Tom Hanks received an Oscar for Forrest Gump as Best Actor. He reflects on the enormous effort and his initial doubts that the filming brought.
In a discussion panel, Tom Hanks recalls the filming time for Robert Zemeckis’ tragicomedy from 1994 – Forrest Gump (via IndieWire). He talks about the effort required for the shoot that left him extremely exhausted.
Here you can see the trailer for the movie:
Why was Tom Hanks so exhausted? Tom Hanks reports that he was exhausted because he shot for 27 days in a row for “Forrest Gump”. In order to capture the well-known scenes in which Forrest ran across the country, elaborate measures were required.
Do you remember how Forrest ran across the country? Well, there’s only one way to get those scenes in those days. You had to fly to the damn place, put on the costume, run for an hour and a half, then go back, get on the plane and fly to, say, New Hampshire and do it all over again.
So I’m exhausted. I don’t know what’s going on. The scenes on the park bench have endless dialogues, and we filmed them in a day and a half.
Tom Hanks via IndieWire
Tom Hanks also had the worry of not being able to remember all the monologues – especially in his exhausted state.
He expressed to director Robert Zemeckis: “Bob, my head is fragile, […] I will never be able to keep this in my head.” But “Bob” already had a good plan for that.
An actor from “The Last of Us” also talks about a challenging task.
Multiple Cameras and Cue Cards
What was the director’s plan? He employed a specific camera technique to capture multiple perspectives at once. He told Tom Hanks that four cameras would be used. They also intended to use cue cards during the shoot, which Hanks could read from.
Tom Hanks had some concerns. He recalls his reaction: “Oh, great, thanks. Let’s make the atmosphere even more artificial!”
How successful was Forrest Gump? Contrary to his fears and despite his exhaustion, Forrest Gump became a complete success. Tom Hanks received his second Oscar for his leading role as Forrest. He received his first for his role as Andrew Beckett, who has AIDS, in “Philadelphia”.
Forrest Gump was released in Germany in 1994 and had 7.6 million cinema visitors. It was the most successful film of the year. Worldwide, the film grossed $678 million (about €624 million) at the box office.
Another actress who doubted a film project and additionally about the lead actor is Linda Hamilton:
