Wes Anderson Says Gene Hackman Was ‘Furious' Over ‘Royal Tenenbaums' Pay and ‘Left Without Saying Goodbye'; They Never Spoke After Film's Release: ‘We Had Friction'
Wes Anderson spoke to The Sunday Times about the infamous set tension that existed on the set of 2001's 'The Royal Tenenbaums' due to Gene Hackman, who passed away in April. Bill Murray spoke to the Associated Press in the wake of Hackman's death and said 'he was really difficult' on set.
'Gene was very annoyed about the money,' Anderson now revealed. 'He was furious. Also, he didn't want to do the film anyway. I talked him into it — I just didn't go away. And everybody else said yes to the salary, so Gene just went with it — and that just became our way.'
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Hackman played the family patriarch, Royal O'Reilly Tenenbaum, in the 2001 comedy-drama. Anderson was 32 years old at the time of the film's release, and it was only his third directorial effort. The supporting cast included Murray, Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow, Luke Wilson, Angelica Huston and more.
Anderson said he did not stay in touch with Hackman after the film's release. 'Not a word,' the director stressed. 'In fact he left without saying goodbye. He was grumpy — we had friction. He didn't enjoy it. I was probably too young and it was annoying to him.'
According to the filmmaker, his last conversation with Hackman was as the movie was opening. 'And he liked it,' Anderson said. '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.''
Murray elaborated on the set tension between Anderson and Hackman during an appearance on 'The Drew Barrymore Show' after Hackman's death.
'I sympathize with Gene because to him, Wes Anderson was just a punk kid and Gene's made some of the greatest American movies. So he was a little irritable,' Murray said. 'But he had to work with children, dogs, Kumar [Pallana, who played valet Pagoda], who was like an absolute mystery to all of us anyway. They put him in very challenging positions to work, and so he just felt a lot of responsibility and kept thinking, 'What am I doing here with these people?' But the performance he gives is brilliant. And I watched him, and I suffered with him because I saw what he was going through.'
Anderson's latest movie is 'The Phoenician Scheme,' in which Murray has a small supporting role. The movie is world premiering at the Cannes Film Festival and opening in theaters May 30 from Focus Features.
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