Gene Hackman on the main “regret” of his movie career
Gene Hackman‘s long and illustrious career is surely the cause of envy for virtually everybody working in the world of cinema. Having played numerous iconic roles transcending genre, age, and style—earning multiple Academy Awards in the process—the now-retired actor has enjoyed a uniquely celebrated career and filmography that few other artists could hold up to. Nevertheless, it seems as though not even Hackman himself is capable of living a life free of regret.
From his early days as a struggling actor in New York City, alongside friends Dustin Hoffman and Robert Duvall, Hackman’s breakout film role came in 1967 with the release of Bonnie and Clyde. It earned the actor his first Academy Award nomination and essentially shot him into the public consciousness of the 1960s. In the decades that would follow, the Californian actor would go on to star in groundbreaking works like Mississippi Burning, The French Connection, and Unforgiven, among countless others.
After appearing in the critical and commercial disaster that was 2004’s Welcome To Mooseport, Hackman stepped back from the world of acting. This newfound sense of freedom that the actor found post-retirement allowed him to pursue his true passion, writing historical fiction. Since his retirement, he has released numerous successful novels, using his wealth of experience in the world of cinema to boost the material of his writing.
Back in 2020, Hackman reflected upon his retirement from cinema and the move he made towards fiction writing. “I think it was a natural transition,” he shared, “One asks oneself questions as an actor like, ‘Where am I coming from? Where am I going? What do I want?’ Those three simple things can carry you a long way as an actor. As a writer, you can start the same way.” It would appear this penchant for writing is the cause of some regret for Hackman, though, given that he rarely took the opportunity to write film roles for himself.
Speaking to Empire, he mused on the idea of screenwriting, affirming, “I would have liked to, in the early days,” before clarifying, “I didn’t have the looks for that kind of leading man part, but that era was already gone by the time I got into movies in the ‘50s. So I kinda regret that I didn’t have the chance to participate in some of those things.”
Expanding upon his love for this era of cinema, Hackman said, “It goes back to the old days of Errol Flynn and James Cagney, the adventure movies that were done in the ‘30s. That kind of roguish, handsome, devil-may-care kind of character that’s fun to write.” He added, “We don’t see a lot of that kind of thing in movies any longer. Unfortunately, things have gotten darker and more slick, in one way or another, and I miss that in a funny kind of way.”
Anyone who has seen Welcome to Mooseport would be forgiven for assuming that that film is the only cause of regret within Gene Hackman’s career, as it is truly a movie that is best forgotten. However, it looks as though his biggest regret comes as a result of what he didn’t do rather than what he did.
