The Story Behind ET II
The full tale of Spielberg's scrapped sinister sequel
BY Aug 10th 2009 10:10AMFILED UNDER: Features
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Ever since ET: The Extra-Terrestrial arrived in cinemas, rumours have floated about a sequel.
The most recent were in May of this year, but Steven Spielberg has always seemingly said that he won't make a new film with the character.
But back in 1982, as the original stormed the box office, he certainly had ideas.
This is the story of a film that might have been...
1. Night Skies
To tell the story of ET's proposed sequel, you really have to go back in time, to 1960, and Steven Spielberg's parents' divorce.
The lonely young man created an imaginary alien pal to help him deal with the emotional fall-out, later claiming the creature to be "a friend who could be the brother I never had and a father that I didn't feel I had anymore."
The tumultuous emotions of family break up and the extra-terrestrial pal would surface again, later in life, when Spielberg was enjoying his early run as a successful filmmaker.
With Close Encounters a huge success, he began to consider ideas for a follow-up, and his thoughts took him in a much darker direction, and during a collaboration with John Sayles, he dreamt up the concept of Night Skies.
If Close Encounters had been the hopeful side of contact with alien races, Night Skies was the twisted, terrorizing mirror image of abduction and abuse by creatures not from this planet.
It focused on a Kentucky farming family whose remote outpost is assaulted by evil alien types.
While Spielberg's naturally hopeful nature shifted away from that, the concept of nasty visitors from space would surface again.
But before that, there was the small matter of a subplot from Skies that Spielberg grasped on to.
Once thought of as a small, but powerful part of the overall story, Buddy the alien would come to the forefront.
Next: ET is born
Print Comments (1)
1: sp4cej0ckey says
God, what a kak idea for a sequel.. I'm shocked that Speilberg even took the time to write it down!
Let's hope that he learnt his lesson with Indy 4 and leaves it well alone!
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