A KU connection & drama on the set: Six things to know about Gene Hackman, ‘Hoosiers’
Fans recalled their favorite Gene Hackman movies on social media Thursday after hearing news of his death.
The 95-year-old actor, his wife, Betsy Arakawa, and a pet dog were found dead in the couple’s Santa Fe, New Mexico home on Wednesday.
Rolling Stone called Hackman an “actor’s actor.” He appeared in more than 70 movies, some of the most well-known in film history, including “The French Connection,” “Mississippi Burning,” “Unforgiven” “and Crimson Tide.”
“Hoosiers” is considered one of the best sports movies ever made. In 2020, The Associated Press ranked it the No. 1 sports film of all time.
Hackman played Indiana high school basketball coach Norman Dale in the 1986 Cinderella tale inspired by the real-life story of Milan (Indiana) High School’s 1954 state basketball championship team.
The movie earned Oscar nominations for its Jerry Goldsmith score and Dennis Hopper’s supporting role as troubled Hickory High assistant coach Shooter Flatch.
Hackman famously thought the movie would flop.
Though born in California, Hackman spent much of his youth in a small Illinois town about 60 miles from where “Hoosiers” was filmed in Indiana.
In a 1987 interview, Hackman said he played high school hoops himself.
“I played a little high school basketball,” he said. “I was not terrific, but I was on the varsity basketball team. I had some sort of difficulty with the coach, and was walking home from school one day and saw this sign by the post office with this Marine in dress blues.
“I liked that uniform better than the one I was wearing in school. So I joined the Marines.”
From the moment “you see his disgraced, former college-basketball coach Norman Dale step onto the court and start barking orders at his players, you get the sense that Hackman knew this world inside and out,” Rolling Stone wrote Thursday in tribute.
“Director David Anspaugh and screenwriter Angelo Pizzo’s ode to Midwestern high school hoops and the communities that live for the game gave the star the perfect tough-love mentor role, as well as an inspirational locker room speech for the ages: ‘Remember what got you here.’”
Here are six other things you might not know about this iconic film.
Jack Nicholson was director’s first choice
“Hoosiers” director Anspaugh first pitched the coach role to longtime L.A. Lakers fan Jack Nicholson.
“(Anspaugh) arranged a meeting for us with Jack and we gave him the script — knowing how passionate he was about basketball,” screenwriter Pizzo said in an interview last year.
“We asked him if he could give us some tips on raising the money (for the movie). He said he would read it (the script) and let us know.”
Nicholson called two months later and said he would play the coach, Pizzo said.
“All of a sudden that got the attention of our agents and it gave us a certain kind of legitimacy,” Pizzo said. “But Jack had to bow out because he was in a lawsuit with MGM at the time ... he said to us, ‘take it to (Robert) Duvall or (Gene) Hackman.”
But Duvall turned down the role because he thought it was too similar to roles he had already played.
Hackman was no joy to work with
Anspaugh knew from the “first scene on the first day” that Hackman would be difficult, the director told Vulture in 2016. Right out of the gate, Hackman berated the newbie director in front of the cast and crew.
“Well, I’m sort of paraphrasing but basically he said, ‘You’ve got no taste, your head’s completely up your (bleep), and you’re a phony,’” Anspaugh told Vulture. “Oh my God. That was the beginning.”
He said things were rocky between the two of them on probably 35 of the 39 days it took to shoot the film.
“I didn’t understand this at the time, but Gene likes to work on a set that has high anxiety because that’s how he gets his juice,” Anspaugh said.
“Some actors take a nip of Jack, some do yoga to get going ... Gene toward the end of the movie, after yelling at me for an hour, he said, ‘I know I behave like a child sometimes. I want to make a good movie, but I just don’t feel comfortable making movies where I feel comfortable.’”
KU’s Jimmy Chitwood moment
KU basketball coach Bill Self has likened a key moment in the Jayhawks’ thrilling 2022 NCAA Championship victory to a scene from “Hoosiers.” He described it in May 2023.
In the movie, on the final possession in the Indiana state high school championship game, the players overrule the coach’s choice for the player to attempt the game-winning shot. The team’s star, Jimmy Chitwood, says he will take the shot instead.
In the 2022 championship game against North Carolina, KU point guard Dajuan Harris stepped out of bounds after grabbing an inbounds pass.
On the clock: 4.3 seconds.
KU led the Tar Heels by three, 72-69.
Self told reporters that during a timeout he “told the kids to foul. I spent five minutes telling them how to foul.” He wanted to send North Carolina to the line for a one-and-one.
But KU’s Jalen Wilson dissented, insisting his teammates guard the Tar Heels and just play it out.
Self agreed.
Kansas won.
You can visit the ‘Hoosiers’ gym
The gym where the movie was filmed is a popular tourist attraction in the small town of Knightstown, Indiana, about 35 miles east of Indianapolis and just a few miles south of Interstate 70.
More than 50,000 visitors each year walk onto that famous court inside Hoosier Gym, which until 1966 served as the home gym for the town’s high school.
Some famous names have made the pilgrimage — LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson.
According to The Associated Press, the movie plays on a loop in the lobby and high school teams from across the country play games there, each leaving behind a jersey signed by their players.
How Dennis Hopper played drunk
Hopper, whose character struggled with drinking, borrowed an acting technique from James Dean for a scene in which he stumbles drunk onto the court during a game.
According to the “Hoosiers” IMDB page, Hopper asked Anspaugh to give him a 10-second heads-up before calling action.
Hopper recalled that while filming the 1956 classic, “Giant,” Dean spun around for 30 seconds before shooting a scene in which he had to appear drunk.
So Hopper spun around for 10 seconds before he staggered disoriented onto the court.
Billy Bob Thornton a big fan
Right after Thornton won a screenplay Oscar for the 1996 film “Sling Blade,” his agent called “Hoosier’s director Anspaugh to set up a lunch meeting.
“I was wondering if it was about a movie project or something,” Anspaugh told Vulture.
“So I show up, and he basically says, ‘You know, this is one of the kicks about winning an Oscar. You can meet whoever you want to meet, and you’re somebody I’ve wanted to meet for a long time.’
“He told me how he’d sat the cast and crew of ‘Sling Blade’ down and screened ‘Hoosiers’ for them and said, ‘This is the benchmark.’”
Thornton reportedly knows every line of dialogue in “Hoosiers.”
This story was originally published February 27, 2025 at 3:04 PM.
.jpg)