Join legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg and actress Drew Barrymore for an illuminating conversation before a presentation of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982).
Celebrated for its Oscar-winning special effects, sweeping musical score, and rich emotional palette, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial began as a highly personal project for director Steven Spielberg. After his parents’ divorce, a teenaged Spielberg conceived an imaginary friend — an alien — to help cope with loneliness. Twenty years later, and far from home during location shooting for Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), he was inspired to turn his childhood memories into a film. At the center of E.T. is Elliott (Henry Thomas), a ten-year-old child of divorce who discovers an odd-looking alien, left behind by his family in the forests of California, and brings him home. E.T.’s presence leads to a series of sometimes comic, sometimes frightening adventures, and — perhaps most unexpectedly for Elliott — deep empathy and friendship. Rounding out the cast are Dee Wallace and Peter Coyote, Robert MacNaughton and Drew Barrymore in her first major film role. As E.T. tells Elliott, while pointing a glowing finger toward the boy’s mind, “I’ll be right here.”
This program replaces the previously announced conversation with Meryl Streep and 40th anniversary screening of Out of Africa, which has been cancelled due to the devastating fires in Los Angeles.
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