Trivia

Tim Roth was considered for the role of Amon Goeth.

Steven Spielberg's first R-rated film.

Director Steven Spielberg was able to get permission to film inside Auschwitz, but chose not to out of respect for the victims, so the scenes of the death camp were actually filmed outside the gates on a set constructed in a mirror image of the real location on the other side.

In October 1980, author Thomas Keneally was on his way back to Australia after a book signing when he stopped en route to the airport to buy a new briefcase in a Beverly Hills luggage shop owned by Leopold Pfefferberg - who had been one of the 1200 saved by Oskar Schindler. In the 50 minutes Keneally spent waiting for his credit card payment to clear, Pfefferberg persuaded him to go to the back room where the shopkeeper kept two cabinets filled with documents he had collected. Pfefferberg - who had told his story to every writer and producer who ever came into his store - eventually wore down Keneally's reluctance, and the writer chose to make the story into his next book.

The most expensive black & white film ever made to date. The previous record was held for over 30 years by another film about World War II, The Longest Day.

Stellan Skarsgård was considered for the role of Oskar Schindler. The role went to Liam Neeson. Neeson was originally set to play Father Frank Merrin in Exorcist: The Beginning, but dropped out and was replaced with Skarsgård.

The line "God forbid you ever get a taste for Jewish skirt. There is no future in it," was spoken by Scherner, but in the original script was supposed to be spoken by Goeth. This is why in the next scene where Goeth says "When I said they didn't have a future I didn't mean tomorrow" doesn't really make any sense since he didn't say the line.

In the epilogue, all actors accompany the original Schindlerjuden they portray in the movie in pairs.

About 40% of the film was shot using a handheld camera.

Without adjusting for inflation, this is the highest-grossing black-and-white film of all time (taking in $96 million domestically and $321 million worldwide).

In reality it was not Itzhak Stern who helped Oskar Schindler put the list together, but Marcel Goldberg. Many survivors who speak of Goldberg do so with disdain, as he was unscrupulous in deciding who ended up on the list, reportedly accepting bribes from some Survivors, taking names off the list to add theirs instead.

The film's tagline "Whoever saves one life saves the world entire" is a quotation from the Talmud.

The only film released in the last quarter century to make it onto the American Film Institute's top ten list of best American movies of all time.

[June 2008] Ranked #3 on the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest films in the genre "Epic".

The song being played when Schindler enters the night club and meets all of the Nazi officials is called "Por Una Cabeza". The same song is played as the tango in the films True Lies and Scent of a Woman.

During the liquidation scene, one man stops to remove something from the door post of his residence. What he removes is a Mezuzah, a case containing a passage from the Torah (Deuteronomy 6:4-9), which Jews traditionally affix to the door frames of their houses as a constant reminder of God's presence.

Claire Danes was originally considered by Steven Spielberg for a role, but she turned it down because he couldn't provide her with tutoring on the set. The part she was considered for is unknown.

Steven Spielberg began work on this film in Poland while Jurassic Park was in post-production. He worked on that film via satellite, with assistance from George Lucas.

The person who places the flower on top of the stones in the closing credits is Liam Neeson and not Steven Spielberg, as some people think.

Steven Spielberg offered the job of director to Roman Polanski. Polanski turned it down because the subject was too personal. He had lived in the Krakow ghetto until the age of 8, when he escaped on the day of the liquidation. His mother later died at Auschwitz concentration camp. Polanski would later direct his own film about the Holocaust, The Pianist.

It is said that, during the filming, the atmosphere was so grim and depressing that Steven Spielberg asked his friend Robin Williams if he could film some comedy sketches.

Steven Spielberg initially intended to make the film in Polish and German with English subtitles, but rethought the idea because he felt he wouldn't be able to accurately assess performances in unfamiliar languages.

After the book's author Thomas Keneally wrote a miniseries-length script, Kurt Luedtke was hired by Steven Spielberg to write the screenplay, but he gave up after four years' work.

At Steven Spielberg's request, Aaron Sorkin did a "dialogue wash" on the excessively wordy script.

Juliette Binoche was offered a role, which she has described in interviews as a woman who was to be raped and then murdered, but she turned it down. She had already turned Steven Spielberg down once that same year, passing on the role of Ellie Sattler in Jurassic Park to make Three Colors: Blue.

Production designer Allan Starski's replica of the forced labor camp at Plaszow was one of the largest sets ever built in Poland. The movie set was constructed from the plans of the original camp. The production built 34 barracks and seven watchtowers and also recreated the road into the camp that was paved with Jewish tombstones.

Violinist Itzhak Perlman performs John Williams' haunting score on the soundtrack. Perlman is on record as saying that his contribution to the film is one of his proudest moments in an illustrious career.

Sid Sheinberg brought "Schindler's List" to Steven Spielberg's attention when the novel was published in 1982 and purchased the rights, hoping that Spielberg would someday direct it. The movie's enormous success finally came at around the same time that Sheinberg was leaving MCA/Universal.

As Oskar Schindler is given a tour of the camp, he passes a boy in prisoner's clothing with his hands raised over his head and a sign hanging over him. It reads "jestem zlodziejem ziemniaków", "I am a potato thief."

When Oskar Schindler berates Itzhak Stern for sending too many force-labor camp workers to his factory, Stern (Ben Kingsley) reminds him about Amon Goeth shooting 25 men from Bejski's camp. The Bejski that Stern refers to is none other than Moshe Bejski - who eventually became Schindler's document forger and later the Israeli Supreme Court Judge from 1979 to 1991. He is mentioned in the book. In the list, he is #531 on the men's list and occupation was a draftsman.

A direct copy of the real list, which was among other things in Thomas Keneally collection, was found by the staff of the National Library in New South Wales, AU. The 13 page list, after the restoration, is displayed in the library's museum.

One of two Best Picture Oscar winners to show a child jumping into the waste pond under a toilet. The other is Slumdog Millionaire.

Ironically, the set decorator on the film's Polish crew is named Ewa Braun, which is almost the same name as Eva Braun, Adolf Hitler's wife.

"Schindler's List" and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial are the two films Steven Spielberg would like to be remembered for.

The film that finally netted Steven Spielberg the Oscar for best director, something that had eluded him in the past.

Spielberg had to make Jurassic Park before "Schindler's List". It was even written into his contract because if he made "Schindler's List" first, he would have been too drained to make "Jurassic Park".

Steven Spielberg refuses to autograph any materials related to this film.

The first war film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture Oscar since Platoon, a gap of seven years. The first predominantly black-and-white war film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture Oscar since The Longest Day, a gap of thirty-one years. The first predominantly black-and-white World War II war film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture Oscar since From Here to Eternity, a gap of forty years. Other black-and-white World War II war films which have won the Academy Award for Best Picture Oscar include Mrs. Miniver; Casablanca and The Best Years of Our Lives. As such, "Schindler's List" is the fifth black-and-white World War II war film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture Oscar. The first World War II film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture Oscar since Patton, a gap of twenty-three years. The first World War II film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture Oscar since John Boorman's Hope and Glory, a gap of six years. The first predominantly black-and-white film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture Oscar since The Apartment, a gap of thirty-three years. The first war film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture Oscar since Born on the Fourth of July, a gap of four years. The first predominantly black-and-white film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture Oscar since both The Elephant Man and Raging Bull, a gap of thirteen years. The first Steven Spielberg war film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture since Raiders of the Lost Ark, a gap of twelve years. The first Spielberg war film since Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, a gap of four years.

After filming this movie, Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes became very good friends.

Though Oskar Schindler did in fact have a Jewish accountant named Itzhak Stern, his role is expanded in the movie, where he serves as a composite of several accountants Schindler had working for him.

Steven Spielberg cast Ralph Fiennes as Amon Goeth after he'd been moved by Fiennes' performance as Lawrence in Great Performances: A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia. Spielberg has been a lifelong fan of David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia.

When Steven Spielberg first showed 'John Williams' a cut of the film, Williams was so moved he had to take a walk outside for several minutes to collect himself. Upon his return, Williams told Spielberg he deserved a better composer. Spielberg replied, "I know, but they're all dead."

Branko Lustig:  nightclub maître d' in Oskar Schindler's first scene. On receiving his Oscar, he recited his serial number A3317.

Steven Spielberg:  a liberated Schindler Jew among the hundreds crossing a field near the end of the film.

Steven Spielberg:  [mirror]  An important image in the rear-view mirror of a car (see Duel, Jurassic Park).

Steven Spielberg:  [father]  Oskar Schindler tells his wife he can't commit to a family.

The girl in the red dress was a real girl named Roma Ligocka. Unlike her film counterpart, she survived the war, and wrote a memoir titled "The Girl in the Red Coat: A Memoir".

The ending of real life survivors visiting Schindler's grave was not in the script. Steven Spielberg had the idea in the middle of filming, Locating the survivors and arranging the gathering on short notice was a challenge.