- Dee Wallace reveals “a whole B-story in E.T.”
- She asked Spielberg to tone down the sexiness in one scene
- E.T.’s love for Reese’s Pieces…and Mary
Dee Wallace, who played the divorced mother of three in Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi classic E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, has revealed details of the film’s original subplot involving her character’s romance with the alien.
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Wallace spoke to Steve Kmetko on his Still Here Hollywood podcast about her experience filming under the creative direction of the Oscar-winning director.
While the actress had fond memories on set, there were a couple of instances where she recalled feeling a little uncomfortable with how much flesh she was revealing to the luck-struck alien.
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At the time of its 1982 release, E.T. became the highest-grossing film of all time, surpassing Star Wars. It held the No. 1 spot at the U.S. box office for 16 consecutive weeks, one of the longest runs in history, and has since grossed $792 million worldwide
E.T. had a love crush on Mary
Wallace recalled “[Originally, there was] a whole B-story in E.T. about E.T. having a love affair with Mary – a love crush on Mary. There’s little bits of it left in there”.
She then explained how, in one scene where E.T. was showing his affection, the bedsheets were pulled a little too low for her liking.
“There was a scene where he [E.T.] came in to put Reese’s Pieces down on my bedside table as I’m asleep. Well, Mr. Spielberg wanted the sheet a little lower than I was comfortable with.”
She continued, “I argued my point that this was a family film. I could understand the parents smoking pot in Poltergeist,” she added, referencing the film Spielberg had produced around the same time.
“But this film was very pure to me. And it was about love. And so we ended up calling in [producer] Kathleen Kennedy and [writer] Melissa [Mathison], our beautiful, amazing writer, and they said, ‘We kind of agree with her, Steven.’”.
“So we compromised,” Wallace concluded, “and pulled the sheet up almost to my shoulder blades, which I was okay with.”
Kmetko remarked “That’s pretty high,” but Wallace hit back with”Not to a girl from Kansas!”.
Reese’s Pieces
Despite the love-story scene not making the cut, Reese’s Pieces still famously featured in the sci-fi hit as the bait Elliott uses to lure the alien out of hiding.
After first encountering E.T., Elliott leaves a trail of the sweet treats leading from the woods to his house. E.T. follows the trail, picking up and eating the candy, which helps build trust between him and Elliott. The scene has been watched in the clip below:
The memorable sequence however, could have looked a little different, as M&M’s were originally offered the product placement, but Mars declined.
Hershey’s jumped at the chance and a deal was inked that meant Hershey Foods would promote E.T. with $1 million of advertising, and in return, Hershey could use E.T. in its own ads.
The sales of Reese’s Pieces skyrocketed, reportedly by 65%, after the film’s release.