In the history of film, the Tom Hanks drama has a unique place.
“My mama always said, 'Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get’," Forrest Gump explained in his distinctive southern drawl while seated on a park bench that would go down as the most iconic in movie history.
“Forrest Gump," a story about a slow but compassionate Alabama child reflecting on his unfair but extraordinary life, was released 30 years ago. It rapidly won over moviegoers, and the quirky main character told stories of his football days, ping-pong championship, Vietnam war, mother (Sally Field), and love, Jen-nay (Robin Wright), as per Woman's Day Australia.
In 1994, the movie won six Oscars and became the highest-grossing movie in America, as per The Independent. The star, Tom Hanks, once questioned whether Forrest's story would even connect with viewers is hard to imagine.
"I say, 'Hey Bob, I've got a question for you. Is anybody going to care about this movie?’” Tom recalled asking director Robert Zemeckis. "This guy sitting on a thing in these goofy shoes and this cuckoo suit with a suitcase full of Curious George books and stiff like that. Are we doing anything here that is going to make any sense to anybody?"
It appears that Paramount, the film's studio, was similarly hesitant about the film's success. The filmmaker had to come up with a new idea because, as Robert recalled, they were unwilling to pay the enormous sum of money to film the crucial plot of Forrest fleeing across the nation.
"He said, ‘You and I are going to split that amount, and we're going to give it bark to Paramount ... but you guys are going to have to share the profits a little bit more’," Tom says of the deal.”
With “Forrest Gump” earning over $1.5 billion globally and Tom earning $99 million for his portion, the gamble paid off.
But by no means was it easy money. They ended up filming for 27 days straight because the "running for three years" premise required a lot of the cast and staff.
Tom, 68, recalled, "There's only one way to get those scenes, in those days. You had to fly to the goddamn place, put on the costume, run for an hour and a half, then go back, get on the plane, and then fly to, say, New Hampshire and do it all over again. So I'm exhausted. I don't know what's going on."
But in the end, the running scenes brought more box office gold with another line that found a permanent place in pop culture, "Run, Forrest, run!" The film had a lot of heart, and its stories of the post-war era and the Civil Rights movement were almost like "a photo album of traditional Americana", according to Michael Conner Humphreys, who played a young Forrest, as per Forbes.
More than anything, however, it encapsulated Forrest's gloriously timeless optimism. According to Michael, "He always sees the best in everything. It makes people feel good when they watch it. It's the definition of a feel-good movie."
Regarding the reasons the movie touched such a social chord, Robin concurred. "It's sentimental without being cheesy," she continued. "I think it just touched everyone's heart." Tom feels nostalgic when people mention “Forrest Gump” as one of his favorite characters nowadays. He acknowledged, "It's never gone away."
