The BMX boys of E.T.

The story of the stunt doubles behind one of Hollywood's most iconic scenes

BMX
(Image credit: (Jim Cassimus/Narratively))

Robert Cardoza, Greg "Ceppie" Maes, and David Lee were five minutes late to a private screening of Steven Spielberg's E.T. at Culver Studios in California in 1982, months before the film would open to the public. It was the first time the three boys, hired as BMX stunt doubles for the movie, would get to see their work on a big screen. As they rushed up to the studio entrance, they came upon a locked gate and a woman holding a little girl's hands. The woman was kicking the gates with her heels and screaming, "Let us in, my daughter's in this movie!" The boys were convinced they had blown their chance to get in. It turned out to be Drew Barrymore's mom having a tantrum. Her outrage and insistent pleas eventually got them all in to the screening.

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