Screen-used E.T. model up for auction

NEW YORK — You can own a piece of cinematic history if your timing is right and you have about $1 million.

An original screen-used model of E.T. from the Steven Spielberg film “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial” will be going on the auction block at Sotheby’s.

It was made by Carlo Rambaldi and comes from his personal collection. He was known as the “Creature King.”

Rambaldi worked on “E.T.” along with other award-winning films such as “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “Alien” and “Dune.”

This specific model of E.T. was in the scene where the alien was in the closet trying to disguise himself among stuffed animals.

It’s about 3 feet tall.

To create the iconic character, Rambaldi and Spielberg pulled from several inspirational people including Albert Einstein, Ernest Hemingway and Carl Sandberg for E.T.‘s eyes.

The model was expected to get between $600,000 and $900,000.

It is part of Sotheby’s “There Are Such Things: 20th Century Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy on Screen" auction.

The sale also includes items from “Dune,” “Blade Runner,” “Total Recall” “Labyrinth,” “The Wizard of Oz” and “Jurassic Park.”

“E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial” won four Oscars in 1982 and was the highest-grossing film until “Jurassic Park” knocked it off the podium in 1993.

If you can’t plunk down hundreds of thousands of dollars to own the items, you can see them. They are on display to the public from March 29 to April 4 in New York.