How Gene Hackman Inspired Alec Baldwin’s 30 Rock Performance

The recent passing of the iconic and legendary actor Gene Hackman has led to innumerable accounts of his work ethic and the impact he made throughout decades of film work. Naturally, one of the other discussions has centered around how he inspired his fellow actors and actresses through those distinctive performances. The nature of his lengthy filmography is such that Hackman wound up working with many younger actors who are now titans of their generations. He had a fiery chemistry with Denzel Washington in the 1995 thriller “Crimson Tide,” he worked with a young Willem Dafoe in the 1988 historical drama “Mississippi Burning,” and in one of his last roles, he had to face off against John Cusack in “Runaway Jury.” One actor with whom Hackman didn’t exactly work next to, but who was still impacted by him, was Alec Baldwin.

It should be noted at the top that Hackman and Baldwin do technically appear in the same film together: the brilliant 2001 comedy-drama “The Royal Tenenbaums.” Though Hackman did appear in a couple more movies after that Wes Anderson picture before he officially retired, it’s seen by many fans as something of a swan song for his overall career. Baldwin never shows his face in the film, of course, serving only as the dry and deadpan narrator. But even though these two bigger-than-life actors don’t actually share the screen in “Tenenbaums,” Baldwin wound up being heavily inspired by Hackman’s work in the film as a callous, selfish yet weirdly lovable patriarch, because it was always on his mind when he made the jump to the small screen in the Tina Fey-led sitcom “30 Rock.”

Although it was never an undeniably huge ratings hit for NBC when it was on the air, “30 Rock” was a critical darling and netted Baldwin two Emmys for his role as NBC executive Jack Donaghy. (Baldwin was nominated each season the show aired.) The chemistry he had with Tina Fey, as well as the rest of the ensemble cast, including Tracy Morgan, Jack McBrayer, and Jane Krakowski, was undeniable even as Jack represented a rarefied air of wealth and snobbery and often came in conflict with the more outrageous goings-on in the fictional “TGS” sketch show, meant to play off people’s awareness of the real-life “Saturday Night Live.” Fey had, on that show, served briefly as head writer, and it’s easy to see potential parallels between her Liz Lemon and Jack Donagy and herself and “SNL” creator Lorne Michaels, who had started out rebellious but has long since become an establishment figure of power and riches. (This, despite the fact that “30 Rock” began via a much different idea.)

In a lengthy exploration of the show’s history, on the eve of its series finale in 2013 (which was a mad dash to the finish itself)Baldwin noted that he looked to a number of sources in playing Jack, and one of them had nothing to do with “Saturday Night Live.” In fact, it was Hackman’s performance in “Tenenbaums” that led to part of his approach to the performance:

“For me, it was Hackman…this kind of Hemingway lack masculinity. It’s a blend where you’re alternately Teddy Roosevelt, and the next minute you’re Dustin Hoffman in ‘The Graduate’: you’re a neurotic mess, psychosexually, and then you’re just charging up the hill with a sword in your hand.”

If nothing else, it’s fascinating to get just a glimpse into Baldwin’s process. Although the character of Jack Donaghy could surprise both the audience and the other characters within the show with his depths of emotion, that raucous blend of character archetypes in the quote above seems almost hard to square with the reality of what was on the screen for seven seasons. The notion that Jack represented a more old-fashioned type of gruff masculinity does make sense, but the more neurotic elements were rarely as frequently visible in how he portrayed the stuffy NBC executive. That said, knowing that Hackman’s title role in “The Royal Tenenbaums” partially burrowed itself into Baldwin’s mind while crafting Jack is both fitting and something of a wonderful tribute to an actor who had already stepped away from the big screen.

Though it’s now been a little while since he died, it’s still hard to believe that Gene Hackman is gone. The fact that this is true in spite of his having retired over two decades ago just goes to prove what an amazing performer he was and how much he impacted the entire acting community. It’s easy to envision that many actors took inspiration from his decades of work, not just during his lifetime but moving forward.

That Alec Baldwin could take on the role of a hyper-intelligent, dry, smug network-television executive and see within those guardrails the self-involved scion of a fallen New York family is a wonderful tribute to Hackman in his own way. “30 Rock” has left behind an immense legacy itself, but it’s nice to see that the legacy of great acting lived on in such an oddball manner, with Baldwin being more than comfortable in acknowledging the ways in which he was inspired to bring such an iconic character to life. During the show’s lifespan, he said that playing Jack Donaghy would be the end of his own career; it didn’t end up being true, but it would almost be appropriate if he, like Hackman, went out on a high note.