Ironically, Mel Gibson was on a short list of A-listers ‘interested’ in starring as Oskar Schindler in Steven Spielberg‘s 1993 Holocaust drama Schindler’s List – 14 years before his anti-Semitic scandal.

‘Mel Gibson’s name came up. He was interested. His agent put him forward,’ CAA co-founder Michael Ovitz told THR Thursday in a 30th anniversary oral history.

‘But it wasn’t going to happen. Steven wanted a non-movie star for the part.’

And while the 77-year-old filmmaker refused to reveal who was in contention for the plum part of the German industrialist who saved more than a thousand Jews by employing them in his factory, Liam Neeson spilled the beans.

‘I heard Harrison Ford‘s name. [Kevin] Costner’s name. The Australian actor Jack Thompson,’ the 71-year-old Irishman recalled.

Ironically, Mel Gibson was on a short list of A-listers ‘interested’ in starring as Oskar Schindler in Steven Spielberg’s 1993 Holocaust drama Schindler’s List – 14 years before his anti-Semitic scandal (pictured in 1992)

CAA co-founder Michael Ovitz told THR Thursday: ‘Mel Gibson’s name came up. He was interested. His agent put him forward. But it wasn’t going to happen. Steven wanted a non-movie star for the part’

‘I thought, “Oh, yeah, Jack looks very like Schindler.” I looked nothing like Schindler. Anyway, it was always in the back of my head, but I wasn’t holding out huge hope.’

Liam wound up receiving his only Oscar nomination for his performance as Schindler, but lost the Academy Award to Philadelphia star Tom Hanks.

‘It’s the best movie I’ve ever made,’ said Steven, who won his first two Oscars for directing and producing Schindler’s List.

‘I am not going to say it’s the best movie I ever will make. But currently, it’s the work I’m proudest of.’

The $22M-budget cinematic classic – based on Thomas Keneally’s 1982 novel Schindler’s Ark – won a total seven Oscars and amassed $322.2M at the global box office.

Two years later, Mel had an uncredited cameo in Universal Pictures’ 1995 supernatural comedy Casper, which Spielberg executive produced.

The New York-born, Australian-raised 68-year-old tarnished his movie star persona during a 2006 DUI arrest when he told Sheriff’s Deputy James Mee: ‘F***ing Jews… the Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world. Are you a Jew?’

The day after his arrest, Gibson entered rehab and separated from his wife of 26 years – Robyn Moore – and her subsequent $400M divorce settlement in 2011 was the highest in Hollywood history.

And while the 77-year-old filmmaker (R, pictured in 1993) refused to reveal who was in contention for the plum part of the German industrialist who saved more than a thousand Jews by employing them in his factory, Liam Neeson (L) spilled the beans

The 71-year-old Irishman recalled: ‘I heard Harrison Ford’s name. [Kevin] Costner’s name. The Australian actor Jack Thompson – I thought, “Oh, yeah, Jack looks very like Schindler.” I looked nothing like Schindler. Anyway, it was always in the back of my head, but I wasn’t holding out huge hope’

The $22M-budget cinematic classic – based on Thomas Keneally’s 1982 novel Schindler’s Ark – won a total seven Oscars and amassed $322.2M at the global box office

Two years later, Mel had an uncredited cameo in Universal Pictures’ 1995 supernatural comedy Casper, which Spielberg executive produced

The two-time Oscar winner – who started drinking at age 13 – was sentenced to three years’ probation after pleading no contest to a misdemeanor drunken-driving charge.

Five years later, Mel plead no contest to a misdemeanor battery charge against babymama Oksana Grigorieva, with whom he has a 14-year-old daughter Lucia.

Gibson had left Oksana voicemails like: ‘You look like a f***ing pig in heat, and if you get raped by a pack of n*****s, it will be your fault.’

Winona Ryder has also repeatedly accused the divorced father-of-nine – whose father Hutton Gibson was anti-Semitic – of calling her an ‘oven dodger’ back in the nineties.

Last summer, Mel directed his eighth feature film – the upcoming Alaskan-set thriller Flight Risk – starring Mark Wahlberg, Topher Grace, and Michelle Dockery.

Audiences last saw Gibson as hotel manager Cormac O’Connor in the three-episode prequel series The Continental: From the World of John Wick, which was Peacock’s biggest original launch of the year.

The Golden Globe winner also played Mitchell opposite Garrett Hedlund in Nadine Crocker’s Southern noir thriller Desperation Road, which only earned $40,799 at the global box office last October.

For his performance as Lieutenant Kevin Hickey in Michael Oblowitz’s dismally-reviewed thriller Confidential Informant, Mel was nominated for worst supporting actor at the 44th Golden Raspberry Awards which will be announced on March 9.

The New York-born, Australian-raised 68-year-old tarnished his movie star persona during a 2006 DUI arrest when he told Sheriff’s Deputy James Mee: ‘F***ing Jews… the Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world. Are you a Jew?’

Five years later, Mel plead no contest to a misdemeanor battery charge against babymama Oksana Grigorieva and left her voicemails like: ‘You look like a f***ing pig in heat, and if you get raped by a pack of n*****s, it will be your fault’

Audiences last saw Gibson as hotel manager Cormac O’Connor in the three-episode prequel series The Continental: From the World of John Wick, which was Peacock’s biggest original launch of the year

The two-time Oscar winner also played Mitchell opposite Garrett Hedlund (L) in Nadine Crocker’s Southern noir thriller Desperation Road, which only earned $40,799 at the global box office last October

For his performance as Lieutenant Kevin Hickey in Michael Oblowitz’s dismally-reviewed thriller Confidential Informant, Mel was nominated for worst supporting actor at the 44th Golden Raspberry Awards which will be announced on March 9