Steven Spielberg reveals directing Drew Barrymore in E.T. 'made me want to be a father'
Drew brought out the director's paternal instincts.
Steven Spielberg has told how directing Drew Barrymore in E.T. made him "want to be a father."
The director and actress spoke about working together on a panel at the TCM Classic Film Festival in New York.
Drew, who starred in the cult 1982 movie when she was seven years old, told how the film set the course for the rest of her life.
"I think E.T., for me, is the one I'm the most proud of," the now 49-year-old said. "Because it's the one that changed my life."
She continued, "There's no question about that. Everything in my life is about how I got believed in by one human being, and that is the life that I try to honour every day."
Steven then confessed how Drew's role in the film "changed my life also."
"Up until that point - '81, '82 - I was just making movies," the 78-year-old shared. "That was my life. I was obsessed with telling stories, but making E.T. made me want to be a father for the first time. I never even thought about that until E.T."
Drew, who has spoken openly about her addiction issues which started during her childhood, joked, "I didn't ruin that for you?"
Steven replied, "The opposite."
He added, "I didn't want to have kids because it was not a kind of equation that made sense for me as I was going from movie to movie to movie, script to script. It never occurred to me until halfway through E.T. I was a parent on that film, And I started thinking, 'Well, maybe this could be my real life someday.' It was the first time that it occurred to me that maybe I could be a dad. And maybe in a way, a director is a dad, or a mom."
Steven was married to Amy Irving between 1985 and 1989. They share son, Max, 39. After their divorce, he married Kate Capshaw in 1991.
He became dad to her two children, and the couple went on to have four more children together.
"I have seven kids and six grandkids," he shared at the panel. "I've shown the film to all my kids and a couple of my grandkids. Some of them are still too young, because I'm always worried about them being worried about E.T. and I want to let them know before they turn the corner and are surprised by something, what to expect."