After more than half a century on-screen it would be one of his last significant contributions to American cinema.

But Gene Hackman , who tragically died alongside his wife Betsy Arakawa at their New Mexico home in February, was initially reluctant to accept a starring role in The Royal Tenenbaums following a dispute over pay.

Speaking to The Times , director Wes Anderson says Hackman - at the time one of Hollywood's greatest living actors and revered for a canon of work that includes The French Connection, Unforgiven and Mississippi Burning - objected to being given the same baseline salary as every other actor on the cast.

'Gene was very annoyed about the money,' he recalled. 'He was furious. Also, he didn’t want to do the film anyway. I talked him into it - I just didn’t go away.'

Hackman later accepted the terms of his contract - if not the relatively young Anderson's maverick techniques - as part of an ensemble cast after Oscar-winner Gwyneth Paltrow and Anjelica Huston signed up, having agreed to the same budget fee.

'And everybody else said yes to the salary, so Gene just went with it and - that just became our way,' he added.

Hackman won critical praise for his role as the eccentric Royal O'Reilly Tenenbaum in Anderson's surreal 2001 tragicomedy about the mixed fortunes of three talented siblings.

Also starring Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Danny Glover and Bill Murray, the film won numerous accolades throughout the ensuing awards season - among them Golden Globe and National Society of Film Critics' awards for Hackman.

But despite its success and enduring popularity among film enthusiasts, Anderson admits his relationship with Hackman deteriorated as soon as the cameras stopped rolling.

Asked if they had spoken prior to Hackman's death, he said: 'Not a word. In fact he left without saying goodbye. He was grumpy - we had friction.

'He didn’t enjoy it. I was probably too young and it was annoying to him.'

Anderson - currently promoting new film The Phoenician Scheme in Cannes - believes the unorthodox script may have played a part in Hackman's cantankerous attitude on set, with the pair last communicating at the film's premiere.

'And he liked it,' the director recalled. 'But he told me he didn’t understand it when we were shooting.

'I wish I’d shown him ten minutes, early on. Then, maybe, he would have said, "OK, I get it."'

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BREAKING NEWS Harrowing new detail in Gene Hackman wife's autopsy revealed

The Oscar-winning actor was found dead aged 95 in his Santa Fe, New Mexico home alongside wife Arakawa, 64, in February, with investigators concluding that Arakawa died first after contracting a rare rat-borne disease Hantavirus .

For up to seven days after Arakawa died, Hackman - who suffered from Alzheimer's disease in later life - remained inside the home before he died from heart failure.

Autopsy results released in April and first obtained by Fox News found that Hackman died with acetone in his system, a sign of a 'prolonged level of fasting.'

The grim finding shows that Hackman had no food for some time before he died, and due to his advanced cognitive deterioration, officials said the actor may not have ever realized his wife had died.

His autopsy noted that he had a 'history of congestive heart failure', was fitted with a 'bi-ventricular pacemaker' since April 2019, and suffered 'neurodegenerative features consistent with Alzheimer's Disease.'

At a press conference weeks after the couple were found, Dr. Heather Jarrell, Chief Medical Examiner for New Mexico said Alzheimer's Disease and kidney failure were 'significant contributing factors' to Hackman's death.

Jarrell said authorities believe the actor died on February 18, and Arakawa died on February 11 following a bout with 'Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome .'

The autopsy, from the Office of the Medical Investigator in New Mexico, noted that Hackman tested negative for the Hantavirus that killed his wife.

The documents added in their findings: 'Autopsy showed severe atherosclerotic and hypertensive cardiovascular disease, with placement of coronary artery stents and a bypass graft, as well as a previous aortic valve replacement.

'Remote myocardial infarctions were present involving the left ventricular free wall and the septum, which were significantly large.'

A report obtained by DailyMail.com indicated that Arakawa had bookmarks on her computer suggesting that she had been researching medical conditions with symptoms similar to Covid-19 or the flu prior to her death.