Random Crazy Behind-the-Scenes Facts About Forrest Gump (20 items)

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  (#11) A Scene Featuring Martin Luther King Jr. Wound Up on the Cutting Room Floor

  Robert Zemeckis featured several CGI scenes of Forrest with historical figures like John F. Kennedy and Elvis Presley. The director also shot a scene including Rev. King. In the scene, Forrest meets King and his supporters just as vicious police dogs are set to attack.

  The German Shepherds are unleashed by the police and race towards King. But Forrest starts to play fetch with the dogs, which makes them totally harmless to King and his supporters. He then approaches King and says, “Sorry to interrupt your parade. They just dogs and they don’t know any better.”

  You can see the cut scene on the Forrest Gump Special Collector’s Edition DVD.
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  (#16) Tom Hanks Improvised "My name is Forrest Gump. People call me Forrest Gump."

  Forrest first meets Bubba on the bus before the pair embark on their stint in the military. Bubba says to Gump, "My given name is Benjamin Buford Blue. But people call me Bubba, just like one of them old redneck boys. Can you believe that?"

  Forrest then introduces himself. "My name is Forrest Gump. People call me Forrest Gump." The iconic line was not in the script, but Zemeckis liked it so much he kept it. 
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  (#5) That's Kurt Russell's Voice as Elvis Presley

  Remember that hilarious scene where Forrest is talking about all the people who lived at his mama's boarding house when he was growing up? And he brings up a young man who had a guitar? That man plays "Hound Dog" while Forrest, in leg braces, dances in the style that made Elvis a rock and roll icon. Although Russell is not credited with providing the voice of Elvis, it certainly does sound like him. The actor also played Presley in the 1970 TV movie Elvis.
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  (#13) Robert Zemeckis Used Norman Rockwell As Inspiration

  Perhaps no painter in history captured Americana better than Norman Rockwell. Forrest Gump takes place in the fictional town of Greenbow, AL. In the novel from which the film is adapted, Forrest grows up in Mobile, AL. The movie and the book are very different, and the filmmakers wanted to create a town more in the spirit of the characters than any existing place.

  The scenes of Forrest's childhood were shot in Vanville, SC, which has a small town feel and is aesthetically similar to Rockwell's work. Zemeckis revealed he used Rockwell's art as a guide in creating Greenbow. The scene in the film when young Forrest is sitting outside the principal's office while his mother talks to the principal was inspired by Rockwell's The Young Lady with the Shiner.
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  (#15) Mykelti Williamson Lost Out on Roles Because His Bottom Lip Isn't Really That Big

  No, that's not Mykelti Williamson's real lip. The actor wore a prosthetic. After the massive success of the film, he was primarily offered roles as comedic Black characters (aka racist stereotypes). However, when Williamson showed up for casting calls, he was allegedly turned down because casting directors thought Zemeckis "had discovered some weird-looking guy and put him in front of the camera."

  Williamson was eventually able to separate himself from the iconic character. He has since had a successful career as an actor in both film and television, including long running roles on CSI: NY, 24, and Justified.
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  (#1) Tom Hanks and Robert Zemeckis Saved the Production by Paying for the Running Scenes

  During an interview with Yahoo Movies, Hanks explained how close Forrest Gump came to getting shut down because of financial issues. 

  "The studio was one day away from pulling the plug on this one movie I was going to make, and the director came to my house and said, ‘Look, this is going to fall apart because they won’t give us the budget for shooting this one sequence, and we’ve got to have this sequence."

  Director Robert Zemeckis proposed that he and Hanks split the cost of shooting that sequence, so that the studio would allow them to make the film they envisioned.

  "I said, ‘All right.’ And the sequence was Forrest running across the country," Hanks revealed. "And we were 48 hours away from it being shut down. So I’m glad that worked out."

  The running-across-the-country sequences contain perhaps the most iconic images in a movie filled with iconic imagery. It's Forrest's way of responding to Jenny leaving him. He was told by her at a young age to run away from danger, and that's exactly what Forrest does as an adult.

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