Steven Spielberg has been behind the lens of one too many great works in the history of Hollywood, be it from the science fiction genre or the action-adventure one. Of all those masterpieces, his 1993 war documentary Schindler’s List holds a position no other project could steal from it. If anything, it is the master of masterpieces themselves, and the film’s terrific reviews only further prove this.
But every tremendous result requires an equally devoted preparation and action, and the same was the case with the Liam Neeson-led movie as well. While the outcome in itself was something truly extraordinary, what went into making it was a lot tougher, which even included Spielberg getting creative out of his head to shoot the film when he didn’t get permission to do the same in Auschwitz.
The Logistical Challenge Steven Spielberg Faced While Making Schindler’s List
Back in the early 1990s, when the shooting for the film was yet to take place, Steven Spielberg was met with a dreadful revelation: “The World Jewish Congress wouldn’t let us shoot inside Auschwitz because we were a dramatic narrative, and they had a policy that only documentaries could shoot at Auschwitz.”
While his film was nothing short of a war/documentary in itself, it still held a more dramatic narrative than the incidents that happened in reality. Thus, they were faced with this problem and the Jurassic Park filmmaker had to rack his brains to figure out how to get out of this challenge. And being the genius that he is, he ended up doing just that.
As he shared with The Hollywood Reporter for ‘Schindler’s List’: An Oral History of a Masterpiece, he initially didn’t know what to do. But when Edgar Bronfman Sr. introduced him to the president of the World Jewish Congress, the idea eventually came to him. He first asked the president if they would allow him to shoot outside the grounds of Auschwitz.
When the response he was met with was a ‘yes’, Spielberg then shared his complete idea:
“I said, ‘What if I use the gatehouse’ — the infamous gatehouse of Auschwitz — ‘and build the barracks just outside Auschwitz? If you’d let me back the train into Auschwitz, and then the train exits the gatehouse, it will appear as if it’s entering Auschwitz because you’ll see barracks on both sides.’”
At first, the filmmaker was met with silence as the president of the World Jewish Congress “looked up at the ceiling” and “took a couple of breaths.” But then eventually, Spielberg got the response he was looking for as he finally said:
“Yes, I could accommodate that.”
Thus, it was set, and the shoot for the Liam Neeson-starrer masterpiece could finally take flight as per the director’s preferences. Yet, even then, a film as devastating as the 1993 Holocaust one didn’t hesitate to take a serious toll on Spielberg, even through just its shoot.
The Shoot for Schindler’s List had a Terribly Deep Impact on Steven Spielberg
As he continued to share in the interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the shoot for the film had an incredibly deep impact on Spielberg, with the hard days being “beyond my imagination, and the easy days were never easy.” Especially shooting the stuff with the women turned out to be the “toughest” for the legendary director.
In fact, oftentimes it was so bad that Spielberg was left “a basket case, just a wreck.” But he was never alone. While his wife, Kate Capshaw, sat by his side through all those times to comfort him in whatever manner possible, another person who would get him out of his misery was none other than the late and great Robin Williams.
As the Indiana Jones helmer recalled about his good old pal in the same interview:
“Robin knew how hard it was for me on the movie, and once a week, every Friday, he’d call me on the phone and do comedy for me. Whether it was after 10 minutes or 20 minutes, when he heard me give the biggest laugh, he’d hang up on me.”
Thanks to Williams and all the other cast and crew who worked so hard to get the 1993 Holocaust film off the ground, Steven Spielberg was able to make Schindler’s List — a movie that is still regarded as one of those masterpieces that no other project can ever surpass.
You can stream Schindler’s List on Prime Video.
