Sir Ben Kingsley: Whilst playing chess, a wonderful European emigre, chess player [unintelligible],
gave me a battered book, paperback book and said, "You have to read this." And it was
a copy of Schindler's Ark. A week later, Steven Zaillian says, "We want you to read this."
And it was a script of Schindler's List. And I said, "Steven! I've just been... Anyway,
ah!" Who will believe me? Who will believe me? But, but, that's the kind of ghosts that
sometimes I think are just pushing me around a bit. And, so, I read Schindler's List, which
was shattering, and, by Steven, and I, I met Spielberg. At first I was very nervous about
accepting the role and Steven asked me into his office. And I am always very keen to understand
my narrative function in a film. With Simon, of course, it was clear: the bringer of truth.
Simon. And with Itzhak Stern, I had a word in my pocket, and I said to Steven Spielberg,
"What do you think the narrative function of my role is?" Some Hollywood directors would
go blank and look at my lips to see what language I was speaking. But, Steven said, "He's the
witness of the film." And I said, "I have a word here in my pocket that says, 'Conscience.'"
And we shook hands--the witness and the conscience. And I love being with Steven next to the monitor
because there was a particular exodus of the Jews from Krakow which was filmed by Steven--all
of it beautifully shot in black and white, as you know, and I would watch real-life actors--a
lot of Israeli actors we had in the film; wonderful, wonderful, extraordinary performances--and
I saw the actors and our own extras leaving the ghetto and I looked in the monitor and
there it is in black and white. And it's, I'm watching a piece of, a maestro recreate
documentary footage. Flawless. Even the camera was in the right, sort-of slightly wrong,
if you see what I mean, place. They looked like snatched moments. And in his genius he
often pulled the camera away from a moment of atrocity so that the audience is almost
reeling in their seats trying to see what they've just missed, but he takes the camera
away. Absolute maestro. And I remember some takes we would film and he would turn to me,
if I was by him, by the monitor, with, with joy in his face, rather like Simon Wiesenthal,
and say, "That's it. The movie." That has to be digested, that has to be witnessed,
that has to be seen. And it's very brave and pure of him not to sentimentalize one frame
of that film�