Forrest Gump (1994): 15 INSANE Facts You Never Knew

Forrest Gump looked like a heartwarming story about a simple man who somehow wandered through some of the biggest moments in American history. But behind Forrest’s extraordinary journey was a production filled with rejected stars, abandoned footage, groundbreaking visual effects, studio penny-pinching, and Hollywood accounting that left the man who created Forrest fighting to get paid. Tom Hanks and Robert Zemeckis personally funded the famous run across America when Paramount refused. Hanks copied Forrest’s unforgettable accent from the child actor playing young Forrest. John Travolta, Bill Murray, and Chevy Chase all passed on the role. And while the film earned hundreds of millions and won six Oscars, author Winston Groom was initially told it had somehow lost money — then watched Oscar night pass without his name being mentioned in a single acceptance speech. These are 15 weird facts about Forrest Gump — the kind that make one of the most beloved movies of the 1990s feel even more unbelievable once you know what was happening behind the scenes.