Gene Hackman didn’t want to star in Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven, but the film ended up earning them a bag of Oscar awards.
Clint Eastwood’s award-winning Western film, Unforgiven, earned him critical acclaim for his acting and directing performance alongside veteran actor Gene Hackman. Impressed by the script written by David Webb Peoples, Eastwood took on the project with only Hackman in his mind as the main antagonist.
He knew the actor’s star power would deliver a profit, but it took some convincing before Hackman agreed. He liked the script, but he initially rejected it due to extreme brutality. He is famously known as an advocate of anti-gun violence.
Gene Hackman Initially Didn’t Want To Join Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven
In a DVD interview with Gene Hackman via Flickering Myth, the actor expressed his sentiment on starring in Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven. He was apprehensive due to its nature until the director revealed his intentions in making the movie.
I swore I would never be involved in a picture with this much violence in it. But the more I read it, the more I came to understand the purpose of the film, the more fascinated I became.
Eastwood wouldn’t let go of Hackman, so he explained to him that what he initially thought about the action thriller was the utter contrast. He planned to use the movie to raise gun and violence awareness (via All The Right Movies):
That’s the opposite of the film I want to make. Unforgiven isn’t going to be about the heroics of gunslingers, I want to show the inglorious, and dark side of the Wild West. The brutality of that time and place – I think we could make something that shows that side of gun violence.
Hackman said in a 2003 interview with IGN that “there should be some control of how people acquire guns and that kind of thing. There are just too many guns out there.” Indeed, many accidents and crimes resulting in deaths involve guns, so the actor uses his influence and fame to make people think twice about the usage of firearms.
The film premiered in theaters in 1992. It earned nine Academy Award nominations, winning four, including Best Picture and Best Director for Eastwood, and Best Supporting Actor for Hackman.
Clint Eastwood On Gene Hackman’s Little Bill Daggett
Speaking with American Film Institute, Eastwood described Hackman’s character as not exactly a bad guy. “He was a sheriff who had good, noble ideas. He was at this small town and he ran it with a lot of strength, but he also felt that guns shouldn’t be allowed in town,” explained the director, which indeed sounds exactly like Hackman’s advocacy.
The catch is that “he wanted to be the only controller and law enforcer.” This is where Hackman’s villain and Eastwood’s hero would clash. “He just didn’t see himself as a bad guy. He thought he was always doing this on the side of right,” added Eastwood.