“But he was really good.
The guy was really, really good.”
Still, Murray understood where Hackman was coming from.
Bill Murray; Gene Hackman; Wes Anderson.Credit:Ilya S. Savenok/Getty; Ron Davis/Getty; Rosdiana Ciaravolo/Getty
“So he was a little irritable.
But his timing, his patterns, his rhythms were really, really advanced.
He was very, very good.”
Gene Hackman in ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’.Buena Vista Pictures/Everett
He is accompanied on his journey by his trusty valet, Pagoda (Pallana).
Murray, a frequent Anderson collaborator, starred as neurologist Raleigh St. Clair.
Murray also thinks Hackman came around toThe Royal Tenenbaums and to Anderson in the end.
“He was not an ignorant man.
You’re going to get a good movie.”
He concluded with a sweet farewell to his former costar.
“So goodbye, Gene,” he said.
“I hope you’re well wherever you are.
“Older, great actors do not give young directors much of a chance.
They’re really rough on them, and Gene was really rough on Wes.
I used to kind of step in there and just venture to defend my friend.”
He continued, “Gene would do it perfectly.
The other actor would blow it, and I’d go like, ‘Oh, God.’
I was watching it going, ‘No wonder this guy wants to throttle people.’
Murray isn’t the only actor who has spoken about Hackman’s presence during shooting.
“He just sat in his chair between shots.
“It was not what he had been used to getting paid,” the director admitted.
He gave us a lot.
For that small amount of money, I feel like he gave us everything he had.”
Murray’s full interview onThe Drew Barrymore Showwill air on March 5.
Watch him pay tribute to Hackman in the clip from it above.
