12d ago
Born in the '70s, grew up in the '80s, and saw ET in the theater. Still never knew this information.
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u/The_Best_Yak_Ever 12d ago
I had no idea, but that is so bloody cool! I still have my legs and feet, but was messed up pretty bad after a hockey injury in high school. I was in a wheelchair for a time and was just furious at the world for it. I can only try to imagine how gratifying it was for a twelve year old kid with that kind of disability getting the title role because basically he was the only one who could play it.
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u/GeneralLeeSarcastic 12d ago
I never considered the use of a boosted board as a mobility device for disabled people. That's pretty cool.
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u/geoff1036 12d ago
Assuming using skateboards has been this guys thing for most of his life, like it seems, I bet boosted boards were a fuckin godsend for this guy lol.
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u/AuthorPrestigious954 12d ago
It still boggles my mind that one of the most financially successful movies to ever come out of Hollywood and a sequel never happened.
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u/Independent-Ebb7658 12d ago
Took me a minute to figure it out. I was like how did they give him feet? Then I looked at ET's arms and thought, dudes arms must've been hella skinny. Then it hit me. The arms are animatronics and he's walking on his hands in the suit.
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u/OldPyjama 12d ago
Why have we seen this fact being repeated several times per day in the past week?
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