Over the years, Gene Hackman appeared in all sorts of films — comedies, thrillers, dramas, crime films, and more. So, every now and then, he found himself playing a character who got a little violent. For Hackman, portraying violence was, however, always difficult for him.
One of Hackman’s best-known roles was in “The French Connection.” In the film, Hackman is seen in several brutal fight scenes. “I’d never had to do anything like that before,” he said to Film Comment of the movie role. “True, I’d done my share of fighting as a kid and I’d been in the Marine Corps, but as an actor I’d been taught that relaxation was of utmost importance, and I was not relaxing during that scene.”
Hackman felt so uncomfortable, in fact, that the scene suffered as a result. He even suggested to the director that he might need to be replaced by another actor. Luckily, the director ignored the suggestion, and Hackman soon came to understand the violent streak in his character. As he told Cigar Aficionado, “After having worked in the streets of New York for three and a half months, when we went to reshoot the scene, I was very happy to beat the hell out of that guy.”
