Robin Williams ‘saved’ Steven Spielberg: helped him with depression caused by ‘Schindler’s List’

Steven Spielberg, one of the most accomplished directors in the history of cinema, has captivated audiences around the world with iconic films such as ‘ET the Extra-Terrestrial’, ‘Indiana Jones’ and ‘Jurassic Park’. However, directing one of his most famous works, Schindler’s List, proved to be a deeply challenging and emotionally exhausting experience for the director.

Steven Spielberg and the emotional toll of directing ‘Schindler’s List’

Released in 1993, this film is an adaptation of Thomas Keneally’s novel of the same name and tells the true story of Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand Polish Jews by employing them in his factories during WWII .

The story has a huge emotional charge as it reflects the treatment of the Jews by the Germans. Spielberg, who is Jewish, felt connected to the material to such an extent that the work became embedded in his body and soul.

As the days of filming progressed, Spielberg experienced deep sadness. Even though it was just a movie, he couldn’t help but think about all the suffering of the Jewish people during the war.

The person to whom he confessed his regret was Robin Williams, an actor with whom he recorded the feature film “Hook” two years before “Schindler’s List” and who would become his close friend.

According to an old Spielberg interview with Variety, the director revealed that Robin Williams did something unexpected when he shared with him the depression of making the Holocaust-centered film: he called him on the phone.

The “Jack” star, in order to cheer him up, invited Spielberg to Poland, where the shooting took place, to make him laugh with some comedy and help him forget, if only for a moment, the sadness he caused issue. of the film.

In fact, Robbin Williams nostalgically confirmed the story, which now belongs to one of the oddities surrounding the film “Schindler’s List”

To help the rest of the “Schindler’s List” workers relax after filming the intense scenes, Spielberg added that they watched a lot of “Saturday Night Live” to combat stress.

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