Schindler's List/Trivia

• Schindler's story went relatively unknown for several decades. It was only after emigrating to America that Leopold Pfefferberg (one of the Schindlerjuden) began talking to any author he could find about publishing the story. All were unreceptive. Thomas Keneally only happened to meet Pfefferberg by chance, and upon learning that he was a Holocaust survivor, immediately agreed to write their story.
• After reading Schindler's Ark, Steven Spielberg immediately secured the rights to a film version. Originally, he was only going to produce the film. He offered Martin Scorsese the director's chair, who refused, saying that this movie had to be made by a Jewish filmmaker. He then offered Roman Polanski, a Polish-Jew who lost both of his parents to the Holocaust, the chance to direct. Polanski turned him down, saying that this was the movie Spielberg was born to direct.
• For the scene where Schindler rode full speed towards Auschwitz to save the trainload of women mistakenly send to death, they chose a motorcar which could not have been owned and used by Schindler in 1944 (a Daimler DE 36) for the simple reason it has been designed in 1946 in Britain. All other cars are appropriate for the time and country: the other Schindler car, a Horch, the car Goeth rides in Plaszow, a Mercedes-Benz etc. No explanation is given why this car has been hired for a film so meticulously researched.

The Tropes themselves:

• Fake Nationality: Schindler, who was German, is portrayed by Liam Neeson, who is Irish; Goeth, who was Austrian, by Ralph Fiennes, who is English; and Stern, who was Polish, by Ben Kingsley, who is an Englishman of partially Indian descent. Several minor characters, however, are played by Polish actors. Since "Jewish" is not a nationality, virtually all the Jews portrayed in the film are this - most of them native Israeli actors feigning a vaguely eastern-European accent, or in some cases just using an Israeli accent.
• Hey, It's That Guy!: Quite fittingly, Voldemort is Amon Goeth in this movie.
• Mean Character, Nice Actor: Liam Neeson states that Ralph Fiennes, who plays the cruel Nazi Goeth, was a major support to Neeson when his wife died.
• What Could Have Been: While no one doubts the quality of the film ultimately released, Steven Spielberg was originally to serve as a producer, with previously considered directors including Sydney Pollack, Roman Polanski (who turned it down due to his own past as a Holocaust survivor, and a relative of some of the Schindlerjuden [though he would go on to direct The Pianist]), and Martin Scorsese (who would go on to direct the Spielberg-produced Cape Fear). Billy Wilder also expressed interest in directing the film.
  • The real-life Poldek Pfefferberg lobbied for years to have Schindler's story brought to a wider audience. In 1963, he attempted to talk MGM into making a film version of Schindler's life, but the deal fell through. About twenty years later, he got Steven Spielberg's attention, but Spielberg wasn't sure he could do justice to Schindler's story and tried unsuccessfully to get Roman Polanski, among others, to do it instead.