Before Steven Spielberg directed the classic historical drama Schindler’s List in 1993, it was originally directed by Martin Scorsese. Scorsese now says he turned the film over to Spielberg for various reasons.
Before Steven Spielberg directed the classic historical drama Schindler’s List in 1993, it was originally directed by Martin Scorsese. Scorsese now says he turned the film over to Spielberg for various reasons.
Why did Martin Scorsese give Steven Spielberg “Schindler’s List”?
Speak with meeting In an exclusive profile, the legendary director was asked about the film Spielberg offered him the chance to direct. While Scorsese almost did it, he eventually returned the project to Spielberg, citing the response to his 1988 film The Last Temptation of Christ as one of the reasons.
“For Schindler’s List, I hired Steve Zaillian, and Steve and I worked on the script,” said Scorsese. “I was just about to direct. But at some point I had reservations. Don’t forget, this is 1990 I would say. I shot The Last Temptation of Christ in 1988. The point of this film was to start a dialogue about something that I still care about, which is the nature – the true nature – of love that could be God could be Jesus. I’m not culturally ambivalent here, it’s about what’s inside of us. is god in us I really am like that; I can’t help it. I like to research that.”
Scorsese went on to say that he felt the story of Schindler’s List could probably be better told by a real Jewish person.
“In the case of Schindler’s List, the trauma I went through was so great that I felt I needed to address this issue…I knew there were Jewish people who were upset that the author of The Diary of Anne Frank was a gentile,” Scorsese said. “I’ve heard there have been people complaining about Schindler using the inmates to make money off them. I said, “Wait a minute.” I couldn’t… well, not defend him, but argue about who he was. I think he was a great man, but I didn’t know at the time if I was ready for it. I didn’t have the knowledge. I remember Steve Spielberg mentioning it to me over and over again over the years. He held up the book as we sat on the plane to Cannes and said, ‘This is my dark film and I’m going to do it.’”
“I used the phrase at the time, ‘I’m not a Jew.'” What I meant was that it’s the old story, that the journey through this world had to be made by a Jewish person, and I think Steven has that also learned. He came from… (pauses) Where is The Fablemans, Phoenix set? He told me that there were only 200 Jews in Phoenix. I could not believe it. Because I’m from the Lower East Side and grew up in the Jewish community. I wasn’t being altruistic, but it just made sense to me that he was the person who should really go through this. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to do justice to the situation.”