Schindler’s List: Background and Behind the scenes

Schindler’s List (Spielberg, 1993)

• IMBD RATING: 8.9 average
• Genre: history/bio/drama
• Rating: UK: 15 / Germany: 12 / USA : R
• USA (released in UK Feb 1994)
• Universal Pictures, Amblin Entertainment
• Run Time: 3 hr 15 min (195 min)
• Black and White/ selective colour

Writers: Thomas Keneally (book) + Steven Zaillian (Screenplay)

Starring:

• Liam Neeson – Oskar Schindler
• Ben Kingsley – Itzhak Stern
• Ralph Fiennes – Amon Goeth
• Caroline Goodall – Emilie Schindler

Taglines: ‘The List Is Life.’

‘Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire’

• Budget: $22,000,000 (estimated)
• Opening Weekend: £1,234,591 (UK) (6 screens) (4 March 1994) $656,636 (USA) (17 December 1993) (25 Screens) DEM 2,081,367 (Germany) (9 March 1994) (45 Screens)
• Gross: £16,439,233 (UK) (17 June 1994)

Triva/behind the scenes:

• Steven Spielberg was not paid for this film. He refused to accept a salary, citing that it would be “blood money”. Instead all his royalties when to Shoah Foundation, which records and preserves written and videotaped testimonies from survivors of genocide worldwide, including the Holocaust.
• The Krakow ghetto “liquidation” scene was only a page of action in the script, but Steven Spielberg turned it into 20 pages and 20 minutes of screen action “based on living witness testimony”.
• Steven Spielberg offered the job of director to Roman Polanski. Polanski turned it down because the subject was too personal. He had lived in the Krakow ghetto until the age of 8, when he escaped on the day of the liquidation.
• Spielberg had to make Jurassic Park (1993) before “Schindler’s List”. It was even written into his contract because if he made “Schindler’s List” first, he would have been too drained to make “Jurassic Park”.
• When Survivor Mila Pfefferberg was introduced to Ralph Fiennes on the set, she began shaking uncontrollably, as he reminded her too much of the real Amon Goeth
• Director Steven Spielberg was able to get permission to film inside Auschwitz, but chose not to out of respect for the victims.
• Months before he landed the title role, Liam Neeson had auditioned for Schindler but, assuming that he’d never get the part, accepted instead an offer to play opposite wife-to-be Natasha Richardson in a Broadway revival of Eugene O’Neill’s “Anna Christie” at New York’s Criterion Center in 1993. After a performance one evening, Neeson was in his dressing when a knock on the the door announced the arrival of Steven Spielberg, wife Kate Capshaw and her mother. After Spielberg had introduced his wife and mother-in-law, Neeson hugged the older woman in a manner that stuck with Capshaw, who later commented to husband Steven, “That’s just what Oskar Schindler would have done”. Neeson received a call a week later from Spielberg with the offer of the lead role.
• The original missing list of Schindler’s Jews was found in a suitcase together with his written legacy hidden in the attic of Schindler’s flat in Hildesheim in 1999.
• Steven Spielberg’s resolve to make the film became complete when studio executives asked him why he didn’t simply make a donation of some sort rather than wasting everyone’s time and money on a depressing film.
• When Steven Spielberg first showed ‘John Williams’ a cut of the film, Williams was so moved he had to take a walk outside for several minutes to collect himself. Upon his return, Williams told Spielberg he deserved a better composer. Spielberg replied, “I know, but they’re all dead.”
• When Steven Spielberg returned to Cal State Long Beach to earn his BA 34 years after dropping out, his film professor accepted this movie in place of the short student film normally required to pass the class. This movie had already won Spielberg Golden Globes and Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture.
• Steven Spielberg watched episodes of Seinfeld (1989) every night after work to lighten his mood.
• In reality it was not Itzhak Stern who helped Oskar Schindler put the list together, but Marcel Goldberg. Many survivors who speak of Goldberg do so with disdain, as he was unscrupulous in deciding who ended up on the list, reportedly accepting bribes from some Survivors, taking names off the list to add theirs instead.
• It is said that, during the filming, the atmosphere was so grim and depressing that Steven Spielberg asked his friend Robin Williams if he could film some comedy sketches.
• As a producer, Steven Spielberg shopped directing duties on this film to numerous colleagues, because he was afraid he couldn’t do the story justice. He was turned down by Martin Scorsese (who was interested but ultimately felt it was a subject that should be done by a Jewish director), Roman Polanski (who didn’t feel he was yet ready to tackle the Holocaust after surviving it in childhood), and Billy Wilder (who wanted to make this as his last film). Apparently, it was Wilder who convinced Spielberg to direct it himself.
• There is a Jewish tradition that when one visits a grave, one leaves a small stone on the marker as a sign of respect. This is why the cast and the Schindlerjuden cover Oskar Schindler’s grave with stones at the end of the movie.
• When the film was to be shown in the Philippines, the censors decided to cut out certain scenes of nudity and violence. When Steven Spielberg learned of this he wanted to pull the film out unless it was shown as it is. So Philippine President Fidel Ramos intervened and overruled the censors and the film was shown without any cuts
• Both Kevin Costner and Mel Gibson offered their services, but Steven Spielberg decided to go with less familiar names, as the presence of a major star would be too distracting. Harrison Ford was offered the title role but declined, saying that some people would not be able to look past him as a star to see the importance of the film.
• “Schindler’s List” and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) are the two films Steven Spielberg would like to be remembered for.
• According to the art directors, no green paint or clothing were used on the set because the color would not show up well on black and white film. Special attention was paid to how much lighting or paint was used in order to appear correctly on film regardless of how unrealistic it seemed in real life.
• Liam Neeson admitted in a 60 Minutes (1968) interview that he was disappointed in his performance in this film. He stated “I didn’t own the part. I didn’t see enough of me in there”.
• Martin Scorsese turned down the chance to direct the film in the 1980s, as he felt he couldn’t do as good a job as a Jewish director. He agreed to swap films with Steven Spielberg, taking over Cape Fear (1991) instead.
• The Amblin logo, showing the bike flying past the moon from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), a regular sight at the end of every Steven Spielberg film, isn’t present here, perhaps because of the somber subject matter
• Steven Spielberg is jewish/Judaism
• It was the recipient of seven Academy Awards (out of twelve nominations), including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Score, as well as numerous other awards (including seven BAFTAs and three Golden Globes). In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked the film 8th on its list of the 100 best American films of all time.