Drew Barrymore Thought E.T. Was Real When She Filmed the Movie at Age 7: 'I Really Loved Him'
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Ashley Bean
Drew Barrymore says she thought her alien costar in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was real when she starred in the hit film at 7 years old.
In a sneak peek of Monday's episode of her eponymous talk show series, Barrymore, now 47, reveals that she would talk to and care for the animatronic puppet who portrayed her out-of-this-world costar.
"Now I believed E.T. was real," she said in a conversation that included her former costars Henry Thomas, Robert MacNaughton and Dee Wallace.
"I really loved him in such a profound way. Is it like true that … what would happen?" she then asked the trio, recalling, "Because I would go and take lunch to him."
Ashley Bean
The film, which came out in 1982, features Barrymore as Gertie, a young girl who is terrified of the alien at first, before learning to love him. Thomas, 51, played Barrymore's brother Elliot in the movie.
Throughout the film, the kids quietly move E.T. into the family's suburban California home, but things become adventurous for them when the government catches onto their scheme and wants to take the alien away.
Speaking with Barrymore and his costars, Thomas said the first thing he remembered from filming was the then-young actress asking "the wardrobe lady" if she could have a scarf for E.T.'s neck "because he was gonna get cold."
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Wallace, 73, meanwhile, played the family matriarch, and recalled another anecdote about young Barrymore and her on-set pal.
"We found you over there just talking away to E.T. and so we let director Steven [Spielberg] know," she recounted. "And so Steven, from that time on, appointed two guys to keep E.T. alive so whenever you came over to talk to him, he could react to you."
RELATED: Drew Barrymore Says She Has No Plans To Return To Acting
During their get-together, the cast also discussed the possibility of a sequel, which Thomas said would be hard to think about doing without Melissa Mathison, who wrote the original screenplay and died in 2015.
"She was really the heart and soul of it," he said, as Wallace agreed, adding: "It's a classic, leave it a classic."
Barrymore chimed in and said she remembered hearing Spielberg, 75, say he would "never" make a sequel to E.T.
Ashley Bean
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"And in that moment I thought, 'Oh that's a bummer because that doesn't bring us all back together again for another round,' but I also understood and respected and completely knew that it was all about preservation of integrity for him," she told her costars.
The 40th anniversary of E.T. is especially meaningful for the talk show host, given that her daughters are around the same age she was when the film first came out. Barrymore said that Spielberg pointed out the coincidence to the actress, who admitted she still has trouble believing how synchronistic it all is.
"So he's like, 'We're not missing this moment with your kids,' " she told PEOPLE in February. "I'm like, 'Okay. You're right. We can't. You're right.' This is very emotional and full circle. My kids are very close to the age that I was when E.T. came out. Frankie actually is at the age. She is 7, and she will just be turning 8, and Olive is 9. She'll be turning 10. This is where I'm at, and they love Steven."
