6/10 (Top 10 Steven Spielberg Movies)

Schindler’s Lis

Steven Spielberg’s desire to be seen as more than just a purveyor of profitable popcorn movies had resulted in dramas like 1987’s Empire of the Sun and 1989’s Always, but it wasn’t until 1993 that the filmmaker was able to craft a drama that was just as successful as his summer blockbusters. Schindler’s List immediately established itself as a harrowing true-life tale that left audiences all over the world speechless, with the movie’s rapturous critical reception all but assuring it a Best Picture win at the following year’s Academy Awards. The film is also notable in that it finally earned Spielberg an Oscar for Best Director, as the filmmaker managed to beat out accomplished figures like Robert Altman and James Ivory.

Schindler’s Lis at a glance: 

Schindler's List is a 1993 American epic historical drama film directed and co-produced by Steven Spielberg and scripted by Steven Zaillian. It is based on the novel Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally, an Australian novelist. Wikipedia

Initial release: November 30, 1993 (Washington, D.C.)

Director: Steven Spielberg

Running time: 195.5 minutes

Featured song: Por una Cabeza

Awards: Academy Award for Best Picture, Academy Award for Best Director, Academy Award for Best Original Music Score, Academy Award for Best Cinematography, Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama, Academy Award for Best Writing Adapted Screenplay, Academy Award for Best Film Editing, BAFTA Award for Best Film, Academy Award for Best Production Design, BAFTA Award for Best Film Music, Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay - Motion Picture, Golden Globe Award for Best Director - Motion Picture, Japan Academy Prize for Outstanding Foreign Language Film, BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay, Adapted, National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor, BAFTA Award for Best Editing, BAFTA Award for Best Direction, BAFTA Award for Best Cinematography, National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Film, Producers Guild of America Award for Best Theatrical Motion Picture, National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cinematography, London Film Critics Circle Award for Director of the Year, DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film, National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Director, Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Film, National Board of Review Award for Best Film, London Film Critics Circle Award for Film of the Year, Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Director, New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Film, Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Director, Cinema Writers Circle Awards (Spain) for Best Foreign Film, Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Director

Biography of Liam Neeson:

Born on June 7, 1952 in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, UK, Liam Neeson worked as a forklift operator for Guinness, truck driver, assistant architect and an amateur boxer. He had originally sought a career as a teacher by attending St Mary's Teaching College, Newcastle. However, in 1976, Neeson joined the Belfast Lyric Players' Theater and made his professional acting debut in the play "The Risen People". After two years, Neeson moved to Dublin's Abbey Theater where he performed the classics. It was here that he was spotted by director John Boorman and was cast in the film Excalibur (1981) as Sir Gawain, his first high-profile film role.

Throughout the 1980s Neeson appeared in a handful of films and UK TV series - including The Bounty (1984), A Woman of Substance (1984), The Mission (1986), and Duet for One (1986) - but it wasn't until he moved to Hollywood to pursue larger roles that he began to get noticed. His turn as a mute homeless man in Suspect (1987) garnered good reviews, as did supporting parts in The Good Mother (1988) and High Spirits (1988) - though he also starred in the best-to-be-forgotten Satisfaction (1988), which also featured a then-unknown Julia Roberts - but leading man status eluded him until the cult favorite Darkman (1990), directed by Sam Raimi. From there Neeson starred in Under Suspicion (1991) and Ethan Frome (1993), was hailed for his performance in Woody Allen's Husbands and Wives (1992), and ultimately was picked by Steven Spielberg to play Oskar Schindler in Schindler's List (1993). The starring role in the Oscar-winning Holocaust film brought Neeson Academy Award, BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor.

Also in 1993, he made his Broadway debut with a Tony-nominated performance in "Anna Christie", in which he co-starred with his future wife Natasha Richardson. The next year, the two also starred opposite Jodie Foster in the movie Nell (1994), and were married in July of that year. Leading roles as the 18th century Scottish Highlander Rob Roy (1995) and the Irish revolutionary leader Michael Collins (1996) followed, and soon Neeson was solidified as one of Hollywood's top leading men. He starred in the highly-anticipated Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) as Qui-Gon Jinn, received a Golden Globe nomination for Kinsey (2004), played the mysterious Ducard in Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins (2005), and provided the voice for Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005).
Neeson found a second surprise career as an action leading man with the release of Taken (2008) in early 2009, an unexpected box office hit about a retired CIA agent attempting to rescue his daughter from being sold into prostitution. Less than two months after the release of the film, however, tragedy struck when Richardson suffered a fatal head injury while skiing and passed away days afterward. Neeson returned to high-profile roles in 2010 with two back-to-back big-budget films, Clash of the Titans (2010) and The A-Team (2010), and returned to the action genre with Unknown (2011), The Grey (2011), Battleship (2012), and Taken 2 (2012), as well as the sequel Wrath of the Titans (2012).
Neeson was awarded Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1999 Queen's New Year's Honours List for his accomplishments in film and television. He has two sons from his marriage to Richardson.

Collected from- IMDb Mini Biography by: Tony Fontana <tony.fontana@spacebbs.com>