Mel Gibson Was Up For ‘Schindler’s List’, But “It Wasn’t Going To Happen” Because Of Director Steven Spielberg, One Of The Film’s Creators Says

Schindler’s List launched Liam Neeson into stardom through his powerful portrayal of Oskar Schindler, and it turns out that he bested a Hollywood A-lister who was also vying for the role.

Michael Ovitz, an agent and co-founder of Creative Artists Agency (CAA) told The Hollywood Reporter that the Mad Max star’s “name came up” during casting, per People.

“He was interested,” Ovitz explained. “His agent put him forward.”

However, Ovitz confessed that “it wasn’t going to happen,” as director Steven Spielberg “wanted a non-movie star for the part.”

Various individuals instrumental in the film’s creation spoke with THR in honor of the 30 year anniversary of the 1994 Oscars, where Schindler’s List won seven of its 12 Oscar nominations. Among these individuals were Spielberg and Neeson, the latter of whom said that he had heard Harrison Ford and Kevin Costner were being considered for the titular role, as well as Jack Thompson.

“I thought, ‘Oh, yeah, Jack looks very like Schindler,'” Neeson recalled. “I looked nothing like Schindler. Anyway, it was always in the back of my head, but I wasn’t holding out huge hope.”

Spielberg chimed in to THR, “A lot of people were interested in playing Schindler, and a lot of them were movie stars, and to all of them I promised never to divulge any of their history with me, so I’m not saying those names are accurate. I’m saying there were a number of people, even more than the names you gave me.”

The 1993 film adapted from Thomas Keneally’s novel Schindler’s Ark — which was released as Schindler’s List in the U.S. — tells the story of German businessman Oskar Schindler, who rescued 1,200 Jews from the Nazis during the Holocaust, per THR. Spielberg deemed it “the best movie [he’s] ever made” and “the movie [he’s] proudest of” to date, but also credited Jonathan Glaser’s The Zone of Interest as “the best Holocaust movie [he’s] witnessed since [his] own.

“It’s doing a lot of good work in raising awareness, especially about the banality of evil,” he added.

As for Gibson, he was exposed for making antisemitic comments over a decade after Schindler’s List debuted, most notably while being arrested for reportedly driving drunk in July 2006, per TMZ. According to the outlet, he claimed that “the Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.”

While he shared a statement shortly after in which he expressed how “deeply ashamed” he felt about his remarks, Gibson has since been accused of making other derogatory comments toward Jews. Jewish actress Winona Ryder recalled to The Sunday Times in 2020 that Gibson allegedly once asked her, “You’re not an oven dodger, are you?,” per Variety. According to the New York Post, Gibson denied the allegations.