A collection of sci-fi movie memorabilia is heading to auction and includes one of the most iconic film aliens of all time. As part of the upcoming series, There Are Such Things: 20th Century Horror, Science Fiction, and Fantasy on Screen, Sothebys is offering an original, screen-used E.T. full body model seen in Steven Spielbergs E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Designed by the late, great special effects and makeup artist Carlo Rambaldi, the roughly 3-foot-tall piece of pop culture history was used in the famous closet scene, and is one of just three manufactured during the making of the 1982 movie.While instantly recognizable today, E.T.s overall look was completely absent from Melissa Mathisons screenplay. Creating the character from scratch came through a collaboration between Spielberg, storyboard artist Ed Verreaux, and Rambaldi. For the director, however, three particular historical figures came to mind for the diminutive alien.I remember saying to Carlo, heres some pictures of Albert Einstein, Ernest Hemingway, and Carl Sandburg. I love their eyes, Spielberg said in a 1996 behind-the-scenes documentary. Can we make E.T.s eyes as frivolous, and also wizened and as sad as those three icons?As for his other facial features, Rambaldi drew inspiration from his own life: his familys Himalayan cat, Kika. For the body, the artist wanted to reference the long necks of the women depicted in a 1952 painting titled Woman of the Delta from his home country of Italy.Multiple heads and torsos were required for the movie, each created for specific animatronic abilities. The end result was a physical prop capable of 150 different movements, including extending his neck even longer, furrowing his brow, and wrinkling his nose. The total cost to make E.T.? Over $1 million (about $3.3 million in 2025 money).Rambaldi based some of E.T.s facial features on his Himalayan cat, Kika. Credit: Sothebys Carlo Rambaldi passed away in 2012 after a lifetime spent in the movie business. In addition to the E.T. model scheduled for auction, There Are Such Things also features other projects Rambaldi helped realize, including a 40-foot-tall animatronic King Kong for the 1976 remake starring Jeff Bridges and Jessica Lange, the xenomorph from Alien, as well as a 20-foot-long model sandworm used in David Lynchs 1984 adaptation of Dune.The Sothebys There Are Such Things exhibition will be open to the public in New York City from March 29 to April 3, with the online auction closing that same day. One truly diehard E.T. fan will then walk away with the movie prop, which Sothebys estimates will sell for between $600,000 and $900,000.