Steven Spielberg Praises 6-Year-Old Drew Barrymore's 'Irrepressible' Creativity on E.T. Set

Steven Spielberg recalls 6-year-old Drew Barrymore's incredible creativity on the set of E.T. Read on to know the details.

Written by Ipshita Chakraborty , Entertainment Journalist

Published on Jan 28, 2025 | 12:47 PM IST | 18K

CC: Getty Images

Steven Spielberg and Drew Barrymore met again on Saturday, January 25, at the TCM Classic Film Festival in New York City to look back at filming E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. During the panel discussion moderated by Dave Karger, Spielberg recounted how six-year-old Barrymore contributed greatly to developing her character, Gertie.

Recalling the first meeting with Spielberg, he described how Barrymore’s natural confidence caught his eye right away. Rather than sitting around waiting for him to come and ask questions, she took the initiative herself. This assertiveness continued on the movie set, as improvisational skills she had been taught became part of the film, with most of her off-the-cuff remarks making it into the movie.

According to People, the director said, "The camera was rolling and Drew said, ‘I don't like his feet.’ We used it. Drew made up a lot of her own dialogue because she was irrepressible."

"It was gold," he added.

Barrymore's creativity is one thing that the late screenwriter Melissa Matheson had every day to marvel at. She used to watch how Barrymore could just get so much inspiration to work out into such incredible ideas. The director recalled, "[Matheson] couldn't believe the stuff that Drew was coming up with."

Drew Barrymore said she didn't realize that she had been improvising so much until she sat through the film in 2002 on its 20th anniversary. In seeing so much of what she'd brought to the table survive in the final cut, however, she realized that she had indeed learned a lot during the experience. She said, "I don't remember, like, how and why and where it came from."

E.T. turned out to be the highest-grossing film of its time, a record Spielberg later surpassed with Jurassic Park (1993).