Bill Murray Says That He Was A Nicer Guy Than Gene Hackman on ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’

Bill Murray has a bad reputation for being a difficult co-worker on the sets of his many blockbuster films, but, following the passing of his Royal Tenenbaums star Gene Hackman, Murray just wants us all to know that he’ll still be a dick to his castmates after they’re dead.

Yesterday, the news that Santa Fe police had found both Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa dead in their home shocked the entertainment world and sparked an outpouring of heartfelt eulogies from Hackman’s co-stars and contemporaries. Today, however, is when Hollywood turns on the late, great, two-time Academy Award winner and launches a press tour to chip away at his image while subtly self-aggrandizing — or, at least, that’s what Murray’s PR people mistakenly believed when they let him mouth off about a fellow Royal Tenenbaums star and his poor treatment of director Wes Anderson.

During a new interview with the Associated Press, Murray claimed that his recently deceased co-star was “really rough” on his director during the making of Royal Tenenbaums, saying, “He was a tough nut, Gene Hackman, but he was really good. And he was really difficult — we can say it now.”

Imagine what Murray's co-stars will say after he passes.

“He was a tough guy,” Murray reiterated of the late Hackman, who played the titular long lost, eccentric father in The Royal Tenenbaums to critical acclaim. Specifically, said Murray, Hackman’s prickliness was pointed toward the film’s then-31-year-old director Anderson, as Murray explained, “Older, great actors do not give young directors much of a chance. They’re really rough on them, and Gene was really rough on Wes. I used to kind of step in there and just try to defend my friend.”

However, Murray remarked, Hackman backed up his bristly demeanor with his talent, and, occasionally, Hackman’s supposed bad mood was justified. “I watched him once do like 25 takes where he did it perfectly with an actor who kept blowing it every single time,” Murray continued. “Gene would do it perfectly, the other actor would blow it and I’d go like, ‘Oh, God.’ I was watching it going, ‘No wonder this guy wants to throttle people.’”

“And then he sort of gave an ordinary performance and the other actor got it right and I thought Gene was going to throw the actor off the ledge of the building,” Murray concluded.

Then, later that same day, Murray went on The Drew Barrymore Show to continue spreading the word on Hackman’s on-set nastiness, though he maintains that he doesn’t blame Hackman for any of it. “I sympathize with Gene because to him, Wes Anderson was just a punk kid and Gene’s made some of the greatest American movies. So he was a little irritable,” Murray said of his late co-star, then asserting that, following the release of The Royal Tenenbaums, Hackman must have felt some remorse for his behavior. 

“He was not an ignorant man, he was a bright guy. When he saw the movie, he had to go, ‘Well, I acted like a jerk,’" Murray posited of Hackman. “I’m sure he did, because when you see the movie, it’s a real piece of work.” Murray later added the farewell. ”Goodbye, Gene, I hope you’re well wherever you are.”

It's important to note that nothing Murray said about Hackman's behavior during the making of The Royal Tenenbaums is exactly breaking news — Hackman's decision to turn the film's entire production schedule into one extended tantrum and verbally abuse Anderson at every given opportunity is a widely known behind-the-scenes horror story among the director’s sizable fandom. But, really, does Murray need to dredge up the memories of Hackman’s less dignified moments in two different interviews on the very day that news of Hackman’s death first broke? Is the mourning period really that short?

And, of course, it’s a little rich for Murray to go around telling people about what a bad co-worker Hackman was considering that Murray's own on-set misbehavior recently shut down an entire film production and forced him to pay out a $100,000 sexual harassment settlement. God forbid Murray gets the same treatment when his time comes — on that sad day, every book publisher in America is going to grieve for him by fighting a bidding war over Geena Davis' tell-all.