'Robin Williams helped during Schindler's List filming'

The Lincoln filmmaker and Williams became close after they worked together on 1991's Hook and when Spielberg took on the emotional task of directing Schindler's List. "Robin called me," Spielberg said at the Tribeca Film Festival's 25th-anniversary screening of the film. "Robin knew what I was going through. Once a week he called me on schedule. He knew exactly what time it was in Poland, what time it was in San Francisco... and he would do 15 minutes of stand-up on the phone, and I would laugh hysterically because I had to release so much," said Spielberg.

"The way Robin is on the telephone, he would always hang up on the loudest, best laugh you'd give him. He'd never say goodbye, just hang up on the biggest laugh," he added.

The emotionally-draining process of directing the movie paid off for Spielberg when he brought home Oscars for Best Picture and Director, but he didn't feel like he could celebrate.