The classic movie Gene Hackman only made for the paycheque: “Oh yeah, money job”
Even the greatest actors of all time are susceptible to the lure of a fat paycheque, but it’s a testament to Gene Hackman that even when he was happy to admit the only reason he played a role was because of the riches on offer, the end result was often a classic.
These days, it’s arguably easier than ever to spot when a big star is making a movie for no other reason than to enhance their bank balance. A-listers tend to headline mediocre genre flicks, make gratuitous high-paying cameos in ensemble pieces, or board the latest instalment in a multi-billion dollar franchise.
A phoned-in performance can be spotted from a mile away, but that was never Hackman’s deal. Instead, even when he shouted from the rooftops that he was performing predominantly for the money, he wasn’t the kind of actor who would go through the motions or slum their way through a film that would usually be deemed beneath him.
Take Hoosiers, for example. One of the most popular and widely acclaimed sports films ever made, Hackman is in imperious form as Norman Dale, even though he confessed that going through a costly divorce was the main factor in convincing him to replace Jack Nicholson in the role.
The role of Lex Luthor in Richard Donner’s Superman wasn’t going to get him into the awards season conversation, and while Hackman definitely hammed it up as the megalomaniacal villain of Christopher Reeve’s title hero, he did so with so much relish and entertainment value that he threatened to steal the show.
Ronald Neame’s 1972 blockbuster The Poseidon Adventure was another case in point, with Hackman sharing that he felt like a sellout by following an Oscar-winning performance in The French Connection with an effects-heavy studio blockbuster that had nothing on its mind other than entertaining the widest possible audience.
Sure enough, the aquatic epic was the year’s highest-grossing release, winning two Academy Awards from eight nominations. Hackman was as reliable as ever as Frank Scott, even if his Royal Tenenbaums co-star and lifelong The Poseidon Adventure superfan Ben Stiller was crushed to discover Hackman’s intentions behind bringing pathos to two hours of watery doom.
“The whole shoot, I was waiting to get up the nerve – because he’s an intimidating guy – to tell him how much The Poseidon Adventure meant to me,” Stiller told Vanity Fair. “So, two days before the shoot was over, finally, there’s this quiet moment. I said, ‘Gene, I just want to say it’s been amazing working with you, and I didn’t say this before, but really, for me, Poseidon Adventure is probably one of the most important movies for me, ever.”
Stiller poured his heart out to let Hackman know that “it really made me want to be a filmmaker, to be in movies, and I saw it multiple times, and it just really, really changed my life.” How did the legend respond to such an effusive outpouring of praise? “Oh yeah, money job,” he said.
“Then he got up, and he walked away. My world was shattered,” Stiller explained. “Even if it was a money job for Hackman, it was the most incredible money-job performance I’ve ever seen.” That was Hackman in a nutshell, though; even when he was there for one reason and one reason only, he still respected his craft.
