'ET' star takes on Williams' final ride

Thirty years ago, Henry Thomas was a quirky little loner with a bug-eyed alien for a best friend in Steven Spielberg's timeless blockbuster "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial." Today, Thomas is a 40-year-old actor who has since worked with actors the likes of Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Anthony Hopkins and directors such as Martin Scorsese and Lasse Hallstrom.

This week, the San Antonio native adds another legendary name in entertainment to his growing roster: He plays country music star Hank Williams in "The Last Ride," which opens in limited release Friday.

The low-budget drama, directed by Harry Thomason, the force behind TV's "Designing Women," revolves around the last few days of Williams' troubled life as he is driven by a young man to New Year's shows in West Virginia and Ohio. Williams, whose life had become dominated by alcohol and drugs, never made it to those gigs, dying at 29 on New Year's Day in 1953 of heart failure in the back of his powder blue Cadillac.

Thomas took some time recently to discuss his career since helping his pal phone home so many years ago.

"I think 30 years ago when I got the part in 'E.T.,' it was still kind of a whirlwind adventure for me,'' he said. "I had gone for three auditions and I had gotten all three of them. I was fascinated with film sets, how everything was done."

As for playing someone so iconic as Williams, he said, "I was really intimidated by the role. I started obsessing about trying to look like him . . . and all of the things that go through your mind when you start focusing on playing a person who's that iconic. You don't want to drop the ball.''