Steven Spielberg has enjoyed unparalleled success as a filmmaker, his success can be attributed to a variety of reasons, his exceptional talent, and visionary storytelling techniques which have created a lasting impact in the film industry. Over the years, Spielberg has revolutionized filmmaking which has left an indelible mark on Hollywood cinema.
The Jaws director has worked in various genres and has won three Academy Awards. In his career, Steven Spielberg has created several films which have earned millions at the box office, and thanks to his unique ideology of taking a gamble in the film which can either be a hit or a miss. However, Schindler’s List was a massive success at the box office, earning $322.1 million. But instead of enjoying the profit from the film Spielberg decided to walk away from the film empty-handed.
Steven Spielberg Decided To Donate His Earnings From Schindler’s List
Steven Spielberg has won three Academy Awards in his career, two of his Oscars was won by one of the most critically acclaimed project, Schindler’s List. The 1993 movie was not only successful critically but also a massive commercial hit around the world, earning $322.1 million at the worldwide box office.
While Spielberg had the option to fill his pockets with the profit earned from the film, he decided to donate his earnings to the Shoah Foundation, and he shared this while talking to Today.
“It is blood money. Let’s call it what it is. I didn’t take a single dollar from the profits I received from Schindler’s List because I did consider it blood money. When I first decided to make Schindler’s List I said, if this movie makes any profit, it can’t go to me or my family, it has to go out into the world and that’s what we try to do here at the Shoah Foundation. We try to teach the facts of the past to prevent another Holocaust in the future.”
The Men in Black producer added that the Shoah Foundation has made notable efforts to collect testimonies from different countries in different languages. Hence, the foundation is very close to the director.
“It took about eight years to collect their testimonies from almost 64 countries in 32 languages.”
The Shoah Foundation is a nonprofit organization solely dedicated to Holocaust survivors. The nonprofit organization provides audio and visual testimony of those who personally experienced or witnessed the effects of the Holocaust.
Why Was Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List So Popular?
Spielberg’s Schindler’s List is one of the most popular films ever created in the history of Hollywood. The film had won seven Academy Awards which include the best picture and director. Unlike Spielberg’s other films, the 1993 film was more on the serious side, and it remains a quintessential problem movie, that talks about genocide, historical memory, and cinematic representation of things that remain.
The film is critically praised, and despite being so problematic to watch as the film is more of a test that sometimes makes the audience question if it is humane to dramatize the unspeakable horror and trauma of human groups. Schindler’s List has featured all of Steven Spielberg’s trade making it a masterpiece. Sadly, the director does not feel the same towards his creation.
“I have never felt, since ‘Schindler’s List,’ the kind of pride and satisfaction and sense of real, meaningful accomplishment.”
While the film is more on the gutsy side, and something that can not be represented or spoken by the mass audience, the film remains one of the most traumatizing pieces of mass entertainment, that should be a part of every movie connoisseur’s list.
Schindler’s List can be rented on AppleTV.
Source: Today
