10 Movie Auditions That Changed Cinema Forever

4. Henry Thomas - E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

In the pantheon of incredible, unforgettable movie auditions, there are few more memorable than that of Henry Thomas for Steven Spielberg's E.T.

Though Thomas apparently performed poorly in an original audition, he caught Spielberg's attention during an emotional improvised scene in a subsequent one, where Thomas was moved to tears while thinking of his dead dog.

It's an astoundingly persuasive piece of on-the-fly acting from a then-9-year-old Thomas, and mere seconds after the scene was finished, Spielberg gleefully told him, "OK kid, you got the job."

This audition ensured that the very emotional core of E.T. was in safe hands, and may well have influenced child acting in its wake, given the uncommon subtlety of Thomas' performance, compared to the tendency for young screen actors to, in Spielberg's own words, "[give] 150 percent on every shot."

Undeniably, E.T.'s subsequent global success also strapped a rocket to Spielberg, only further establishing him as Hollywood's go-to filmmaker for splashy, crowd-pleasing entertainment, effectively becoming a brand unto himself.