Bill Murray recalls working with tough nut Gene Hackman on The Royal Tenenbaums after his tragic death

He’s getting honest in his remembrance.Bill Murray is speaking out on the death of Gene Hackman, who died at age 95 on Wednesday under strange circumstances.“He was a tough nut, Gene Hackman.But he was really good,” Murray, 74, said in an interview with the Associated Press. The “Ghostbusters” star added, “And he was really difficult, we can say it now, but he was a tough guy.

Older, great actors do not give young directors much of a chance.They’re really rough on them, and Gene was really rough on Wes [Anderson].

I used to kind of step in there and just try to defend my friend.”The 2001 comedy was filmed when Anderson was just 32.The movie ultimately put the legendary quirky filmmaker on the map.

Hackman played family patriarch, Royal Tenenbaum.Murray co-starred, along with Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller, Luke Wilson, Anjelica Huston, Owen Wilson, and Danny Glover. Paltrow is among the many celebs who have spoken out after Hackman’s death, posting a picture from the film to her Instagram with a broken heart emoji.Murray also recalled watching Hackman do “25 takes” where he performed the scene perfectly, “with an actor who kept blowing it every single time.”“Gene would do it perfectly, the other actor would blow it and I’d go like, ‘Oh, God.’ I was watching it going, ‘No wonder this guy wants to throttle people,’” the former “Saturday Night Live” star continued.

“And then he sort of gave an ordinary performance and the other actor got it right and I thought Gene was going to throw the actor off the ledge of the building.”During a recent appearance on “The Drew Barrymore Show” this week, Murray added: “I sympathize with Gene because to him, Wes Anderson was just a punk kid and Gene’s made some of the greatest American movies.So he was a little irritable.”On Wednesday, Santa Fe County police discovered the body of the Oscar winner and his wife of 34 years – 65-year-old classical pianist Betsy Arakawa....