“Is there a version of this rock for directors?”
The stunt? Well, when they first met about the part, Hackman not only refused to wear a skull cap to play the famously bald Luthor, he insisted that his big ‘70s mustache stay too. At that early meeting, Donner too had a mustache — but two months later, he shaved it off. When Hackman showed up to shoot the picture, while Donner had “figured out how to get around the skull cap,” Hackman still had his goddamn mustache.
Quickly, Donner instructed the film’s make-up artist to hook him up with a fake stash. When he saw Hackman, Donner said: “Okay, tell you what, you take yours off, I’ll take mine off,” insisting that Gene go first. So Gene Hackman shaved off his mustache. When he was done, he turned to Donner and said: “You’re next.” So Richard Donner carefully peeled off his phony facial hair. The veins in Hackman’s neck started throbbing. He looked like he might straight-up attack Donner — but then he “burst out laughing,” and they had a great relationship after that. Impressively, this still ranks as the best story from a production that also featured an acting legend reading lines off of a literal baby diaper
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Top Image: Warner Bros.
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