He may have been nominated for awards for his role in "E.T.", but actor Henry Thomas' children don't seem impressed by their father's most well-known film role.
In 1982, Thomas got to act out every little kid’s dream when he played the boy (Elliott) who found a frightened alien from another world, then got wrapped up in an exciting adventure trying to save the little guy from the big bad government in Steven Spielberg’s classic film, “E.T.”
But in a recent interview with Yahoo Entertainment, the 50-year-old actor shared that his own children found the whole thing unimpressive.
Thomas noted that on the day he finally sat them down for their first viewing of their father’s iconic performance, “it went over like a wet sandwich.”
“My middle daughter, who was seven or eight at the time, said: 'Dad, why are you hanging out with that alien?' And my son just kind of cowered in fear every time that E.T. came on screen. He was a little bit too young to watch it then, I think. Bad dad — I ruined it for him."
Thomas shared that while he had great success in the industry at a young age, he doesn't necessarily want that same career for his kids. He’s supportive of whatever their decisions, but, “it's not necessarily a tenable career all the time,” he said, “and it's not a very reliable way of earning a living. So I warn them about the real world, because when the taxman cometh, they don't care about excuses — they just want their money."
To stream "E.T. the Extra Terrestrial" click here.
"Even though I've worked consistently over the years,” said Thomas, “there have been periods in my life where I haven't had anything for a year-and-a-half or two years. That's fine and dandy when you're 22 years old, but when you have a mortgage and a family and you're unemployed for two years, it's pretty grim."
Unlike many stories of a child star rocketing to fame and then burning out, Thomas did continue with a working acting career.
Landing prime roles in more 1980s hits like “Cloak & Dagger” and “The Quest” continued, but Thomas noticed the toll it was all taking on his family. "My mom would come away with me for months at a time and not see my dad,” he explained, “and that caused a lot of marital problems between them.”
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Aside from that situation being an influence on the actor’s future decisions, his life choices at the time didn't align with a lot of the partying that many of his fellow young actors, like “E.T.” co-star Drew Barrymore, were getting into.
"I wasn't interested in hanging out with celebrities and filmmakers,” said Thomas. “That didn't appeal to me at all. What always appealed to me about acting was being part of a story and playing a definitive role in telling that story."
Thomas, who lives in Oregon with his family, is currently filming the upcoming Netflix miniseries, “The Fall of the House of Usher.”
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