“We’re all going to die and they’re never going to give me my license!” “I’ll believe in you all my life everyday. E.T…I love you.” “Is he a pig? He sure eats like one.” “I’ll be right here.”
These lines were written by Melissa Mathison for Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), which celebrated a 40th anniversary release on August 12th, 2022. Mathison had a career as a screenwriter that lasted for 36 years, writing screenplays based on children’s novels such as The Black Stallion (1979), as well as original screenplays like “E.T.,” which earned her a Best Original Screenplay Oscar Nomination. Though her career was relatively short, it was remarkable.
Mathison was born in Los Angeles, California on June 3rd, 1950. She was born into a family of writers: her father, Richard, was the Los Angeles Bureau Chief of Newsweek and her mother, was a food writer and convenience-foods entrepreneur, so she naturally developed the desire to write herself. She studied writing at the University of California, Berkeley, and her career officially took off when Francis Ford Coppola tapped her as his assistant on The Godfather part 2 (1974). (The Mathisons were family-friendly with the Coppolas and she even babysat his kids!)
After “Godfather 2,” Omni Productions was looking for a screenwriter to adapt the beloved children’s novel The Black Stallion written by Walter Farley. Coppola recommended Mathison, and she was hired, writing a script that stayed true to Farley’s novel. The film not only exceeded Farley’s expectations, but it even caught the attention of Steven Spielberg, who was looking for someone to write for his next film project “E.T.” Originally conceived as a “sort of” sequel to Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Spielberg became involved with “E.T.,” but he was not interested in making sequels. He agreed to produce it, but not direct, and originally had summoned screenwriter John Sayles to write the sequel, which was going to be called Night Skies. When Spielberg was displeased with Sayles’ draft, he read the story to Mathison, who re-wrote the screenplay, thus re-imagining it as “E.T.,” and became director again.
In addition to a screenplay nomination, the film received a total of nine Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, and won four. Spielberg and Mathison collaborated again two years later on Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), a film based on the television series of the same name, and in which Spielberg shared directing credits with Joe Dante, John Landis, and George Miller; Mathison shared writing credits with Landis, George Clayton Johnson, and Richard Matheson.
Besides her collaborations with Spielberg, Mathison also wrote the screenplays for The Escape Artist (1982), the television film Son of the Morning Star (1991), The Indian in the Cupboard (1995), and Kundun (1997), each of which were based on original books. While writing “Kundun,” she befriended the Dalai Lama and began a second career as an advocate for Tibetan freedom and was even on the board of the International Campaign for Tibet. In 1998, she and then-husband Harrison Ford lend their voices to the audiobook The Emperor’s New Clothes: An All-Star Illustrated Retelling of the Classic Fairy Tale, voicing the con artist husband-and-wife hired by the emperor’s seamstress to design the new clothes.
In 2008, Melissa Mathison was hired by Disney to write the English-translation for the Japanese Anime film Ponyo, produced at the Japanese Animation Film Co. Studio Ghibli and released under Disney’s label. The final film she wrote the screenplay for was Disney’s live-action adaptation of The BFG (2016) which was directed by Steven Spielberg (marking the first time ever Spielberg directed a film produced and distributed by Disney!) and starred Mark Rylance as the title character. Rylance had previously won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar under Spielberg’s direction in Bridge of Spies (2015) just the year before. Mathison was diagnosed with neuroendocrine cancer towards the end of the film’s production and died on November 4th, 2015, at the age of 65, eight months before the film’s July 1st release. The film was dedicated in her honor, reading “FOR OUR MELISSA” in the closing credits.
Melissa Mathison was a screenwriter who knew how to bring a book to life on film, but to stay true to the book, which is an exceptionally rare quality for writers. It’s unfortunate that she never won an Oscar for any of her screenplays and it’s also unfortunate that she is no longer with us. But she had an incredible career and every movie lover can agree that, had it not been for her skills as a screenwriter, “E.T.” wouldn’t be the beloved classic it still is today.
