Steven Spielberg spoke at length about the making of his 1983 masterpiece “E.T.” – including how it was inspired by his parents’ divorce – on Thursday night as part of the TCM Film Festival, as well as how “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” directly inspired the story for the emotional sci-fi drama.

Spielberg was in conversation with Ben Mankiewicz for nearly half an hour, kicking off the discussion with his experience of working with Joan Crawford on the TV series “Night Gallery.” Of working with Crawford, Spielberg said, “She was not Mommie Dearest.” The Oscar-winning filmmaker then discussed the making of his first big hit “Jaws” (the film went 100 days over schedule), before talking about how his 1977 film “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” inspired the story for “E.T.”

“I had been working on an actual literal script about my parents’ separation and divorce, and I had been working on ideas about...