Earlier this year, legendary actor Gene Hackman passed away alongside his wife Betsy Arakawa in the couple’s Santa Fe home.
Gene was a larger-than-life talent, so it’s not surprising that we’re still hearing new stories from those who worked with him. The latest comes from director Wes Anderson, whose new film The Phoenician Scheme just premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.
As you probably know, Gene was effectively the lead in Wes’ 2001 classic The Royal Tenenbaums, playing Royal Tenenbaum. His performance was critically acclaimed, garnering a Golden Globe win for his efforts.
Gene, who was fairly private as a celebrity and effectively retired from acting in 2004, also didn’t show up to collect the award itself — and according to a new Sunday Times interview with Wes, he very much wasn’t a fan of making the film either.
“Gene was very annoyed about the money,” Wes said in the interview, gesturing towards the flat pay rate that The Royal Tenenbaums’ cast received across the board. “He was furious. Also, he didn’t want to do the film anyway.”
Wes went on to claim that he had to basically convince Gene to be in the film — and that he “wouldn’t go away” until the storied actor said yes. “And everybody else said yes to the salary, so Gene just went with it — and that just became our way,” he explained.
Wes also said that Gene said “not a word” to him when they were finished filming. “In fact he left without saying goodbye,” he claimed. “He was grumpy — we had friction. He didn’t enjoy it. I was probably too young and it was annoying to him.”
In fact, the last conversation the two had — according to Wes, at least — was when The Royal Tenenbaums opened in theaters. “He liked it,” Wes recalled. “But he told me he didn’t understand it when we were shooting. I wish I’d shown him 10 minutes, early on. Then, maybe, he would have said, ‘OK, I get it.’”
The more you know about the movies you love! You can read the entire interview with Wes right here.