Liam Neeson Talks About How He "Lost It" Just Before Shooting His First Scene in SCHINDLER'S LIST

The seven time Academy Award-winning Holocaust drama Schindler’s List was a decade in the making for acclaimed director Steven Spielberg, who first heard about the book, based on the true story, when he had just released his 1982 hit film, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. After reading the story, he started the long process of acquiring the rights and setting out to find a writer and actors who could tell such a delicate story in just the way he envisioned. Once casting had was completed, and he had hired Liam Neeson in the role of industrialist Oskar Schindler, the man who employed Jews at his camp during the holocaust in order to save them from death, they traveled to Kraków to shoot the film in the place where the real events happened.

Spielberg was joined by his two producers, Jerry Molen and Branko Lustig, the latter of which Spielberg says came to his office and pitched himself by rolling up his sleeve and showing his Auschwitz numbers tattooed on his forearm.

In an in-depth history on the making of the film with The Hollywood Reporter, Neeson talked about how he wrapped the Broadway show Anna Christie, and headed to Poland the next day. He had worked with a dialect coach and had watched footage of Schindler in preparation for the role, but nothing could have prepared him for the feelings he was met with when he was finally on set. He explained:

“Before my first scene, we were at the gates of Auschwitz. I was walking outside the barbed wire, waiting to be called to set. I had my Schindler stuff on, a big fur-lined coat, and I was a little nervous, looking at the huts inside Auschwitz. Branko sidled up beside me and said, ‘How do you feel?’ I said, ‘I feel OK. It’s an intense scene, and it’ll be good to get it under my belt.’ Branko casually pointed to a hut and said, ‘See that hut there, second from the left?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ He said, ‘That’s where I was.’ Fuck, I just lost it. He was there at the age of 6. Two years he spent there. I remember my knees weakened, and I thought, ‘You’ve got to pull yourself together, man. This isn’t acting in just another movie.’”

I can’t even imagine the weight of taking on a role like this. Neeson was the perfect actor for the part though, and the film turned out beautifully, going on to win seven Academy Awards, and remaining one of Spielberg’s best pictures and one of the most important films of all time.