In an interview with Vanity Fair, Ben Stiller talked about working on The Royal Tenenbaums with Gene Hackman and finally getting up the nerve, two days before the shoot ended, to tell the intimidating Hackman how much he loved The Poseidon Adventure and how it changed his life and made him want to become a film-maker. As Stiller recalled, Hackman gruffly responded: “Oh yeah, money job.”
The exchange did not go as Stiller hoped, but he was firm in his conclusion: “Even if it was a money job for Hackman, it was the most incredible money-job performance I’ve ever seen.”
