RIP: Melissa Mathison (1950 - 2015)
Thursday, November 5, 2015 at 7:06AM 
Melissa Mathison, Oscar-nominated screenwriter of E.T., has passed away at 65.
She gave us the film's iconic "E.T. phone home," but what connects each viewing is her rich understanding of the hearts and minds of children. She got to the part deep within all of us that was afraid of growing up and change, of trying to hold tightly to what would only be taken away from us. Adding this insight with natural and efficient dialogue, she turned uncomplex phrases like "Be good" and "I'll be right here" into primal moments loaded with childhood longing.
A mother of two herself, her grasp of the young mindset was also at play in her adaptations of The Black Stallion and The Indian in the Cupboard, and provided unique insight into the Dalai Lama for Kundun.
A natural fit to the fascinations of Spielberg, her gifts will be greatly missed. Coming in the year ahead, we will luckily have one last collaboration from the pair: the Roald Dahl motion-capture adaptation of The BFG. Material perfectly suited to her skills, it's a chance to celebrate her again.
RIP Melissa Mathison
2016, E.T., Melissa Mathison, RIP, Screenplays, Steven Spielberg, The BFG
Reader Comments (5)
She was a real talent. Writing good children's entertainment isn't easy, and she did it well.
This stinks. She was a wonderful writer, and still quite young. I had hoped The BFG might mean more work from her over the next few years. So it goes. RIP.
This makes me sad. Harrison Ford did her wrong (and of course the media led with that one affiliation).
Commenters on other sites were noting how well-written the domestic scenes of E.T. were. It's been forever and a day since I've seen it, but I'll never forget Dee Wallace's voice breaking at "He hates Mexico."
This is really sad - she was far too young. I recently rewatched both "E.T." and "The Black Stallion" back to back and was struck by how thematically similar they are, and how good she is at evoking the loneliness of being a young boy. As Chris says, a great match for Spielberg - wish they'd worked more together.
And "E.T." really is one of the greatest movies ever made, due as much to her as to Spielberg.