Review by C.J. Bunce
Raise your hand if you still have your Pizza Hut drinking glasses set, or the sticker they handed out at theaters on opening day that promoted Reese’s Pieces. Five years ago here at borg I watched E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial return to theaters and reflected on the blockbuster film’s 35th anniversary. Here we are at #40 and writer Caseen Gaines–whose landmark book on The Dark Crystal I loved–has penned a complete account of the making of the film. It’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial: The Ultimate Visual History, and it’s one of the best behind-the-scenes chronicles I’ve reviewed at borg. It’s available now in a big, hardcover edition at all bookstore retailers and here at Amazon.
Gaines is on his way to becoming film books’ next J.W. Rinzler. Gaines steps back and lets the story tell itself as he begins with Steven Spielberg’s recollections of seeing a UFO with his dad when he was young, and Gaines follows that story as it works its way into a script and then the science fiction classic that would surpass Star Wars at the box office and win four Oscars. Perhaps it’s because E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a “simple story”–as Spielberg and executive producer Kathleen Kennedy called it–and that translates to a handful of creators able to provide a detailed account of every step along the way.
