Whenever you talk to a Hollywood director, they will inevitably have stories about films that they almost made. Sometimes they can’t make them because they don’t have time. Other times, another person is hired to direct. But there are always instances where a filmmaker is so close to getting something made, only to have it taken away from them for whatever reason. In the case of Martin Scorsese, there are a number of those films, including “Schindler’s List.” That’s right, Scorsese was all ready to make “Schindler’s List,” but a variety of factors changed that, and he’s opening up about that now.
Speaking to Deadline, Martin Scorsese talked about his flirtation with making “Schindler’s List” before Steven Spielberg would eventually take on the gig. And according to the filmmaker, it was a combination of poor timing and a sudden reluctance to tackle a controversial film that led him to pass up the opportunity. However, he does still think about what his version would have looked like.
“For ‘Schindler’s List,’ I hired Steve Zaillian, and Steve and I worked on the script. I was about to direct it. But I had reservations at a certain point,” said Scorsese. “Don’t forget, this is 1990, I’d say. I did ‘The Last Temptation of Christ’ in 1988. The whole point of that movie was to start a dialogue about something which is still important to me, which is the nature — the true nature — of love, which could be god, could be Jesus. I’m not being culturally ambivalent here, it’s what’s in us. Is god in us? I really am that way; I can’t help it. I like to explore that. I wanted a dialogue on that. But I didn’t know about all that yet. So, I did ‘Last Temptation,’ I did it a certain way, and ‘Schindler’s List’ was scuttled by its reception.”
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He added, “In the case of ‘Schindler’s List,’ the trauma I had gone through [with ‘Last Temptation’] was such that I felt to tackle that subject matter… I knew there were Jewish people upset that the writer of ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ was gentile. I heard that there were people who complained about Schindler, that he used the inmates to make money off them. I said, ‘Wait a minute.’ I could… well, not defend him, but argue who he was. I think he was an amazing man, but I didn’t know if I was equipped for it at that time. I didn’t have the knowledge.”
Eventually, Scorsese realized that he is not the man to make the film, and Spielberg would be better equipped to handle the story.
“I wasn’t being altruistic, but it just made sense to me that he was the person who really should go through this,” said Scorsese. “I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to do justice to the situation.”
As for what his version of “Schindler’s List” would have been, Scorsese doesn’t provide any specifics, however, he did explain that his take on the material might have been a bit darker and less Academy-friendly than Spielberg’s eventual film.
“Let me put it this way, and you may say that it’s deflecting the question. But I guarantee you, if I did it, it would not have been the hit that it became,” he said. “It may have been good, that I can tell you. I had some ideas. Most of it’s there. I had a different ending. I admired the film greatly. But I know that my films just don’t go there. They don’t go to the Academy.”
Obviously, there’s no doubt that Scorsese has done just fine without making “Schindler’s List.” But for Spielberg, the film was a revelation. It proved to many that Spielberg wasn’t just a man who made blockbuster films, but he is a serious filmmaker able to tackle incredibly tough, dark material. Regardless, “Schindler’s List” is a film that has stood the test of time and is still regarded by many to be the best film of Spielberg’s career.