Ralph Fiennes put on 13kg by drinking Guinness for his role. Steven Spielberg cast him because of his "evil sexuality".
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.
Tim Roth was considered for the role of Amon Goeth.
Billy Wilder contributed to the first draft of the screenplay for this film, and at one time early in its production, was set to direct it.
Martin Scorsese turned down the chance to direct the film in the 1980s, as he felt he couldn't do as good a job as a Jewish director. He agreed to swap films with Steven Spielberg, taking over Cape Fear (1991) instead.
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.
Steven Spielberg began work on this film in Poland while Jurassic Park (1993) was in post-production. He worked on that film via satellite, with assistance from George Lucas.
The Krakow ghetto "liquidation" scene was only a page of action in the script, but Steven Spielberg turned it into 20 pages and 20 minutes of screen action "based on living witness testimony". For example, the scene in which the young man escapes capture by German soldiers by telling them he was ordered to clear the luggage from the street was taken directly from a survivor's story.
Director Steven Spielberg was unable to get permission to film inside Auschwitz, 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.
When Oskar Schindler kisses the Jewish woman at his birthday party, his hands jump from her shoulders to her face, possibly a deliberate continuity error, designed to highlight the intimacy (or otherwise) of the moment.
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.
The film, as shown in most countries, had the song "Yerushalayim shel Zahav" - Jerusalem of Gold - at the end. When the film was shown in Israel, audiences laughed at this, as this song was written after the 1967 war as a pop song! They then redubbed a song "Eli Eli" which was written by Hannah Sennesh during WWII over the end which was more appropriate.
Steven Spielberg was not paid for this film. He refused to accept a salary citing that it would be "blood money".
Co-producer Branko Lustig plays the nightclub maître d' in Schindler's first scene. Lustig is an Auschwitz survivor and has produced other movies about the Holocaust, including Sophie's Choice (1982) and Shoah (1985).
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 (2002).
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