10 Hilariously Obvious Stand-Ins Who Ruined Their Scenes

Spielberg utilised his typical ingenuity in the making of E.T, and the 1982 family masterpiece remains a pretty great argument for the use of stand-ins. The eponymous spaceman was played by a stuntman who was under three feet tall for many scenes, allowing him a convincing range of movement onscreen and making his interactions with the young protagonists convincing to this day.

In an age where motion capture reigns supreme and CGI characters are commonplace, it’s hard to believe that the production also recruited a child who had limited limbs due to a birth defect for a set of scenes. As a result, E.T convinces completely and the classic flick still holds a place as one of American cinema’s most impressive achievements. That said, not all of the stand-in work done in the film is quite a as clever, and there are a few scenes near the film’s close which still leave us shaking our heads in disbelief.

Full disclosure - We’re not really sure how best to film a potentially dangerous bicycle chase scene with child protagonists.

That said, there are definitely better methods than shooting the sequence using adult actors with their faces (mostly) obscured, then hiring taller stand-ins to play the surrounding teenagers and give the illusion of a size differential. It’s a cringeworthy trick which doesn’t pass muster upon a re-watch, but we’re safe to give Spielberg this one.

He’s probably done enough for film to deserve the occasional break, after all.