E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial: "Elliott's" audition

This year is the 30th anniversary of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Above is a clip from Henry Thomas's audition for the roll of Elliott. In a recent Esquire interview, Thomas recalled his audition for Steven Spielberg:

NewImageI read a scene from some early version of the script, and then I was asked to do an improvisation. I think the gist of the improv was, "You found someone, and they're going to take them away from you, and it's your friend, and you really don't want your friend to go away." So I started crying, and really going for it I guess.