Tom Hanks received an Oscar for best actor for Forrest Gump. He remembers the enormous effort and his initial doubts that shooting the film involved.
In a panel discussion, Tom Hanks reminisces about filming time for Robert Zemecki’s 1994 tragic comedy, Forrest Gump (via IndieWire). He reports on the effort that was necessary for the shoot and exhausted him enormously.
Here you can see the trailer for the film:
Trailer of Forrest Gump 1994, tragic comedy starring Tom Hanks
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Why was Tom Hanks so exhausted? Tom Hanks says he was exhausted from shooting 27 days straight for Forrest Gump. In order to get the well-known scenes in which Forrest ran across the country, extensive measures were required.
Do you remember how Forrest walked across the country? Well, there’s only one way to get those scenes these 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 New Hampshire, for example, and do it all over again.
So I’m exhausted. I do not know what’s going on. The park bench scenes have endless dialogue and we shot them in a day and a half.
Tom Hanks via IndieWire
Tom Hanks was also worried that he wouldn’t be able to remember all the monologues – especially in his exhausted state.
He told director Robert Zemeckis: “Bob, my head is fragile, […] I’ll never be able to keep that in my head.” But “Bob” already had a good plan for that.
An actor from “The Last of Us” also reports on a demanding task.
Multiple cameras and cue cards
What was the director’s plan? He used a specific camera work to get multiple perspectives at the same time. He said to Tom Hanks that four cameras are used. They also wanted to use cue cards for the shoot that Hanks could read from.
Tom Hanks had his doubts. He recalls his reaction: “Oh great, thanks. Let’s make the atmosphere even more artificial!”
How successful was Forrest Gump? Contrary to his misgivings and despite his exhaustion, Forrest Gump became a resounding success. Tom Hanks received his second Oscar for his leading role as Forrest. He got his first for his role as Andrew Beckett, who was suffering from AIDS, in “Philadelphia”.
Forrest Gump was released in Germany in 1994 and had 7.6 million admissions. It was the most successful film of the year. The film grossed US$678 million (almost €624 million) at the box office worldwide.
Another actress who doubted a film project and in addition the main actor is Linda Hamilton:
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