Spielberg Page #11

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for all of us

the feeling that we were

absolutely there

at the time.

Goodbye Jews!

Goodbye Jews!

Goodbye Jews!

- I'm just wondering

is the synagogue...

- ( coughing )

...a good background,

or is the park

a good background,

because this is

kind of interesting here.

Ralph Fiennes:

Steven said, "I feel like

I'm directing my first movie.

I'm not storyboarding

anything."

And I think that gave him

an adrenaline

or something

that we all felt.

A fire, an alertness.

I've never felt the same level

of energy and focus.

He seems

to breathe cinema.

I wouldn't say

he's an intellectual director.

I think he feels things

intuitively and emotionally.

...and coverage up

like that.

He was kind of like

an abstract painter

who has his canvass

and has a palette

of extraordinary colors

but just doesn't know

what color

to put

on that screen first.

But once he's committed

to that color,

he was just firing

on all cylinders.

And there was

literally times

he was running,

physically running,

with that camera

because a lot of the stuff,

he shot himself.

Handheld camera.

He'd be running

up and down,

saying, "Come on,

come with me, quick,"

as the idea

was forming in his head.

And we'd all be running

after him, "What? What?"

He'd be inspired.

He saw something.

- ( whistle trilling )

- ( people shouting )

( speaking German )

Sir Ben Kingsley:

We were all struggling

with the incomprehensible

as characters

and as actors.

But we put one foot

in front of the other

in our mandate

to, as Elie Wiesel says,

tell stories.

- ( woman screams )

- ( all yelling )

Kingsley:

We took on the mantle

of actor-warriors,

if you like.

Because if you soften

anything with sentiment,

you lessen the blow that

the audience have got to feel

and got to reel under.

( shouting in German )

( soldiers shouting

in German )

- ( whistle trills )

- ( speaking German )

Kingsley:

In the liquidation

of the ghetto scene,

I knew I had

to serve the story.

I remembered my lines,

but I was in deep shock.

- No acting.

- ( shouting )

- ( gunshot )

- ( woman wailing )

( whistle trilling )

Kingsley:

The beautifully

orchestrated chaos

was unrepeatable

or unforgettable.

- ( music playing )

- ( chatter )

Neeson:

Oskar Schindler

was a gregarious man.

He was

a second-rate businessman.

Bit of a shady character,

you know?

A man about town,

loved the women,

loved his booze.

A bon vivant,

that's what he was.

And he did

this extraordinary thing.

He saved

over 1,100 Jewish lives.

Spielberg:

There was something

indescribably mysterious

about this character.

It was impossible

to really understand

why he did what he did.

But we decided

just to let the audience

work that out

for themselves.

Neeson:

I was a smoker at the time.

Steve was not a smoker,

but in the close-ups,

he would start

to tell me how to smoke.

He'd say, "Okay,

you're looking at the table.

You see three of these

high-ranking Nazi guys.

Take a drag

of your cigarette."

( smacks lips, blows )

"No, no. Do it again.

Keep your fingers there.

Take a drag.

Let the smoke

curl up your face.

Do it again.

Okay, now take your hand away

very, very slowly."

So, he was basically

telling me how to breathe.

I remember sharing it

with Ben Kingsley

later on that night

or the next day.

I said, "Ben, I just--

if every scene's gonna

be like that,

I'm a f***ing puppet,

you know?

I don't want

to be a puppet.

I'm 41 years of age."

And I remember

Ben so well.

He said,

"A great conductor...

needs a good soloist.

So just trust that.

Just go

into his direction.

Don't fight against it.

Just go into it."

And that's what I did.

I just opened myself

for Steven, you know?

Oskar:

My father

was fond of saying,

"You need three things

in life--

a good doctor,

a forgiving priest,

and a clever accountant."

The first two...

( chuckles )

I've never had

much use for.

But the third?

Spielberg:

Itzhak Stern

was the character

that I was closest to

in my understanding of him.

Just pretend,

for Christ's sake.

And I said to Ben,

"You're the conscience

of Oskar Schindler.

You're also my window

into my insight

into Oskar Schindler."

I'm trying to thank you.

I'm saying I couldn't

have done this without you.

Spielberg:

Anything I can glean

from Schindler himself,

I think a lot of it is gonna

come from how you look at him.

You're welcome.

Kingsley:

There are very,

very few directors

who respect stillness

as much as Steven.

He's gonna catch

every single gesture

you offer to the camera,

and he's going to use it.

His intuition for

something real and present

is very, very strong.

He wanted to avoid clichs

about Nazis,

and, in terms of performance,

I understood it on

my first day.

You know, the thing

about Amon having a cough--

"Ahem, excuse me,"

and giving him

sort of banal human failings,

touches like that.

Man:

Do you have

any questions, sir?

Yeah, why is the top down?

I'm f***ing freezing.

There were ways in which,

through performance

and filming,

you can amp up

and signal "bad guy."

And I think he wanted,

quite rightly,

to say,

"No, man doing job.

- You decide

what you think."

- I have an idea.

How about just

lighting their mouths,

nothing else?

I was just going--

you know--

no, him, I want to light

just from the top, you know,

so we get

some shadows here,

just like...

Okay, I just want

to make sure we're

not being too on the nose

with the--

you know, the badness

of the character

by having

a straight-down light.

Spielberg:
Everything we do

in this medium is about

light and shadow,

how the cinematographer

lights the actors,

lights the set.

If you look

at "Schindler's List,"

Amon Goeth was always

lit beautifully.

He always had

that beautiful front light.

You know, the guy

was very clear.

There was no mystery

in him.

You don't have

to enhance his evilness,

if you may say,

by lighting.

Now, if you look

at Oskar Schindler,

that was

a confused individual.

He came to Poland

to make money,

so it's always glamorous,

but always shadowy.

And then

as the movie's progressing,

he gets more frontal light.

The shadows disappear.

They say you are good.

Kaminski:

Because he's learning

who he is.

( man speaking German

over PA )

- ( distant shouting )

- ( gunshot )

( children's choir

singing in Yiddish )

Neeson:

The little girl in red

actually happened.

Schindler on horseback

watching these people

being rounded up.

( gunfire )

Neeson:

He did spot this little girl

in a red coat.

Of all the carnage

that's happening,

he can't take his eyes

off this little girl

meandering

down the street.

He couldn't take

his eyes off of her

and wonder why

is she not being taken

along with

everybody else.

And, of course,

the answer was,

"Well, she will be taken.

May not be

in the next few minutes,

but she's not

going to survive."

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