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Cross over, Behind the Scenes Pic of the Day! All are welcome! All welcome! Oh, and phone home while you’re at it!
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with today’s Behind the Scenes Pic!
Now, it’s no secret that Steven Spielberg was pretty hands on when directing Poltergeist. In fact, you may recall my interview with the late, great Zelda Rubinstein in which she proclaims that she was never directed by anybody other than Spielberg and she wasn’t fond of Tobe Hooper from the get go (click here to read that interview!). Specifically she said that Hooper set up shots, but Spielberg is the one who came in and did all the adjustments.
I’m not shitting on the man. Hooper is a really nice guy and obviously a talented filmmaker and I have no doubt in my mind that he had creative input on Poltergeist, but from the many crew people I’ve spoken with and Zelda herself I’m convinced that his role on the film was closer to that of a 2nd Unit director as Spielberg jumped back and forth between Poltergeist and ET.
If there was ever any clearer indication of this juggling act than today’s BTS pic then I haven’t seen it. I say it a lot, but if I had this in high res I’d blow this picture up and frame it. Spielberg in the middle of all his movie kids like a boss!
Thanks to Josh Blocker for sending this one along! It’s not amazing quality, but goshdarnit is it a great shot!
If you have a behind the scenes shot you’d like to submit to this column, you can email me at quint@aintitcool.com.
Tomorrow’s pic in honor of a certain film series getting a prequel this weekend!
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
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Click here to visit the complete compilation of previous Behind the Scenes images, Page Two
Readers Talkback
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On the set the crew called Tobe *hop to it Hooper*.
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hell you can even be fifth.
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Great find!!
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June 7, 2012, 1:09 a.m. CST
That guy is kinda okay at directing children
by Inexplicable_Nuclear_Balls
But nowhere near the level of, say, George Lucas. Yippee!
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June 7, 2012, 1:09 a.m. CST
Maybe Spielberg should have made the uhm... "adjustments" for Michael Bay on the TRANSFORMERS films?
by lv_426
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Such a pretty girl, may she rest in peace. And the Bastard who strangled her, John Thomas Sweeney (last name later changed to John Maura) and only served four years for it, burn in Hell's Hell.
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12 is too young to leave life. May your soul rest in peace.
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June 7, 2012, 1:36 a.m. CST
Flipping through an old Cinefantastique, I discovered Greedo was a cross-dresser ... http://www.geeksofdoom.com/GoD/img/2010/11/2010-11-27-greedo.jpg
by justmyluck
The caption says "played by a secretary at ILM"!
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Never seen that one before, it's a great cast mash-up! And redwhitenegro, what *are* you on?
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June 7, 2012, 2:53 a.m. CST
Shame Spielberg can't recapture some of his old 1982 magic now in 2012.
by marshallwtoneil
Just saying...
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Just saying...
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You were da bomb in Frog Dreaming yo!
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That is a classic.
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Poltergeist kids meet the ET kids... very cool!
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June 7, 2012, 3:47 a.m. CST
redwhitenegro, are you joking? Only 82 movies better than ET!?!
by HanYoYo
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I think this guy is certifiable -- not from his opinions, but he's definitely hopped up on violent, threatening phrases in the Talkbacks of late. His retort to my criticizing his infantile language was the thought-provoking "Fuck you *rumourd*". I don't begrudge anyone their opinion about E.T. -- you can hate it or love it, doesn't matter to me. I will remind everyone that it received a 10 minutes standing ovation when it ended... at the Cannes Film Festival. And the french don't just roll over and play dead when it comes to opinion about film.
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good find
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....and all the Poltergeist kids are smiling looking up? Creepy.
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Wasn't he the hack who made that awful LIFE FARCE ... er, LIFE FORCE which prompted Patrick Stewart to comment it was the nadir of his career?
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June 7, 2012, 6:45 a.m. CST
Bollocks - LIFEFORCE is a cracking movie. Bob Keen's FX work are still good today, and...
by cactusjack1972
...Mathilda May's tit's aren't so bad either. Now if you'd have said INVADERS FROM MARS, we'd be on the same page.
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THANKS!!
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Was that before or after her Playboy shoot?
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June 7, 2012, 7:24 a.m. CST
Hooper made TCM. he gets a pass for any shit movies he did.
by Waka_Flocka
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June 7, 2012, 7:30 a.m. CST
Okay kids, you on my right are pretty safe. You on my left are screwed.
by Grammaton Cleric Binks
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June 7, 2012, 7:47 a.m. CST
Lifeforce was made back when Patrick Stewart took himself too seriously
by rev_skarekroe
By his own admission he didn't lighten up until he started doing Star Trek and realized acting can actually be fun. So I have to wonder if he'd take a different approach to "Lifeforce" if they made it today. Also, both of Hooper's TCM movies deserve the adjective "brilliant," but in vastly different ways.
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and have no intention to. I really hate Spielberg kid movies, I did make an exception for Temple of Doom. Super 8 was pretty good, though.
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June 7, 2012, 8:23 a.m. CST
It's like some kinda awesome alterna-verse where friendly alien botanists and terrorizing native american spirits exist in on the same plane!
by Dogmatic
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June 7, 2012, 8:23 a.m. CST
And the kids got together afterwards and shared all about their messed-up experiences...and the E.T. kids said mouthes agape "you guys win."
by Dogmatic
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June 7, 2012, 8:33 a.m. CST
My mind is going to explode seeing that mixup of universes...
by ufoclub1977
I saw each movie (E.T. and Poltergeist) 5 times in the theater that summer... and the soundtracks were revolving nonstop on after the other on my turntable (where you could stack records to drop and play!)
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June 7, 2012, 8:36 a.m. CST
Great picture - it's sad to look at it and think about the tragedies that lie ahead for some of them
by DadTimesTwo
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June 7, 2012, 8:37 a.m. CST
That photo is scary. The two girls on far right look like ghosts. Especially the onw with black hair
by ajit maholtra
It is like after they died, their ghosts live in photos and stare back at the audience.
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June 7, 2012, 8:42 a.m. CST
Were the Smiles on the Poltergeist Kids and Heads Down Pose for ET Kids Planned?
by HateThaNet
rpalompo is right. It's a bit creepy in retrospect.
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Really great. Do not fuck with Spielberg!!! The man is the best director of our time. Possibly of all time.
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June 7, 2012, 8:45 a.m. CST
Spielberg "Well it proves one thing, Mr. Hooper. It proves that you wealthy college boys couldn't direct a middle school play."
by phifty2
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Co-directed this film, but back then you were unable to do co-directing credits so we have Hooper listed as director and Spielberg as Producer. The Coens did this for years until the DGA changed credit rules last decade. I mean all the people who have said Spielberg directed a lot of this are (or were) people that had gotten out of the industry. We can't trust people like Jo Beth Williams or Craig T. Nelson that are still seeking film/TV work who say it was all Hooper all the time. I'll be honest though, I'd believe it was more likely that Spielberg directed most of this than Hooper (if it wasn't a co-directing thing), just based off of Hooper's film jobs post Texas Chainsaw (I think Salems' Lot was the only one that he actually filmed the whole thing, other films he was either fired from, or things went on in post production).
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Anybody see that legit Smokey is the Bandit Part 3 trailer on youtube. Oh and this is the 30th anniversary of the Twilight Zone helicopter accident.
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June 7, 2012, 9:37 a.m. CST
For a while when drew was a coked up 12 year old I thought she would be next in line
by UltraTron
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....but how come all the E.T. kids look a bit grumpy while the Poltergeist kids look super happy? Maybe it was the day E.T. "died". ;)
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June 7, 2012, 10:48 a.m. CST
Who would have thought that Barrymore would be the most successful kid in that group?
by v3d
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They don't have any money to pay for it.
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June 7, 2012, 11:08 a.m. CST
Hey, what HAPPENED to the guy that played Michael, Robert MacNaughton??? Never saw him in anything since that I can recall...and he's great in that movie.
by Dogmatic
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June 7, 2012, 11:29 a.m. CST
Robert MacNaughton was in The Manhattan Project with John Lithgow.
by v3d
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June 7, 2012, 12:18 p.m. CST
Would still LOVE to see a pic of Spielberg actually directing on the set of Poltergeist.
by openthepodbaydoorshal
A picture with the mixed cast is cool, but understandable since he was involved with both.
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ET is so.... overrated.
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Holy crap. I think you're right. The two girls are looking right into the camera, right at us, while Spielberg and the others seem to be going about their business.
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Nice find Quint. Very eerily revealing picture.
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June 7, 2012, 3:32 p.m. CST
Kind of Spooky that the Two Dead Actors are the ones Holding Hands
by MasterControlProgram
-- End of Line --
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June 7, 2012, 3:35 p.m. CST
ET was the only movie I saw where the entire audience stood up an clapped at the part where the bikes all flew.
by ufoclub1977
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This has nothing to do with the DGA allowing 2 director credits, as they still do not do that in most cases (see Robert Rodriguez on SIN CITY). Spielberg had made a 3 picture deal with COLUMBUS that included Close Encounters and 1941, and still owed them 1 more movie. He had since signed an exclusive deal for AMBLIN entertainment with UNIVERSAL and E.T. was the first movie he did under that contract. He asked to be allowed to direct Poltergeist too and they said he could produce and write only. Allegedly he "ghost directed". The DGA even opened an investigation for the credits and Spielberg paid for a full page ad in Variety congratulating Tobe Hooper on directing the film. The kids all say that Steven was "hands on" and it certainly feels a lot more like a Spielberg film. Plus nothing Hooper has done before or since remotely resembles this movie. Hell, to maintain control, Spielberg even had Michael Kahn edit POLTERGIEST instead of E.T. (Carol Littleton edited that one)to make it more like a Spielberg movie. So this controversy has no specific answer as to who really directed the film.
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June 7, 2012, 6:01 p.m. CST
I notice that the two asian kids from Twilight Zone aren't pictured.
by Arcadian Del Sol
probably for legal reasons.
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I've never heard his name spoken, only printed. I need an answer. This I command!
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...you talkbackers just crack me up!
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You're thinking of Christopher Collet. Apparently, McNaughton hasn't done very much over the years. And he was most definitely great in ET.
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Maybe if you'd seen E.T. you wouldn't think Super 8 was "great".
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