Filming “Schindler’s List” was a difficult experience for Steven Spielberg. But the master director was able to count on Robin Williams, who had his own methods to cheer him up…
In 1993, Steven Spielberg released two films that could not be more different but which both marked the history of cinema, each in their own category: Jurassic Park and Schindler’s List.
As Filmstarts recalls, the first film was exactly what was expected of Spielberg at the time – a mega-blockbuster adventure – while Schindler’s List, the black-and-white Holocaust film, was a huge (and difficult) step in the director’s career. Although Spielberg has already tackled other historical subjects with The Color Purple and Empire of the Sun, doing justice to the greatest crime in human history in a Hollywood film would have been a difficult task for any director – even Martin Scorsese turned down the project.
Spielberg himself wasn’t the only one who doubted his ability to produce such a film – others shared his doubts as well. Before the film was released, some said that its style was too “blockbuster” to be able to make such a heavy and serious feature film. His eminent colleague, Australian director Fred Schepisi (Plenty), even advised him against it and some Holocaust survivors also considered it a bad choice…
Devastated, he nevertheless accepted this difficult task and even said no to the studio when the latter demanded that the film contain more Hollywood moments. And filming proved just as complicated: Spielberg, as the child of Jewish parents, had family members who lost their lives in concentration camps, and in that context it was particularly difficult for him to face the atrocities he recreated day after day.
In addition, the film crew in Poland was surprised by a very inhospitable winter with temperatures of 15 degrees below zero, and neo-Nazis left anti-Semitic slogans and swastikas on the set. Ben Kingsley even had an altercation at his hotel bar with an anti-Semitic German businessman.
ROBIN WILLIAMS TO THE RESCUE
When he learned of the director’s difficulties, Robin Williams, who worked with Spielberg on Hook and became a close friend of his, decided to cheer him up from a distance.
TriStar Pictures
“Robin knew what I was going through, and once a week he would call me on time and do 15 minutes of stand-up on the phone“, Spielberg said at the 25th anniversary screening of Schindler’s List at the Tribeca Film Festival (via USA Today). “I was laughing hysterically because I had so much to get out.” Spielberg also noted that the actor never officially said goodbye to him but would simply hang up while he was laughing.
This (and the regular consumption of episodes of Saturday Night Live) finally helped Steven Spielberg to endure the grueling shoot that ultimately produced a seven-time Oscar-winning masterpiece, considered one of the most important films about the Holocaust and for the world of cinema in general.
Schindler’s List can be seen streaming on Amazon Prime Video.