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Bill Murray reveals Gene Hackman 'regret'

Bill Murray has reflected on losing the likes of Gene Hackman and Michael Gambon

Bill Murray "regrets" not asking Gene Hackman and Michael Gambon for more advice when he had the chance.

The 74-year-old actor worked with the late Hollywood legend - who, along with his wife Betsy Arakawa, was found dead on 26 February in different rooms of their home - on 2001 movie 'The Royal Tenenbaums', while he acted with Gambon in 2004's 'The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou'.

He told Extra: "I do have regrets about certain ones that I worked with that I wish I'd pressed them more and asked more questions instead of just trying to, like, get along with them and make them laugh or something.

"I wish I’d been a little bit more of an intentional student than an accidental one.”

Reflecting on Hackman's death last month aged 95, Bill hailed his late co-star as "one of the best guys" to work with.

He said: "When you talk about Gene, you talk about one of the best guys and a guy that all actors would look at and go, ‘Ah, uh-huh, that’s how you do that.'

"He was almost like reading an instruction manual of like, ‘This is how it’s done'. When you look at his work and look at what he’s doing, every next moment is gonna be accurate.

"It’s gonna be real, and it’s gonna be like, ‘Ah, goddamn, I wish I could have done that.' "

And Bill compared Hackman's death to that of 'Harry Potter' star Gambon, who passed away in 2023.

He added: “You know, when you lose these great ones — Michael Gambon was another one that I worked with in a Wes Anderson movie — one of the greatest actors and an extraordinary person that just being with him on the set, you felt like, okay, this is how you behave in life.

"This is how you sort of keep yourself close to yourself so that when you have to perform now, your machine's gonna be right there, ready to go."

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