Just days before the 97th Academy Awards, Hollywood is mourning the loss of film legend Gene Hackman. Kevin Costner, who worked with the late actor on No Way Out and Wyatt Earp, remembered the small details of how the little things Hackman did impacted his life and career. In an Instagram post with a clip from a previous interview, Costner wrote, “Gene Hackman was my favorite actor, and I was lucky enough to work with him more than once. Sharing a story that I told years ago with @richeisen — a moment with Gene that showed me that his generosity and vulnerability ran even deeper than his well of talent. This moment was probably small for him, but really huge for me.”
“Gene was the best actor I’ve ever worked with,” Costner explained in the clip where he butted heads with a director on where they should be standing in a scene. Hackman approached Costner on the way out of the MGM lot, where Costner was certain he was going to be chewed out by the star. Costner continued, “He looked at me and said, ‘Hey, I went through a divorce, I’ve been doing a lot 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. It was good what you did.’ And he just got in his car and drove off.”
Clint Eastwood, who worked with Hackman on Unforgiven and Absolute Power, remembered him in a brief statement on X: “Extremely saddened by the passing of Gene Hackman, He will be deeply missed…” Below are more tributes from stars like Morgan Freeman and Ralph Fiennes.