Gene Hackman played Royal Tenenbaum, the father, in the 2001 film The Royal Tenenbaums.
Directed by Wes Anderson, the film follows the estranged Tenenbaum family as Royal attempts to reconnect with his three highly gifted adult children. Hackman’s Royal is charming, selfish, manipulative, and unexpectedly capable of moments of genuine care.
The ensemble cast includes Anjelica Huston as Etheline Tenenbaum, Bill Murray as Raleigh St. Clair, and Owen Wilson as Eli Cash. The film’s distinctive visual style and deadpan humor helped establish it as a major example of Anderson’s early filmmaking.
The cast can cause confusion because Murray and Wilson are prominent in the film, and Huston plays the children’s mother. Royal Tenenbaum is specifically Gene Hackman’s role.