Before E.T. could phone home in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, someone had to create the lovable alien. That challenge fell to Carlo Rambaldi, the Oscar-winning visual effects wizard and animatronics pioneer behind the extraterrestrial who’s stranded on Earth and befriends a boy and his family.
Now, an original mechanical model of E.T. Rambaldi created for Steven Spielberg’s classic 1982 film is ready to find a new home. It’s up for auction at Sotheby’s, with an estimated price of between $600,000 and $900,000. No one said adorable aliens with extendable necks come cheap.
The model appeared on screen in the famous scene where E.T. can be spotted hiding in plain sight in a closet among a bunch of stuffed animals with similarly wide eyes. It’s one of a number of items from Rambaldi’s estate being sold as part of There Are Such Things, an auction of artifacts celebrating the artistry from 20th century horror, science fiction and fantasy films from the early 1930s through the century’s end. Rambaldi died in 2012 at 86.
This model by special effects artist Carlo Rambaldi appeared in the scene where E.T. is hiding in a ... More closet among toys.Sotheby's
The auction opens to the public on Saturday and runs through April 3. Other Rambaldi creations on the block include expression studies for E.T.’s extraterrestrial star in colored pencil and ink on white paper; two original foam and latex sand worms from the 1984 film Dune; and an animatronic model of a baby Tyrannosaurus Rex from the 1993 movie Rex: A Dinosaur’s Story.
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The E.T. model up for auction measures 3 feet tall, about 1.5 feet wide and a foot deep and stands atop a metal base. It has an aluminum frame and is made from latex, foam, straw, acrylic paint and adhesive. Sotheby’s calls its wear “consistent with age and production use.”
Through animatronics, mechatronics, and puppetry, E.T. could pull off 86 different movements. The original first mechatronic E.T. character skeleton sold at auction in 2022, for $2.5 million.
Steven Spielberg’s E.T. Vision
Spielberg gave Rambaldi and his creature-making collaborators a clear directive when it came to E.T.: It was not to be a monster. The director considered it crucial that E.T. would appear friendly and inviting to children. He also wanted the creature to have doleful eyes. It was painfully homesick for its native planet after all.
“I remember saying to Carlo, ‘Here’s some pictures of Albert Einstein, Ernest Hemingway and Carl Sandburg,” the director recalled, as noted in the Sotheby’s catalog. “How can we make E.T.’s eyes as frivolous, wizened and also as sad as those three icons?” In the end, Rambaldi took inspiration for E.T.’s eyes not from any of those three, but from Kika the family cat.
The Italian-born artist won his third Academy Award for best visual effects for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, sharing it with Dennis Muren and Kenneth F. Smith. Among Rambaldi’s many other film credits are the 40-foot mechanical ape in the 1976 version of King Kong, which introduced him to the American market. He also worked on Alien, Possession and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, another Spielberg film.
The auction includes 62 lots in all. Highlights include the cape Bela Lugosi wore in the 1948 horror comedy film Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein’ costumes from The Wizard of Oz and original concept art from Blade Runner and Total Recall.
Among other Carlos Rambaldi items for sale in the auction are this expression study for E.T. in ... More colored pencil and ink on paper.Sotheby's