10 Actors Who Went Too Far On Set
2. Gene Hackman - The Royal Tenenbaums
Symmetry-obsessed indie darling Wes Anderson wrote Gene Hackman's role in The Royal Tenenbaums with the actor specifically in mind, but somebody should probably have told him The French Connection star hates it when filmmakers do that.
Whether it was this that put a permanent bee in his bonnet throughout the shoot, or the fact he was earning a fraction of his usual fee is unclear, but by all accounts, Hackman went out of his way to be an absolute nightmare on set.
He clashed with Anderson, at one point telling him to "pull up [his] pants and act like a man" and hitting him with a C-bomb. Co-stars Gwyneth Paltrow and Anjelica Huston have admitted to being intimidated by Hackman during filming, as were the rest of the cast and crew - with the exception of the legendary Bill Murray.
Murray, who remains a close personal friend of Anderson's, reportedly agreed to come in on his days off to keep Hackman in line. Is there anything this man can't do?