10 Genius Techniques Directors Used To Get Great Movie Performances

9. Steven Spielberg Shot The Film In Chronological Order - E.T.

Steven Spielberg is able to work with child actors better than perhaps any other filmmaker past or present, as best demonstrated by the fantastic performances of Henry Thomas and Drew Barrymore as young Elliott and Gertie in his sci-fi masterpiece E.T.

But Spielberg hatched a very specific plan in order to wring the maximum amount of believable emotion out of their acting, by taking the extremely uncommon approach of shooting most of the film in sequence.

Despite how cost-prohibitive this typically is, Spielberg felt it would allow Thomas and Barrymore to bond with the E.T. prop in a very real way over the course of the shoot, and that this growing feeling would transpire through to the audience also.

And Spielberg was absolutely right - the quarantine sequence and Elliott's final farewell with E.T. are as heart-wrenching as they are because, by that point in the shoot, the kids had become so familiar with the "character."

The added expense was clearly worth it, between the universal critical acclaim and $792.9 million worldwide box office, on a mere $10 million budget no less.