Tiscali: It’s worth noting that many of the cast come from famous or dysfunctional families, a bit like the Tenenbaums.
Wes Anderson: It’s interesting. You know, Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow, certainly Anjelica Huston, all those families are real achievers, you know, and fame is an issue for their whole families. For Anjelica Huston (daughter of John Huston) I think there’s definitely things for her to relate to in terms of the character that Hackman is playing. Hackman - I didn’t know much of anything about his background, but after we’d finished the movie I saw an episode of Inside The Actors Studio which he did while we were filming. And he talked about his father, and it seemed to really relate to what he’d been playing in the movie - it caught me so much off-guard. You know, there was no dialogue between us about it, but it was clearly something he couldn’t have helped but to tap into.

Tiscali: What did he say in the programme?
Wes Anderson: His father left his family when he was 13 or so, and he just described this moment when Hackman and his friends were playing in the street, and his father drove by. And Hackman saw him driving by, and his father kind of waved from the window but didn’t stop the car. And it was the last he saw him for ten years. And Hackman had really choked up when he was telling it. It was very moving. I’d never heard anything about this at all. And he’d been playing this father who abandons his family for years and years. (via)