I worked with E. T. a couple of times. The first was for Eunice Kennedy Shriver for her passion, THE SPECIAL OLYMPICS. Steven Spielberg kindly consented for her to use E. T. as a character in the commercial. The spot itself, showed a young high jumper being inspired by E. T. before his event.
I was given a frame by frame storyboard by Steven together with a list of instructions on how to film E. T. During the shoot, I had to change a great deal of the shots because the E. T. I was given didn’t have some of the special effects capabilities that he had in the film.
There was a bit of controversy when they screened the final edit because of that but the piece was finally approved and Ms Shriver was happy. That meant a lot to me.
The second time was for a Pepsi spot that coincided with the release of the DVD (remember them?). At one point it was being said that the film would never be released on DVD but…
I have now worked with the two most famous creatures (critters) of all time, E.T. and the Alien. The Alien was a bit more fun.
I have a residence in Santa Fe and just north of the town is a monument, Camel Rock. It looks a great deal like E. T. and I believe that Steven Spielberg used it as an inspiration for the creature. He had a home near there and his offices on the Universal Backlot were adobe style, so that area of New Mexico had some strong influences on him.