Liza Minnelli Slams Gene Hackman as ‘Downright Rude,’ Says Their ‘Chemistry’ in ‘Lucky Lady’ Was ‘Absent’

Liza Minnelli didn’t enjoy her experience working with Gene Hackman on Lucky Lady.

The Cabaret star, 79, is sharing a lot of insider Hollywood stories in her new memoir, Kids, Wait Till You Hear This! Among them, the Oscar-winner detailed her time working on the 1975 film alongside Hackman, who died last year at age 95. According to Minnelli, she heard from director Stanley Donen that her costar didn’t have a high opinion of her.

“I don’t like to whine, but Stanley later shared publicly that Gene was very dismissive of me during the film,” Minnelli writes, per Entertainment Weekly.

The duo starred alongside Burt Reynolds in the comedic drama about a widow who gets involved with an alcohol smuggler and his friend during the 1920s Prohibition era. Part of the plot included a love triangle developing between the group, but Minnelli revealed it was hard to capture that dynamic with Hackman given what was going on between them.

“It’s hard to go to work when the chemistry is absent,” Minnelli added, per the outlet. “I think it’s fair to say that Gene was downright rude.”

Her revelations about the late Superman actor aren’t the only ones present in her new book: As Closer previously reported, Minnelli also opened up about her late mother, Judy Garland. She explained that she began acting as a caretaker to The Wizard of Oz star around the time she turned 13-years-old, calling herself “a nurse, doctor, pharmacologist and psychiatrist rolled into one.”

“So, with my mom, I think about what she went through every day, how she felt,” she added. “I was a big comfort to her.”