Gene Hackman is gone. That still feels weird to say even though he did reach the venerable age of 95, notwithstanding the tragic circumstances of his death. I always gravitated toward him because he was such a coil of raw, intense energy while still looking like an everyman. He was at once commonplace and incredibly charismatic—never the tallest, handsomest, or suavest guy in the room, but always the one you couldn’t take your eyes off.
Whether as Popeye Doyle, Little Bill Daggett, Harry Caul, Royal Tenenbaum or—my favourite of his performances—the Daniel Plainview-esque Jack McGann in Nicolas Roeg’s Eureka, he always brought what felt like a whole unseen life of experience behind each of his characters’ eyes, conveying so much emotion with a simple glance, whether loud or quiet, benign or dangerous. Watching Scarecrow for the first time, just after his death, it’s a reminder of just how much we’ve lost. —George_Eynaud
