"... they were unlucky enough to be the children of a man named Royal Tenenbaum."
Central to Anderson's process of writing and his vision of the film was the casting of Gene Hackman in the role of the family patriarch, Royal Tenenbaum.

Once the character was created, "Gene Hackman seemed like the only choice for the part," Anderson says. "Usually in an ensemble piece, the central character is a kind of straight man surrounded by a group of eccentrics. In this case, however, he isn't the straight man. He's a wild character, a catalyst, a kind of primal force.

 "With Gene Hackman in the role we felt it would be perfect casting. I don't know why it wasn't as if there was a conscious reason we had our minds set on him. It just always seemed like a natural thing, that we would have him playing Royal. But then everyone else would have to be very strong, just to balance everything out. I don't know what we would have done if Gene turned us down, which he did."

Anderson describes the process: "About two years before we starting filming, my agent Jim Berkus set up a meeting with him. I enjoyed the meeting and he was very nice and encouraging. He said he'd be happy to read the script but said I shouldn't tailor a part specifically for him, that it was usually bad luck." 

"I told Wes not to write the part specifically for me," Hackman says. "Generally speaking, I don't like things written for me or rather I don't like having to be restricted to somebody's idea of who I am. So we had this nice chat. I told him not to do it, and then he went off and did it anyway!" "

I guess it's fair to say that after our meeting, he passed," Anderson says. "I appealed again, and he passed again. I had my brother do a drawing of the cast with him at the center and sent it to him, and then I sent him another draft and dozens of letters. I was essentially stalking him, even though for a while I had no personal contact with him. 

"His agent wanted him to do the film but I think he was overwhelmed with a lot of other projects at the time. I think the one thing we did have going on our side was the fact that I wasn't sure I wanted to do the movie if he wasn't going to do it. I think that made him stop and rethink his decision. His agent told me that he read him my last letter over the phone, and Gene said, 'I guess maybe I should do it'." 

Hackman appreciated the character of Royal Tenenbaum. "There's a lot to this guy -he's complicated. He's coming to terms with his mortality and I think he really is coming to terms with the fact that he's been so selfish his whole life, and I think he's genuine when he says he wants to make amends and get back with the family and feel some love." 

The theme of family also appealed to the actor. 

"Good families always keep trying," Hackman says. "No, things aren't always going to work out smoothly, but the best families keep going no matter what somebody does to you. The families that fall apart are the ones that don't care enough."

Credit: The Royal Tenenbaums press kit

About Gene Hackman...

Hailed by The New York Times Magazine as "Hollywood's Uncommon Everyman," Hackman is a formidable American character actor turned leading man. Like Spencer Tracy, his "regular guy" looks and manner make it easy for men to identify with his persona of outraged common sense. Hackman's performances are consistently natural, and he excels at playing ordinary men caught up in moments of unexpected crisis. He has been one of America's leading film actors since the 1970s.

Hackman quit high school at 16, lied about his age and joined the Marines. He was trained as a radio operator before being shipped overseas. When his unit's announcer was injured, Hackman stepped in and found radio a hospitable medium. After his discharge, he studied journalism and TV production at the University of Illinois on the GI Bill. Hackman moved to New York and attended the School of Radio Technique, supporting himself through a succession of odd jobs. He next worked as an announcer at small radio and TV stations across the country. Hackman did not decide on an acting career until, at age 30, he realized that his announcing skills would help him in the profession.

Hackman attended the Pasadena Playhouse to learn acting. Older than most of the other students, he was a bit of a misfit, as was his free-spirited classmate (and subsequent NYC roommate) Dustin Hoffman. The duo was dubbed "least likely to succeed" by their peers. Nonetheless, Hackman managed to make a name for himself on the stage.

His first important film appearance was in Lilith (1964), which starred Warren Beatty. Impressed by the novice film actor's performance, Beatty cast Hackman as Buck Barrow, the older brother of the outlaw Clyde, in Bonnie and Clyde (1967). Directed by Arthur Penn, the film became a 1960s landmark that provided a breakthrough role for Hackman, netting him his first Oscar nomination (for Best Supporting Actor). He was nominated in the same category in 1970 for I Never Sang For My Father. Hackman became a full-fledged star with his performance in William Friedkin's blockbuster police drama, The French Connection (1971), etching an indelible portrait of the tough narcotics cop Popeye Doyle and winning a Best Actor Oscar in the process.

Hackman has displayed a remarkable range over the course of his brilliant career, as evidenced by his roles in the films that followed in the wake of The French Connection: Scarecrow (1973), a road/buddy picture with Al Pacino; Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation (1974), a somber character study of a surveillance expert; Mel Brooks's You Frankenstein (1974), which showcased Hackman's comedic talents as he plays a well-meaning but dangerous blind man in a hilarious scene with Peter Boyle's Monster; Arthur Penn's pessimistic thriller, Night Moves (1975), in which he plays a detective out of his depth both professionally and personally; and French Connection II (1975), a less commercially successful sequel that was more deeply critical of the protagonist.

Hackman may be best known by modern audiences for his portrayal of archvillain Lex Luthor in Superman (1978) and its 1980 and 1987 sequels. These high camp performances proved that Hackman was a major comic actor—though even his skills couldn't save Loose Cannons (1990), a vulgar cop comedy co-starring Dan Aykroyd, from oblivion. He played a showboating TV anchor who gets killed in Nicaragua in Under Fire (1983). Hoosiers (1986) displayed Hackman's warmer side as a small town high school basketball coach, while in No Way Out (1987) he was a cold, polished Secretary of Defense with a secret. Hackman's performance as a good ol' boy FBI agent in Mississippi Burning (1988) earned him another Best Actor Oscar nomination.

In the 1990s Hackman has alternated between leads (Narrow Margin, 1990, Class Action, 1991) and memorable supporting roles (Mike Nichols's Postcards from the Edge, 1990, Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven, 1992). Unforgiven provided Hackman one of the most fascinating characters of his career. Little Bill Daggett, the smiling sheriff of Big Whiskey, could have been the hero of a less critical Western. An effective lawman, he allows no guns in his town other than those used by his deputies. Little Bill means well, but the usually laudable desire for law and order becomes a justification for sadism and near-totalitarianism. The sense of basic decency run amok that Hackman brings to the role makes Little Bill a profoundly ambiguous character. It also earned him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

Credit: Baseline's Encyclopedia of Film

 Filmography

The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) - Royal Tenenbaum
Behind Enemy Lines (2001)
Heist (2001/I) - Joe Moore
Heartbreakers (2001) - William B. Tensy
The Mexican (2001) - Margolese
The Replacements (2000) - Jimmy McGinty
Under Suspicion (2000) - Henry B. Hearst
Enemy of the State (1998) - Brill/Edward Lyle
Antz (1998) (voice) - General Mandible
Twilight (1998) - Jack Ames
Absolute Power (1997) - President Richmond
Extreme Measures (1996) - Dr. Lawrence Myrick
The Birdcage (1996) - Senator Kevin Keeley
The Chamber (1996) - Sam Cayhall
Get Shorty (1995) - Harry Zimm
Crimson Tide (1995) - Captain Frank Ramsey
The Quick and the Dead (1995) - Herod
Wyatt Earp (1994) - Nicholas Earp
Geronimo: An American Legend (1993) - Brigadier General George Crook
The Firm (1993) - Avery Tolar
Unforgiven (1992) - Little Bill Daggett
Company Business (1991) - Sam Boyd/John Jones
Class Action (1991) - Jedediah Tucker Ward
Narrow Margin (1990) - Caulfield
Postcards from the Edge (1990) - Lowell Korshack, Director
Loose Cannons (1990) - Mac
The Package (1989) - Johnny Gallagher
Full Moon in Blue Water (1988) - Floyd
Mississippi Burning (1988) - Anderson
Split Decisions (1988) - Dan McGuinn
Another Woman (1988) - Larry Lewis
Bat*21 (1988) - Lieutenant Colonel Iceal Hambleton
No Way Out (1987) - David Brice, Secretary of Defense
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987) - Lex Luthor
Power (1986) - Wilfred Buckley
Hoosiers (1986) - Coach Norman Dale
Target (1985/I) - Walter Lloyd
Twice in a Lifetime (1985) - Harry MacKenzie
Misunderstood (1984) - Ned
Eureka (1983) - Jack McCann
Uncommon Valor (1983/I) - Col. Cal Rhodes
Under Fire (1983) - Alex Grazier
Reds (1981) - Pete Van Wherry
All Night Long (1981) - George Dupler
Superman II (1980) - Lex Luthor
Speed Fever (1978) - Himself 
Superman (1978) - Lex Luthor 
Look at Liv, A (1977) - Himself 
March or Die (1977) - Major William Sherman Foster 
Domino Principle, The (1977) - Roy Tucker 
Bridge Too Far, A (1977) - Major General Stanislaw Sosabowski 
Lucky Lady (1975) - Kibby 
Bite the Bullet (1975) - Sam Clayton 
Night Moves (1975) - Harry Moseby, Moseby Confidential Investigations 
French Connection II (1975) - Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle 
Young Frankenstein (1974) - The Blindman (Harold) 
Zandy's Bride (1974) - Zandy Allan 
Conversation, The (1974) - Harry Caul 
Scarecrow (1973) - Max 
Cisco Pike (1972) - Sergeant Leo Holland 
Poseidon Adventure, The (1972) - Reverend Scott 
Prime Cut (1972) - Mary Ann 
French Connection, The (1971) - Detective Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle 
Hunting Party, The (1971) - Brandt Ruger 
Doctors' Wives (1971) - Dr. Dave Randolph 
I Never Sang for My Father (1970) - Gene Garrison 
Downhill Racer (1969) - Eugene Claire 
Marooned (1969) - Buzz Lloyd 
Gypsy Moths, The (1969) - Joe Browdy 
Riot (1969) - Red Fraker 
Split, The (1968) - Detective Lieut. Walter Brille 
Banning (1967) - Tommy Del Gaddo 
Covenant with Death, A (1967) - Harmsworth 
First to Fight (1967) - Sergeant Tweed 
Bonnie and Clyde (1967) - Buck Barrow 
Hawaii (1966) - Reverend John Whipple 
Lilith (1964) - Norman 
Mad Dog Coll (1961) (uncredited) - Cop 

Credit: The Internet Movie Database

The Conversation

Bonnie & Clyde
(nominated for Best Supporting Actor in 1967)