The one role Gene Hackman didn’t want to play: “It was written for him against his wishes”
One surefire sign that an actor has made it is when scripts start being written specifically with them in mind, even if it’s entirely up to their discretion whether they agree to play it or not. Based on his behaviour throughout production, Gene Hackman probably would have been better off saying no.
As one of the most venerated veterans the industry had at its disposal, Hackman seamlessly segued from the gruff and grizzled leading man of ‘New Hollywood’ into more distinguished character parts as he got older, with the star talented enough to elevate almost anything he appeared in.
Most filmmakers would kill for the opportunity to collaborate with a two-time Academy Award winner lauded as one of their generation’s greatest talents, but he did have a reputation for being a difficult customer on occasion. Hackman rubbed several directors the wrong way, and in one instance, he made a filmmaker’s life an absolute misery.
The stories of Hackman growling his way through the shoot for Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums are almost as famous as the movie itself. The French Connection and Unforgiven favourite became increasingly abhorred by the notion of taking orders from an auteur almost 40 years his junior, who had a very particular aesthetic that still hadn’t stamped its authority over modern American cinema.
Admittedly, Hackman was hesitant about embodying the titular family’s patriarch until his agent convinced him otherwise, while the involvement of somebody of his calibre was integral in convincing the likes of Danny Glover, Ben Stiller, and Danny Glover to sign on. Still, he was never thrilled about it.
As Anderson bluntly told the Huffington Post, “It was written for him against his wishes.” He’d scripted the part with Hackman in mind, and even though he did agree to accept the offer, he was obviously never sold on the project based on the way he treated the director. There were other factors, though, and one of them was his belief that the amount of work didn’t justify his paltry salary.
“He’s been doing movies for a long time, and he didn’t want to work 60 days on a movie,” Anderson explained. “I don’t know the last time he had done a movie where he had to be there for the whole movie, and the money was not good. There was no money. There were too many movie stars, and there was no way to pay. You can’t pay a million dollars to each actor if you’ve got nine movie stars or whatever it is.”
Hackman did grin and bear it, even winning a Golden Globe for ‘Best Actor – Musical or Comedy’ for his troubles, but at no point during the process did he even try to give off the impression that he was excited to be a part of The Royal Tenenbaums.
