Spielberg Page #10

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these kind of movies,

so why are you suddenly

trying to make this?"

He doesn't

over-intellectualize,

but maybe as a filmmaker,

Steven was using those movies

as stepping stones

along the way.

He didn't know

where he was headed,

but I think he was exercising

those muscles, in a way,

to recognize

he could go there,

that it was okay.

( man singing

in Hebrew )

Spielberg:

My very first memory--

I was in a stroller.

I just remember

being wheeled somewhere,

and my grandmother

and grandfather were with me.

( singing continues )

We went into

this underground space.

There was a red light

over a set of doors.

And I just remember

getting closer and closer

to this red light

where all these old men--

just men were all

chanting something.

And the red light

was the Eternal Light,

the Ner Tamid,

and that's

my very first memory.

- Lacy:
Do you believe

in God?

- Yes.

Tell me about that.

Where where does...?

It comes from my--

you know, my spiritual--

not even spiritual,

my religious roots

and family.

All my grandparents had

a very strong influence

over me.

My grandfather, Fievel,

played guitar

and he sang

all Yiddish Russian songs.

And my grandmother,

Jennie,

taught English to Hungarian

Holocaust survivors.

We were Orthodox.

I was raised Orthodox.

And tradition has been

a huge part of my family,

and religious studies,

and Hebrew school,

and bar mitzvahs,

and bat mitzvahs

for my sisters.

But we always

lived in neighborhoods

where there were no Jews.

And there was

a real cultural divide

in those days

between Jewish people

and Gentiles,

a real cultural divide.

Adler:

I remember

that at one point,

kids were standing outside

and chanting

"the Spielbergs

are dirty Jews."

Spielberg:

I certainly experienced

being excluded

and being picked on

and discriminated against.

All I wanted to do

was fit in.

And by being Jewish,

there was no way I could

fit into anything.

My grandfather

would come over

to spend a week with us,

and I'd be playing

in the front yard

seven houses down,

and my grandfather

would stand on our front porch

and yell my Hebrew name,

"Shmuel!"

As loud

as he could, "Shmuel!"

And all my friends would say,

"Is he talking to you?

That's your house."

And I immediately denied

that that was me.

"No, he must be calling

somebody else."

"Is your name Shmuel?"

And all my friends

started laughing.

"Shmuel?

What's Shmuel?"

And meanwhile,

in the background,

you can hear

my grandfather yelling

with a Russian accent,

"Shmuel!"

Anne:

Steve did not

want to be Jewish.

He didn't want to be Jewish

because it made us

too different

from everybody.

And the "Father Knows Best"

family

is an assimilated family.

And I think

he really yearned for that.

I began to deny

my Jewishness,

you know, began to deny

everything that I had

accepted as a child

and was not

willing to accept

if it was going

to make me a pariah.

I was ashamed of myself.

I still feel ashamed

of myself

even remembering

that long stretch of my life

where I didn't want

to be Jewish anymore.

When I first met Kate,

something that only happens

in the movies

happened to me.

It's a terrible clich,

but bells began ringing.

It was love at first sight.

It really was.

There was something

that was

so both self-assured

about Katie

and reassuring for me.

There was

a kind of in-syncness.

We could talk

about anything,

and I couldn't get her

off my mind.

( choir singing

in Hebrew )

Spielberg:

Kate came into my world,

in my life,

with a deep fascination

with the traditions

and the depth

of the history of Judaism.

And she really wanted

to marry me as a Jew.

So, she converted to Judaism

just before we got married.

Sue:
She said

she always felt like

she was coming home.

She always felt this was

where she was meant to be.

And so, as she studied Judaism

and got into it,

it brought Steve back around

to appreciating it.

Parkes:

Kate brought

something to Steven

that I don't

think Steven believed

he could ever have.

She is so dedicated

to the idea of family

in its, you know,

purest essence

that not only

did it bring him,

I think, a happiness

he never thought he'd have,

but I suspect

it contributed

to his growth

as an artist.

( train whistle blaring )

Spielberg:

In 1982, Sid Sheinberg

gave me the book

of "Schindler's List"

to read.

He felt it was my destiny

to make this movie.

He was tenacious

about getting me

to pay attention to it,

not to give up on it.

I think

he was intimidated

by the thought

of making it.

Anne:

He had the book

for over 10 years

before he was ready

to do it.

And he just said,

"I'll know when it's time."

You know, if anybody

pushed him on it,

"I'll know

when it's time."

- ( people clamoring )

- ( dog barking )

Anne:

And then the time came.

Liam Neeson:

On my first day, we were

outside the gates of Auschwitz.

5:
30 in the morning,

bitterly, bitterly cold.

And hundreds of extras

dressed up in those

horrible striped pajamas

and German guards

and real Alsatian dogs,

real nasty dogs.

- ( dogs barking )

- ( all screaming )

No! No!

Spielberg:

Nothing could prepare me for

my first visit to Auschwitz.

Nothing prepared me

for that.

I wanted to shoot

where the story actually

took place,

all the actual locations,

but I realized at that point

when I went to Poland

for the first time

that I was playing with fire.

That's horrible.

He was like someone

whose skin had been torn off.

He was just

so vulnerable,

pacing up and down

all the time.

I could tell

how important

this subject matter

and this film was to him.

- ( music playing )

- ( chatter )

Neeson:

He was telling a story

of his family, his tribe,

so I was aware of the weight

of the subject matter.

Spielberg:

I said to the crew,

"This isn't a documentary,

but we are documenting things

that actually took place

in the place that

you're standing right now."

And I said also, you know,

"Those of us who are Jewish,

you know, would never have

been able to stand here,

you know, in 1943."

Spielberg:

I knew this couldn't be

just another movie

and it couldn't be

anything like anything

I had ever directed before.

I had to approach

the material

and I had to approach

the location

with a great deal

of reverence,

and I had to make this

a very quiet, quiet production.

We were shooting

on hallowed, sacred ground.

Everywhere we shot

in Krakw

felt like we were shooting

in a cemetery.

And it changed

my entire approach

to cinema.

I-- that film

looks different

than anything I had ever

done before that.

I tried to do it

with no fancy tricks,

no fancy lenses,

no big Hollywood

sweeping cranes.

I tried to take

all the tools

with which I made

so many of my films

and just chuck them

out the window.

I never handheld anything,

but I wanted to handhold

as much of "Schindler's List"

as I possibly could.

I just wanted to create

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