Movies - TV

Gene Hackman Thought He Would Never Work Again After Hoosiers

By MIKE SHUTT

Gene Hackman is one of those performers who cannot help but be completely transfixing on screen, and that even goes to the roles where he is not even that engaged with the material. He was not initially thrilled with the idea of making “Hoosiers” and even believed it to be the death knell of his career.

Director David Anspaugh has recounted Hackman's pure discontent with making the movie. He even went as far as to tell co-star Dennis Hopper “I hope you've invested well, because we'll never work again after this film.” Anspaugh furthered his point by stating, that Hackman “had no belief in that movie, or me, at the time."

Of course, "Hoosiers" did not tank Hackman or Hopper's careers. In fact, Hopper even got an Oscar nomination for his performance and Hackman’s career continued to soar. He may have thought "No basketball movie has ever made any money," but that didn't stop him from putting in the work which resulted in a classic film still lauded to this day.

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