Forrest Gump (TF1): how did Tom Hanks save the film?

The Christmas holidays are quietly taking their course, while TF1 is continuing its special holiday programming with the broadcast, this Tuesday, December 27, 2022 at 9:10 p.m., of a classic film from the 90s: Forrest Gump, by Robert Zemeckis. Tom Hanks there embodies a young man with more than limited intellectual capacities who has participated in spite of himself in all the important historical events of the United States since the 1950s. He meets John Fitzgerald Kennedy, knows the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal or is inspired rock legends like Elvis Presley or even John Lennon… Originally, John Travolta was expected to play the main character but Tom Hanks was finally chosen. A year after his role as a homosexual lawyer in Philadelphia, he is again Oscar winner for his performance. Moreover, the actor is not only the interpreter of Forrest Gump, he is also one of the major creditors allowing the work to survive.

Forrest Gump : a major commercial success

Adapted from the novel by Winston Groom, published in 1986 and sold around 1.7 million copies, Forrest Gump was released in theaters in 1994. From an initial budget estimated at 55 million dollars, it accumulated 300 million dollars at the international box office. In France, the feature film attracts 3.9 million curious people. We can say that the film produced by Paramount is more than profitable since it represents a real commercial (and critical) hit. Add to that six Oscars, including Best Actor for Tom Hanks, Best Picture and Best Director for Robert Zemeckis. However, the time was not for the red carpets when the idea for the project was born… And for good reason: the film almost never existed.

Forrest Gump : Tom Hanks plays the saviors

“Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’ll get“, Forrest Gump points out to us from his bench, while waiting for the bus. One thing is certain, this saying has never been so true for filmmaker Robert Zemeckis who, for his part, came across Tom Hanks and his generosity. Indeed , faced with Paramount’s refusal to release additional funds for certain scenes, director Robert Zemeckis requested the actor’s financial support, and the latter did not hesitate for a single second to break the bank! In Depth Graham Besinger, Tom Hanks reveals that he subsidized certain sequences out of his own pocket, which have remained in the annals today. Remember this scene where Forrest Gump travels across America after Jenny’s disappearance. Considered too expensive, it should not appear on the screen. “He told me that the scene was going to cost x dollars – and it was not cheap. I agreed and he said we would split the amount in half and give it to Paramount. We then told them that we were giving them the money, but in exchange they would have to share some more of the film’s profits with us.“, says the American actor in the podcast. In any case, Tom Hanks was able to quickly recover financially. The actor would have received a check for 65 million dollars following the success of the film, according to HollywoodReporter. A good investment.