Drew Barrymore Wants To Take a Crap On E.T.
Drew Barrymore must be riding the high of the critical success of her surprisingly accurate portrayal of Edie Beale in Grey Gardens, because she's obviously mad with power. How do I know this? Well, apparently she's got her sights set on doing the unthinkable: Making a sequel to E.T., 27 years after the fact.According the National Enquirer, Barrymore and Spielberg have met to discuss the project, which will show E.T. returning to Earth to rejoin the now-adult Gertie.
A source tells the tabloid, "Steven and Drew are being very secretive about this baby. But they want to do this project and work together. Steven has an incredible story in mind for the sequel that will bring E.T. back to earth." (Source)
Fortunately we're talking about the National Enquirer reporting this and all, which of course isn't typically known for outstanding achievements in not-made-up journalism. Which is a relief, because I like the premise of a Drew Barrymore/E.T. buddy comedy about as much as I like the premise of taking a leisurely stroll through West Philly at night with $100 bills taped all over my entire body.
Wow. Here is Drew Barrymore at Coachella, and this is what she looks like without make-up. That she didn't poorly apply to herself anyway:
One would have thought Spielberg learned his lesson after the letdown that was "Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull". "E.T." was lightning in a bottle and I would think it all but impossible to duplicate the success- especially after all this time. The world is a far different place now. Seriously, what gives? It's surely not for lack of money. Is it asking so much for some of the richest and most influential people in Hollywood to at least attempt to come up with something new and original? The so-called "special edition" of this film in and of itself did many laughable alterations, and I can guarantee that a revisit to this material will bring more of the same. And even if they were to shoot a sequel, where's the main character in Henry Thomas's Elliot? Drew Barrymore's character was little more than a cute, supporting, background character who didn't have the bond with the alien that Elliot did.
Steven, for the love of cinema, please go do something else. Take the chance that many filmmakers wish they had the power to do and produce something untried. Become the kind of trailblazer filmmaker you once were and not just an echo of things past. This revisit of E.T. is a set-up to failure.