Wes Anderson Reveals Behind the Scenes of His Conflict with Gene Hackman. The Reason Might Be Trivial

In February, Hollywood said goodbye to Gene Hackman, who died at the age of 95. His acting work earned him two Oscars, but working with him was sometimes problematic, as Wes Anderson recently revealed. The director met Hackman on the set of "The Royal Tenenbaums." Anderson recalls that the actor was irritated by his low salary and the fact that he had to work with a young director whose artistic vision he did not understand.

"The Phoenician Deal" - this is the latest film by Wes Anderson , which premiered on Sunday during the Cannes Film Festival. The black comedy with Beniocio del Toro , who portrays an eccentric millionaire, will hit Polish cinemas on June 6. While discussing this production, the director also recalled his earlier work.

In an interview with the British "The Times", Anderson revealed the behind-the-scenes work, which turned out to be not easy, on the comedy-drama "The Royal Tenenbaums" (2001). Although it was only his third film, he managed to recruit the cream of the crop of actors, including Gene Hackman . He played the head of the Tenenbaum family. Anderson was nominated for an Oscar for the aforementioned production, while Hackman won a Golden Globe for his role. However, the road to making this film was bumpy...

Gene Hackman/photo: Wikipedia public domain

- Gene was angry about the money. Besides, he didn't want to do the film at all. I talked him into it. I just wouldn't give up. Everyone else agreed to the rate, so Gene agreed too - the filmmaker recalls. - He finished shooting without saying goodbye. He was grumpy, there was friction between us. He wasn't happy about the film. I was probably too young and that irritated him - added the director.

Anderson and Hackman last spoke at the premiere of "The Royal Tenenbaums."

- He liked the film itself. He said that when we were shooting, he didn't understand the concept. I could have shown him 10 minutes of the finished material, and maybe then he would have said, "OK, now I understand," Anderson admitted.