Gene Hackman loved acting but 'hated everything that went with it'

Film director Barry Sonnenfeld summed up his impression of the late actor Gene Hackman with this sentence: "He loved acting, but hated everything associated with being an actor." Hackman passed away at the age of 95.

Sonnenfeld revealed in an interview with BBC News that Hackman was frustrated by the long hours in makeup, the repeated takes, and the input from producers. He was also unhappy with actors who didn't memorize their lines, especially John Travolta, with whom Hackman clashed on the set of Sonnenfeld's 1995 film "Get Shorty."

Since the news of Hackman's death broke, many who knew and worked with him, like Sonnenfeld, have expressed their condolences. There is a consensus that Hackman took acting very seriously and was meticulous about scripts. But it was also clear that he was wary of the glitz and vanity of Hollywood.

Hackman won two Academy Awards. He passed away at his home in New Mexico with his 65-year-old wife, Betsy Arakawa, and their pet dog. The cause of death has not been released, but police said the circumstances were "suspicious enough" to warrant investigation. Officials said Friday that there was evidence Hackman had died as early as February 17, ten days before the couple's bodies were discovered.

In Los Angeles, Hackman's image was ubiquitous on television news and in newspapers. After the news of his death broke, he was the topic of conversation at pre-Oscar parties. American actor John C. Reilly said at one of the events that he hoped the Academy would commemorate Hackman at Sunday's awards ceremony. "I don't think the Oscars can go by without mentioning such a great loss."

For Sonnenfeld and Irish director John Moore, Hackman's approach to scripts best exemplified his talent. Moore directed Hackman in the 2001 film "Behind Enemy Lines." Hackman would delete all the notes in the script about how his character should deliver his lines. "Because he didn't want any screenwriter telling him how he was supposed to feel at that moment," Sonnenfeld said. "So he would cut and paste the script, removing all the information from the screenwriter because he wanted to make his own choices, not the screenwriter."

Moore recalled a similar incident during his first collaboration with Hackman. "He just sat there quietly, took out the script, cut out the extra stuff, like scene descriptions, and taped them back onto blank pages," he said. Hackman told him, "Acting is my job, you do the rest." Moore laughed and said, "That awed me. It was really him saying, 'I don't need anything because I'm that good. You better bring your A-game because I'm going to bring mine.'"

It wasn't just extraneous producer notes that bothered Hackman. "He had an internal conflict; he was a brilliantly talented actor, but he hated the clichés of movie acting," Sonnenfeld said. "He hated makeup, hated costumes. Hated makeup artists dabbing their costumes with a lip brush between takes. Hated makeup artists re-combing his hair while he was talking to me," he said. "All that fussy makeup and hair, I think that drove him crazy."

Moore said he also didn't often want to socialize after filming. "I tried to have a drink with him after filming, went to the mini-bar," he said. "He would have one drink, and that was it. Betsy would give him a look, and then he'd go to bed. As a result, he was refreshed in the morning." Sonnenfeld added, "For Gene, it was all about the performance. That's it. Get me out of here as soon as possible."

Sonnenfeld said that Hackman could be a "difficult actor to work with." "He didn't suffer fools." In "Get Shorty," Hackman co-starred with Travolta, who played a Miami mobster sent to collect debts. Sonnenfeld said, "Gene is a perfect actor, both technically and artistically. So he came to the set every day with his lines memorized. John came to the set without his lines memorized, probably hadn't read the script the night before."

This led to a conflict on the first day of filming. Sonnenfeld recalled that Travolta—whom he described as "charming but unaware"—asked Hackman what he did over the weekend. Hackman replied, "Did nothing but memorize my lines," to which Travolta replied, "Well, that was a waste of a weekend," Sonnenfeld said. As filming progressed, Hackman became increasingly angry with his co-star for not memorizing his lines. Sonnenfeld said he let Hackman vent his anger at him. "For the next 12 weeks, every time John didn't know his lines, he would yell at me," he said. "But he was great in the movie. I knew he wasn't really mad at me."

Travolta was reportedly not the only person who displeased Hackman. He also reportedly clashed with others, including Wes Anderson, the director of "The Royal Tenenbaums." Later, perhaps coincidentally, Hackman named one of his novels "Escape from Andersonville." Bill Murray recalled in an interview with the Associated Press: "Gene was very rough on Wes. Gene Hackman is a tough guy. But he was really great."

Moore said he never found Hackman difficult to work with. "He was patient and consistently, perfectly professional," he said. "My memory is of him laughing and smiling and telling very funny jokes all the time." Moore acknowledged that Hackman could be annoyed by anyone on set who took their role more seriously than necessary. "So I can understand why he would find those pretentious actors funny," he said. "But again, it goes back to the point—he just really wanted to make the movie great."

Hackman retired from acting in 2004 and has since lived a quiet life in New Mexico with his wife. Sonnenfeld said, "I suspect one of the reasons he moved to Santa Fe was because it had beautiful outdoor scenery and was as far away from Hollywood as possible." In 2008, Hackman gave a rare interview to Reuters in which he was asked if he missed acting. He replied that the industry was "very stressful" for him. "The compromises you have to make in movies are just part of the beast, and it got to the point where I didn't want to do it anymore." But he added, "I miss the actual acting part, as that's what I did for almost 60 years. I really loved it."