Bald cap...totally...
felt ripped off back then...
come on...a little sufferin' for your art!
Geez, Michael Rosenbaum has shaved his head smooth for what 5-6 years now to play Lex Luther on Smallville..
Gene should have stepped up...he's MPB thinning in real life too!
The producers wanted Hackman to shave his head for the role and he refused. That's why Lex Luthor doesn't take his wig off until the very end of the movie, because they felt it would be obvious to the audience if he wore the bald cap throughout the entire film.
After Hackman accepted the role, they said to him, "So when are you going to shave your head?" --- they just assumed that he would. And he told them that he wasn't going to -- no way, no how. That wouldn't happen today, but it was a different world 30 years ago. I don't understand why he wouldn't do it. It's not like he had great hair anyway.