“That’s attractive to actors”: the director Gene Hackman said was “totally in charge”
The biggest stars tend to have the biggest and most forceful personalities, which plays a huge part in getting them into that position in the first place. Gene Hackman was without question one of the best in the business, but he preferred it when he was made to feel like he wasn’t the most important person on set.
Hollywood history is littered with stories of actors running amok and trying to usurp the director’s authority, which very rarely yields stellar results. Even though he was among the finest thespians the industry had at its disposal during a legendary career, Hackman found it better when any chance of mutinous behaviour from any performer was rendered non-existent from day one.
During a decades-long run that netted him two Academy Awards from five nominations, a quartet of Golden Globes from nine nods, and a reputation for always bringing his A-game to the table regardless of how big or small his part was in the production, Hackman worked with many of the greatest directorial talents Tinseltown had to offer.
Arthur Penn, William Friedkin, Tony Scott, Wes Anderson, Francis Ford Coppola, Mel Brooks, Richard Attenborough, Richard Donner, Sidney Lumet, Mike Nichols, and Sam Raimi are just some of them, but in terms of knowing how to operate a set with the minimum of fuss while generating the maximum return, none of them could hold a candle to Clint Eastwood.
“Clint really runs a great set. He really knows how to do it,” Hackman told Buffalo News. “He’s made so many films. He’s totally in charge. That’s attractive to actors; when you walk on a set and somebody’s in charge. You know you can’t push. You’re there just to do your job.”
Of course, Hackman ended up winning an Oscar his first time being directed by Eastwood when his ferocious turn as ‘Little Bill’ Daggett in Unforgiven saw him named ‘Best Supporting Actor’, but he wasn’t entirely sold on the revisionist Western when the offer first came his way due to the violence contained within the screenplay and story.
Writer David Webb Peoples revealed that “Gene’s daughters didn’t like all the violent movies he was doing,” to a point he considered rejecting Unforgiven because “he was at a stage in his career where his family was more important than his work”. After a word in his ear from Eastwood, Hackman ultimately changed his mind, and ended up giving one of the best performances in a career chock-full of them.
They would reunite again both on and off-camera when Eastwood played the lead role and helmed 1997’s political thriller Absolute Power, which was another solid pairing of two heavyweights despite barely being able to hold a candle to Unforgiven in terms of quality.
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