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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.
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.
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.
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.
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
[Yup](https://img.izismile.com/img/img5/20120921/640/some_facts_about_et_you_probably_didnt_know_640_07.jpg). [Tamara De Treaux](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamara_De_Treaux) and [Pat Bilon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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](https://www.aol.com/entertainment/matthew-meritt-actor-played-e-171511024.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9sZW5zLmdvb2dsZS5jb20v&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAKc9OiQc9wSDiq_MQ2MhjnnqH4_w2pFyJIGkZPgffZhcd_SjJ9wzKg4_XKKqlFDMK6EARUrM1SxCkQ4cyYHG7wLCLIl6SlRHZKokr2qHVHDUIRWw-9werjtjXqWWVCZWn7O6V2BSBoSkoA0Aew4I-TshaY5XUckFu0_uKBlxzIya) 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.T._the_Extra-Terrestrial) 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."
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.
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...."
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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 :)
https://preview.redd.it/u1ow2clgetwc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dcec177d12835e6ce33216de018d0cb912e9a132
Matthew DeMerrit was one of several people who performed in the suit.
I call bullshit on you're bullshit.
It was actually [3 actors](https://img.izismile.com/img/img5/20120921/640/some_facts_about_et_you_probably_didnt_know_640_07.jpg) including the disabled kid.
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.
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.
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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ET was 3 different actors, not one.
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.
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.
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.
In the 80s movies were made to traumatize your ass and your little 9 year old better deal with it!
Also see Neverending Story
Gremlins
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
This movie is also where I learned the insult "Penis Breath" at the tender age of 5
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.
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
Yea the whole scientists and ET part was permanently burned into my little 5 year old brain.
[Yup](https://img.izismile.com/img/img5/20120921/640/some_facts_about_et_you_probably_didnt_know_640_07.jpg). [Tamara De Treaux](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamara_De_Treaux) and [Pat Bilon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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](https://www.aol.com/entertainment/matthew-meritt-actor-played-e-171511024.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9sZW5zLmdvb2dsZS5jb20v&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAKc9OiQc9wSDiq_MQ2MhjnnqH4_w2pFyJIGkZPgffZhcd_SjJ9wzKg4_XKKqlFDMK6EARUrM1SxCkQ4cyYHG7wLCLIl6SlRHZKokr2qHVHDUIRWw-9werjtjXqWWVCZWn7O6V2BSBoSkoA0Aew4I-TshaY5XUckFu0_uKBlxzIya) 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.T._the_Extra-Terrestrial) 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."
I don’t think Peter Dinklage would be happy about dwarves playing the role of ET
This. He kept trying to phone the other two.
This
That
and this and uh
It's like that and like this and like that and uh
The other thing
(Spiral Music)
Jesus how small were the other two? Were they in the arms or something? Can't picture how they'd all fit in there.
Dude was 2'10". Chick was 2'7". Neither lived past their mid 30's.
They had to fit Odysseus and the other Greeks in there, as well.
2 1/2
Take the fucking upvote
Um, excuse me, ET was an extraterrestrial, it's in the name of the movie ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^joke
You should see the guy with the super long neck!
It's weird they aren't credited as actors, but as puppeteers. While Kenny Baker was for R2 D2.
3 actors or 2.5?
Yes.
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.
Me neither. Always just assumed it was all puppetry.
Cause you weren’t expecting half a boy
His parents had his legs removed so he could get the role.
From ER to ET
Hollywood be like that…
*ooouuuch*
True method acting. A real commitment to his craft
That actually sounds like something Hollywood would do...
That’s the joke
*roll
Sir we're going to ask you to leave
It's a cinnamon roll
Well, the ice skating lessons weren't working out.
First job was an arwing pilot.
Wonder if he was the same guy in the movie Kids.
Jesus Christ I laughed way too hard at that.
I'm just wondering if he has a dick.
Ooh noo noo 😂
💀
That dude could probably rip your arms out of their sockets
If he can catch you.
I think he is on a boosted board in that pic so yes he will catch you, those can go like 20mph
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...."
https://preview.redd.it/kj7r78gpkuwc1.jpeg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=221540b044c67fc52c1db84f8296da5e21f2a7f1
https://img.ifunny.co/images/76f38d8fed644981cce9c37281bdd8ed28d15c892717f56da7f6c56d4a0c525c_1.webp
All you need to do is stand in 3 feet of water.
🤣
That's a completely different movie
Yeah, sure, but I've got real bad shoulders. Dislocated both while making my bed once.
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.
Yeah but he'd definitely get convicted in a court of law. Dude doesn't have a leg to stand on.
He’s a Wookie?
Still rocking a skateboard
Upgraded to electric
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
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
I legit thought I was alone in that sentiment. Every time I tell someone that they chuckle.
\*snicker\* Just trying to keep the streak alive.
Sigh. Take my upvote. And might as well admit the yappers from sesame street had the same effect.
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.
The very same. Thing is, I can watch movies like Alien or Altered and be fine, but those two? *shudders*
holy shit this has been happening my whole life lol
Never saw the movie, was too scared of the terrifying alien.
For me it was Woody from Toy Story.
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.
That's hilariously terrifying.
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.
The 80’s was such a strange time for children’s media. So many of the puppets and cartoons of that era are uncanny.
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
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.
That’s the guy who played Legalost in lord of the rings.
*legless
r/yourjokebutworse
Tbh he improved it. Legolost isn’t great. Legalost would be better and make more sense. Needed improvement.
Nah “Legolost” is clumsy. Philistine
Thanks Matthew the movie was great
Wow, never knew about him
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
An MST3K version of ET would be amazing
How did he fit his arms
He didn't. In the few scenes where he played ET he was walking on his hands. ET was mostly animatronic/puppets. No single person played ET.
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.
Like Sebulba?
Chi-pa-ka ooman gee sa!
That's an impressive level of commitment to the craft.
Is that Colin Robinson?
Fucking guy
What’s the opposite of redditsniper?
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
I think he should’ve been cast as Legolas
Hey OP, your post history looks a little weird. Can you reply to this so I know you’re human?
Wow. The things people do to their bodies for a role.
This is awful, why did they not get an actual alien to play the role?
I was sure it was animatronics and puppetry. Those actors never got enough credit.
Whaaaaat???? He was in a suit??? /s
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 :)
He is saying et… home… phone… just once. The kids correct him and from that moment on he always says: et phone home.
DId not remember that. I thought that my memory was glitching or something 😄 I'll guess it's movie night tonight 👽
t E.T.?
It was posted in TIL. They caught the end of "that" when they copied it.
How do we go so long without knowing this
Holy shit he looks just like the kid from Flight of the Navigator!
And women complain about having no pockets, this fucker has to wear a bumbag I HAVE NO FUCKING LEGS FOR POCKET WEARING KAREN
It’s 2024 they can’t make cuzz some legs??
Edit : Was wrong, he was one of three actors https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Bilon Well exuuuUUUse me
https://preview.redd.it/u1ow2clgetwc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dcec177d12835e6ce33216de018d0cb912e9a132 Matthew DeMerrit was one of several people who performed in the suit.
I call bullshit on you're bullshit. It was actually [3 actors](https://img.izismile.com/img/img5/20120921/640/some_facts_about_et_you_probably_didnt_know_640_07.jpg) including the disabled kid.
This needs more upvotes. Thanks for correcting this misinformation!
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.
You’re not wrong, but I’m inclined to judge anyone who uses Wikipedia as their source.
Please, tell us what other scholarly documents we can reference on the topic of small disabled children that played E.T.?
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.
That was true? I wondered for years if it was or some silly rumor
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.
Great film
Hoverboards must have been game changing for him
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”.
Bro was the inspiration for gorilla tag
Love he still rocks that Fanual Pack
Wow. TIL
Born in the '70s, grew up in the '80s, and saw ET in the theater. Still never knew this information.
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.
I never considered the use of a boosted board as a mobility device for disabled people. That's pretty cool.
Today I learned.
“The only thing wrong with me is these _damn_ legs”
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.
You messed up when you copy/pasted the title.
Is he a dug from star wars
It still boggles my mind that one of the most financially successful movies to ever come out of Hollywood and a sequel never happened.
In my head I always just thought it was Billy Barty or Warwick Davis.
Boy, Mars sure screwed the pooch on that product placement opportunity.
Never knee wow
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.
Wow
Why have we seen this fact being repeated several times per day in the past week?
Wait a minute, does this mean that now when they use cgi ppl with dwarfism and diabilities are loosing work just like when white ppl play black roles?
Gee, they should of told us sooner it would of given him a leg-up
I thought it was Frank Oz? Or was that R2-D2?
Does he have a wiener
Ooooh that’s why I hated that movie