While Schindler’s List was filming in Kraków in the early ’90s, director Steven Spielberg was dealing with a set thick with emotion. The black-and-white Holocaust epic, released in 1993, is among his most harrowing films, and also one of his most celebrated. But even Spielberg, at the top of his career, needed an emotional break.
And that pause from the harrowing theme being made came from an unlikely source: Adam Sandler.
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Sandler, speaking to Howard Stern, recalled getting a surprising message while he was riding high off his early Saturday Night Live fame. His absurdist musical bit “Red Hooded Sweatshirt” – a parody love ballad to, yes, a hoodie – had made waves. Apparently, Spielberg had been sent a VHS tape of it during the filming of Schindler’s List.
According to Sandler, Spielberg called him and left a voicemail. He said the movie was “very depressing” to shoot and that watching Sandler’s sweatshirt song helped him laugh again. “He said nice stuff,” Sandler added, before joking about expecting a Spielberg callback that never came.
It’s crazy to think that one of the most intense directors alive was sitting in Poland watching a young comedian serenade an item of clothing in a funny voice, as a sense of relief. But that’s Hollywood, I suppose.
You can relive that particular SNL moment (including a brief cameo from Paul McCartney) right here … It certainly brought a smile to my face.
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