Wes Anderson erinnert sich, dass Gene Hackman „wütend“ über das Gehalt von „Royal Tenenbaum“ „Flat-Fee“ war: „Wir hatten Reibung“

Gene was very annoyed about the money,” Anderson said of the pic which marks one of Hackman’s final performances. “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.”

(The film’s cast also includes Owen Wilson, Ben Stiller, Luke Wilson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelica Huston, Danny Glover and Alec Baldwin as Narrator.)

Anderson added that he did not keep in touch with the veteran performer. “Not a word. 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,” he stated.

Bill Murray has said “He was a tough nut, Gene Hackman, but he was really good and he was really difficult. Like, we can say it now, but he was a tough guy because older great actors do not give young directors much of a chance. They’re really rough on ’em. Gene was really rough on Wes and I used to kind of step in there and just try to defend my friend.”