Liam Neeson Discusses Moment He 'Lost It' On Schindler's List Set

Liam Neeson has reflected on the time he 'lost it' on the set of Schindler's List.

The 1993 Steven Spielberg film made the actor a huge star and he was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of German businessman Oskar Schindler, who saved more than a thousand Jews from the Holocaust.

The Northern Irishman looked back on the movie recently while appearing on the SmartLess podcast and recounted the moment he 'lost it' during the making of the film.

You can watch the trailer for the classic movie here:

His emotional breakdown occurred at the gates of Auschwitz, Poland, where the largest Nazi concentration camp was located.

The 69-year-old said: "I remember, I was waiting to do my bit and I walked down by the barbed wire fences, looking inside at the huts the Jewish people were crammed into all those years ago.

"I was just looking, and Branko Lustig, who was one of the producers - he's dead now, God rest him - he came up to me and said, 'How do you feel?'

"'Uhmmm, yeah I'm OK Branko, warm enough, just looking forward to starting,' and we were just looking at the huts."

The late producer then pointed out one of the huts and told Neeson: "That's where I was, at the age of six."

The revelation hit Neeson like a hammer, and the gravity of the film they were making suddenly overwhelmed him.

"Well, I just lost it," Neeson recalled. "I lost it. My knees started to shake, and I thought 'F**k, this isn't acting, this isn't a f*****g movie, this is a piece of history we're telling here and I'm not worthy.'

"I just kept saying to myself, 'I'm not f*****g worthy. I'm an Irish actor, I should go back to Ireland, into the theatre. What the f**k am I doing here? Dressed up in a big fur coat, here to save these Jewish people.'

"It was terrifying."

Just a few weeks ago, the secretary who typed up the list of Jews Schindler saved passed away aged 107.

Mimi Reinhard was one of 1,200 Jews saved by Schindler, after he bribed Nazi authorities to let him keep them as workers in his factories.

She was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1915, and moved to Krakow, Poland, before the outbreak of World War II. After Nazi Germany invaded Poland in 1939, she was confined to the Krakow ghetto before being sent to the nearby Plaszow concentration camp in 1942.

Reinhard's knowledge of shorthand got her work in the camp's administrative office, where two years later, she was ordered to type up the handwritten list of Jews that were to be transferred to Schindler's ammunition factory.

"I didn't know it was such an important thing, that list," she said in an interview in 2008.

If you have a story you want to tell, send it to UNILAD via [email protected]

Topics: Celebrity, Film and TV

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey