In the months since Gene Hackman’s death, one of his co-stars from the 2001 crime movie Heist has revealed what he thinks made the actor an all-time great. Sam Rockwell was one of the last people to act alongside Hackman before his retirement in 2004, and has shared memories of his experience working with the Hollywood legend.

While Heist may not be among Gene Hackman’s best movies, it still gave Rockwell, whose most recent role was playing the character Frank in The White Lotus season 3, a chance to see how the acting great worked on set. 24 years on, he’s now able to reflect on Hackman’s approach to their shared art form.

Sam Rockwell was talking to Justin Horowitz on the podcast Happy Sad Confused when he revealed what he’d made of Gene Hackman as an actor, both through working alongside him and rewatching some of Hackman’s performances in classic movies. Unsurprisingly, Rockwell is in awe of his Heist co-star’s abilities as a performer.

Gene Hackman’s Heist Co-Star Sam Rockwell Says He Was One Of The “Greatest Actors On The Planet”

Rockwell’s View Of Hackman Aligns With Hollywood’s Acting Community At Large

Gene Hackman’s death saw tributes pour in from a mulтιтude of his acting peers in February 2025. In June, Sam Rockwell added his name to the list of stars who see Hackman as one of the greatest ever to have appeared on the silver screen. While speaking to Justin Horowitz, Rockwell gave the following ᴀssessment of the Hollywood legend’s acting:

“I just watched Scarecrow again, and I was watching The Royal Tenenbaums. I mean – Jesus Christ! – he was a monster, a monster. He was probably one of the three or four, or five, greatest actors on the planet.“

This appraisal is quite the compliment from an Oscar-winning actor in his own right, whose best big-screen performances have earned their own fair share of acclaim. It chimes with the overall consensus of the Hollywood acting community, however, as Mia Farrow and James Gunn are among the many stars to have called Hackman one of the best of all time.

Sam Rockwell Has Revealed What He Thinks Made Gene Hackman An Acting Great

Hackman Struck The Perfect Balance Between Downtime & Intensity On Set

The most intriguing part of Sam Rockwell’s comments about Gene Hackman is his view on how Hackman’s approach to acting made him one of the best screen actors who ever lived. Rockwell has gone into detail about how Hackman’s behavior on set helped him to bring the best out of himself as a performer. He explains this behavior as follows:

“He was able to draw boundaries with people. I saw him kind of protect himself… What can happen on a set often is that people don’t really understand what you’re doing. Not everyone is Alan Pakula or Sidney Lumet. Some of the best-directors are not necessarily actor-friendly, and that goes for every department, and that’s fine. They don’t need to understand what I’m doing.

“I saw him a couple of times, like, just ask for space. He kept very quiet. He was very quiet, and then he would crack jokes. His stand-in was one of his best friends and they would hang out. He was an ex-baseball player. He told me some great jokes.”

Relaxing with friends and staying in his own bubble in between shooting scenes was apparently key to Gene Hackman’s approach to his work as an actor. At the same time, Rockwell also recalls that Hackman wanted his fellow performers to be on the top of their game and ready to challenge him when the cameras were rolling:

“He also wanted me to bring it. He wasn’t afraid of a good tennis player opposite him. The same thing with someone like Malkovich or Chris Walken, or Frances McDormand. They’re not threatened by someone who’s gonna pᴀss the ball. That takes great confidence, and knowing a lot about the art form and what it entails.”

For Gene Hackman, it seems that a day’s acting ideally involved the perfect balance between winding down between filming sessions, and winding up to the peak of his powers when shooting a scene. While Heist isn’t the best example of his work, his co-star in the movie certainly seems to have picked up some vital lessons from their time together.