"Emilie Schindler - Memoirs," a new book by the widow of Holocaust hero Oskar Schindler, says that Steven Spielberg's version of the book "Schindler's List" was a movie "packed with lies."
At a press conference last week in Buenos Aires, where the book is published, Schindler said her late husband was selfish and ruthless, and that his main interest in saving Jews was to use them as cheap labor.Meanwhile, director Spielberg got hold of a leaked script for a spoof of "Schindler's List" last summer, says New York magazine, and managed to shove the sketch, created for Fox's "Mad TV," into cold storage.
The satire, which was shot in black and white as the movie was, was called "Schindler's Lost: The true story of a man with a sense of justice, but no sense of direction." Oskar Schindler is portrayed driving around with his wife and arguing about how to get to the train station where Jews were about to be deported. The script, as quoted in the magazine:
" `It was right after the exit,' Schindler says to his wife.
" `No, he said bear right at the exit,' his wife replies."
They arrive at the train station too late, and Schindler moans about not being able to save anyone. Mrs. Schindler has the final word. "I hate to say it, but I told you so."
Spielberg was so upset about the sketch that he called MCA head Sid Sheinberg into the fray, as well as Rupert Murdoch and Quincy Jones, a friend of Spielberg's and executive producer of "Mad TV."
Insiders say it won't ever be shown.
- Leah Garchik