The late Gene Hackman’s incomparable talent and larger than life persona were well articulated by his No Way Out costar Kevin Costner in an interview seven years back.
The clip, taken from the January 5, 2017 edition of The Rich Eisen Show, was circulating amid the shocking news that the double Oscar winner, 95, his wife Betsy Arakawa, 63, and their dog were found ᴅᴇᴀᴅ in their Santa Fe, New Mexico home Wednesday.
The Dances With Wolves actor-director told Eisen that among the amazing talent he’s had the chance to collaborate with over the years, no star shone brighter than Hackman’s.
‘I would say probably Gene was the best actor that I’ve ever worked with,’ Costner said of the late star, whose cause of death remains under investigation.
Costner said, ‘People ask all the time you know, who is the best actor, who is the biggest star who is the blah blah blah – the line is long for the great actors I’ve been able to work, it really is.’
Costner played the role of Tom Farrell opposite Hackman’s character David Brice in the political thriller from filmmaker Roger Donaldson, which opened in theaters August 14, 1987.
The late Gene Hackman ‘s incomparable talent and larger than life persona were well articulated by his No Way Out costar Kevin Costner in a 2017 interview
‘A coverup and witchhunt occur after a politician accidentally kills his mistress,’ read a logline from the film, which also featured Sean Young, Iman, Will Patton, George Dzundza and the late Howard Duff.
Costner in the chat said Sean Connery was ‘the biggest star’ he’d ‘ever worked with’ doing The Untouchables, also in 1987.
Read More Gene Hackman ᴅᴇᴀᴅ at 95: Actor and wife are found ᴅᴇᴀᴅ at Santa Fe home 
The Draft Day star told a story about how he repositioned a scene in the film while clashing with director Donaldson, while Hackman didn’t say anything in the background.
‘We had been doing every scene to that point around a desk just like this,’ he said. ‘Every scene – I finally said to the director, “Look, I don’t feel like it’s right” – Gene Hackman’s standing there listening.’
He continued, ‘I feel like [the scene should be] over here and it was like, no one is saying anything and the director and I really ʙuттed heads on it.
‘Finally for whatever reason – and Gene’s just like listening and finally for whatever reason I said, “I don’t care it’s here and I hated to do that but I just said “It’s here” and I don’t need all of our scenes here – it’s here, so we did it.’
Costner said when filmmakers tried to push back by asking what Hackman would do in the repositioned scene, he replied, ‘Gene will figure out what to do – cause he’s really good!’
He added, ‘I do the scene and we do it all day – it’s the scene now in the movie.’
Costner played the role of Tom Farrell opposite Hackman’s character David Brice in the political thriller, which also featured Sean Young
Costner told a story about how he repositioned a scene in the film while clashing with director Donaldson, while Hackman didn’t say anything in the background
Costner past reposted the clip on the Twitter page for his musical group Kevin Costner & Modern West on August 13, 2022
Costner said Hackman approached him later that day as he made his way to his car on the MGM lot and said he wanted to talk to him.
Costner said he expected Hackman to chastise him over the ‘disrespect’ he showed on set, but it was just the opposite.
Costner said, ‘He looked at me and he said, “Hey, you know I went through a divorce, I’ve been doing a lot of kind of questionable movies lately – and when I saw you fighting for what you wanted today … it reminded me of how I used to feel about acting.”
‘He said, “It was good what you did” – and he just got his car and drove off.’
Costner past reposted the clip on the Twitter page for his musical group Kevin Costner & Modern West on August 13, 2022.
He said, ’35 years ago today we released ‘No Way Out’! In honor of this anniversary, I want to share this story of Gene Hackman that I told on the @RichEisenShow a few years back that has stuck with me to this day.’
