FILM · 1994 · USA
Forrest Gump
- Directed by
- Robert Zemeckis
- Runtime
- 142 min
- Studio
- Paramount Pictures, The Steve Tisch Company, Wendy Finerman Productions
36 archived facts 3 topics 1 source Last reviewed Sep 2026
A man with a low IQ has accomplished great things in his life and been present during significant historic events—in each case, far exceeding what anyone imagined he could do. But despite all he has achieved, his one true love eludes him.
Summary: TMDB
All facts (36)
- #001
The film mainly covers the first eleven chapters of Winston Groom's novel, then jumps to the end of the book, where Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. is founded and Forrest Jr. is met.
- #002
Forrest Gump adds elements to Gump's life that are absent from the novel, including his need for leg braces as a child and his run across the United States.
- #003
ImageMovers, formerly known as South Side Amusement Company, was the production company on Forrest Gump.
- #004
In the novel, Forrest Gump fails craft and gym while playing university football but earns a perfect score in an advanced physics class his coach enrolls him in to meet college requirements.
- #005
The novel version of Forrest Gump also depicts him as an astronaut, a professional wrestler and a chess player.
- #006
Before the novel was published, a bidding war for its adaptation rights ended with Wendy Finerman and Steve Tisch acquiring them through a partnership with Warner Bros., where Finerman's husband Mark Canton served as president of production.
- #007
After Rain Man centered on a savant, Warner Bros. lost interest in Forrest Gump, and by 1990 the project had entered turnaround.
- #008
Finerman brought the project to Columbia Pictures, which rejected it and hired Eric Roth to rewrite the script; Roth and Finerman stayed in contact with Groom to keep the screenplay historically accurate, and Roth's 1992 draft so appealed to Paramount Pictures chairwoman Sherry Lansing that Paramount acquired the rights from Warner Bros. in exchange for the script for Executive Decision.
- #009
Before Robert Zemeckis was hired to direct Forrest Gump, Ivan Reitman, Penny Marshall and Terry Gilliam had passed on the project.
- #010
John Travolta was the original choice for the title role in Forrest Gump and later described passing on it as a mistake; he instead appeared in Pulp Fiction. Bill Murray, Chevy Chase and Matthew Broderick were also considered for the part.
- #011
Tom Hanks joined Forrest Gump after an hour and a half of reading the script, and he dropped out of the role of Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption to take it. Hanks initially wanted to soften Forrest's Southern accent but was persuaded by director Robert Zemeckis to keep the heavy accent from the novel.
- #012
Sally Field accepted the role of Mrs. Gump after reading the script, while Jodie Foster declined the part of Jenny and the filmmakers cast Robin Wright instead. Joe Pesci and Kevin Bacon were considered for Lieutenant Dan Taylor before Gary Sinise received the role.
- #013
David Alan Grier, Ice Cube and Dave Chappelle were offered the role of Benjamin Buford Blue but all turned it down, and Chappelle later said he regretted the decision. Tom Hanks, aware of Chappelle's disappointment, agreed to work with him on a later film, You've Got Mail.
- #014
Principal photography on Forrest Gump ran from August 1993 to December 1993.
- #015
Forrest Gump was shot largely in and around Beaufort, South Carolina, with additional work in coastal Virginia and North Carolina, even though the story is set in Alabama.
- #016
A running shot for Forrest Gump was filmed on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Grandfather Mountain, and part of that road later became known as "Forrest Gump Curve".
- #017
With the budget exhausted and the studio close to cancelling Forrest Gump, Robert Zemeckis and Tom Hanks paid for the running sequence themselves and cut it in the middle.
- #018
The Gump family home set for Forrest Gump was constructed along the Combahee River near Yemassee, South Carolina, and the surrounding land also served as the location for Curran's home and several Vietnam scenes.
- #019
Forrest Gump's bus stop bench narration scenes were filmed at the northern edge of Chippewa Square in Savannah, Georgia.
- #020
Forrest Gump shot additional scenes in Arizona, Utah's Monument Valley and Montana's Glacier National Park, while most college campus scenes were filmed at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
- #021
Industrial Light & Magic, led by Ken Ralston and his team, handled the visual effects for Forrest Gump.
- #022
Forrest Gump used CGI to show Forrest meeting and shaking hands with deceased historical figures.
- #023
Tom Hanks was first filmed against a blue screen with reference markers so he could be aligned with archive footage.
- #024
For the voices of historical figures in Forrest Gump, voice actors were filmed and effects altered their lip-syncing to match new dialogue.
- #025
For the Vietnam War sequence in which Forrest Gump carries Bubba away from a napalm strike, stunt performers were first filmed for compositing purposes.
- #026
Tom Hanks and Mykelti Williamson were then filmed for the same scene, with Williamson held up by a cable wire while Hanks ran with him.
- #027
The explosion was filmed separately, and the actors were digitally inserted so they appeared just ahead of the blasts.
- #028
The jet fighters and napalm canisters in the scene were created with CGI.
- #029
Forrest Gump used a blue fabric wrapped around Gary Sinise's legs to support the CGI removal of his character's legs after their amputation, which helped the "roto-paint" team erase his legs from every frame.
- #030
In one moment of Forrest Gump, Gary Sinise's legs are visible supporting him as he lifts himself into his wheelchair.
- #031
Forrest Gump's scene of Forrest spotting Jenny at a peace rally at the Lincoln Memorial and its Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C., required visual effects to build the large crowd.
- #032
Roughly 1,500 extras were used across two days of filming for the Lincoln Memorial rally scene in Forrest Gump.
- #033
For each successive take of the Forrest Gump rally scene, the extras were rearranged and shifted into a different quadrant away from the camera.
- #034
Computers were used to multiply the extras in Forrest Gump's rally scene, producing a crowd of several hundred thousand people.
- #035
Forrest Gump's music spans the 1950s through the 1980s and is performed entirely by American artists, including Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, The Doors and Fleetwood Mac. Music producer Joel Sill said the aim was recognizable material that would pinpoint time periods without interfering with what was happening cinematically.
- #036
According to music producer Joel Sill, Robert Zemeckis wanted only American music on the Forrest Gump soundtrack because he believed Forrest would buy nothing else.
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
Sources for the entries on this page
- Wikipedia Forrest Gump — Wikipedia
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