Warren Beatty of the film, he credited Hackman with giving the "most authentic performance in the movie, so textured and so moving," recalls Dunaway. He was impressed with Gene Wilder after seeing him in a play and didn't even need him to audition, in what became Wilder's screen debut. And Beatty had already known Pollard: "Michael J. Pollard was one of my oldest friends," Beatty said. "I'd known him forever; I met him the day I got my first television show. We did a play together on Broadway." "Bonnie and Clyde" went on to be a critical and commercial success, despite the
Faye Dunaway a send-up, a spoof, and I had a lot of fun with Selena (her character)" but later admitted she was furious with the director Jeannot Szwarc, "Every time I tried to do something funny, he wouldn't let me. He said, "you have to be the straight person". I always wanted to do comedy, but it's daunting when you've not done it before." Also in 1984, Dunaway appeared in a television miniseries, "Ellis Island", which earned her a second Golden Globe Award, for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film. The following year, she starred in the miniseries, "Christopher