Tom Hanks Wasn’t So Sure That ‘Forrest Gump’ Was Going To Work Or Even ‘Make Any Sense To Anybody’
Tom Hanks has starred in many hits (and a handful of misses) over the years, but he definitely leaves an impression with every role he takes. He’s been nominated for numerous Academy Awards, but there is one role that always sticks out when Hanks is brought up…besides Toy Story.
One of Hanks’ earlier roles was the titular character in Forrest Gump, which promptly brought boxes of chocolates back into the minds of adults and children alike while boosting American’s interest in cross-country running (probably!) But Hanks wasn’t particularly sold on the story, which follows Gump as he navigated his life through a series of important historical moments. And ping pong!
While filming, Hanks asked director Robert Zemeckis, “Is anybody going to care about this movie?” Hanks recalled at a recent event with The New Yorker. He added, “This guy sitting on a thing in these goofy shoes and this cuckoo suit with a suitcase full of Curious George books and stuff like that. Are we doing anything here that is going to make any sense to anybody?'”
Sense? Not really. Fun? Yep! It was easy for fans to root for Hanks as Gump, and it was probably all thanks to that spiffy suit he ended up wearing. Zemeckis then told Hanks that you never know when a movie will resonate with audiences or attract moviegoers, but you just have to try it anyway.
“Bob Zemeckis — God bless him, I’ve worked with him more than once — landed on the absolute truth of anybody who has gone forward and said, we are going to commit something to film today, and eventually we’ll cut this into something,” Hanks added. “You do not know if it is going to work out.” Hopefully, Hanks wasn’t a grumpy jerk on this set, but it seems doubtful that Sally Field would tolerate that.