Kevin Costner Pays Tribute to Former Co-Star Gene Hackman’s “Generosity and Vulnerability”

This week, beloved Hollywood star Gene Hackman passed away, and among the numerous tributes paid to the beloved performer, one from Yellowstone star Kevin Costner has started to go viral.

Costner shared the screen with Hackman in the 1987 neo-noir No Way Out, and he was clearly impressed by the experience. In an Instagram post following the news of Hackman’s death, Costner shared a clip from a 2017 interview during which he spoke about the impact Hackman had on him.People ask all the time, you know, ‘Who is the best actor,’ ‘Who is the biggest star’, ‘Who is the’ blah blah blah,” Costner said in the interview with Rich Eisen. The line is long for the great actors I’ve been able to work with, it really is. I would say probably Gene was the best actor that I’ve ever worked with.”

Costner went on to share a story from the filming of No Way Out, in which he forced the film’s director to change the location of a scene to include Hackman. Hackman later approached Costner in the parking lot, “He looked at me and he said, “Hey, you know I went through a divorce, I’ve been doing a lot of kind of questionable movies lately, and when I saw you fighting for what you wanted today. It reminded me of how I used to feel about acting. He said, “It was good what you did,” and he just got his car and drove off.”

Along with the video, Costner wrote in his Instagram post, “Gene Hackman was my favorite actor, and I was lucky enough to work with him more than once. Sharing a story that I told years ago with @richeisen—a moment with Gene that showed me that his generosity and vulnerability ran even deeper than his well of talent. This moment was probably small for him, but really huge for me. As an actor, a man, and even a director.” He added, “My heart is with Gene, his wife, and his family today. I’m lucky to have gotten to learn from him in this life.”