Amazing performance for such a young man.
I have to imagine that working with children on a film is a very difficult thing to do. I also have to imagine that when you see an audition like this, as a director it is the best thing you could possibly hope for. I agree with mk, he really did do a fantastic job in that film. One of my favorite movies of my childhood. You can hear Spielberg at the end say "you've got the job kid"! It really was that obvious. Who else could've played Elliot? As an aside, yesterday I pitched a large deal to a big company called Elliot and they spell Elliott with 2T's. I misspelled their name in the entire presentation with only one T, it was horrible.
He really was incredible in that role. As an aside, it would be really interesting to do an fMRI on actors as they get into character. I have to imagine that they have an enhanced ability to alter certain brain activity that divides what we experience from what we only think about. I think we react to Thomas because in some real way, he is actually experiencing the role.