The park bench scenes in “Forrest Gump” are the centerpiece of the film. Ironically, Tom Hanks initially spoke out against them.
“Life is like a box of chocolates – you never know what you’re going to get”: Probably the most quoted saying from “Forrest Gump” also applies to the blockbuster itself. In any case, that suggests a story that the main actor Tom Hanks (65) told now, almost 30 years after the classic’s theatrical release, in an interview with “CinemaBlend”. Because the drama’s famous park bench scenes, which are now indispensable, were a thorn in Hanks’ side during filming.
At the time, he was not aware of the urgency of these scenes, which represent the framework for all the unbelievable events in the life of Forrest Gump. On the contrary, he found them rather annoying, as he explained to director Robert Zemeckis (70) at the time: “Will anyone be interested in this crazy guy sitting on a bench? What’s the point?”
Even success is like a box of chocolates
He shot the scenes rather reluctantly, they took one and a half days of shooting and around 13 pages of script. But Zemeckis didn’t let his lead actor’s doubts (thankfully) sway him, so he replied to Hanks, “You never know what people might get out of this.” Almost like a box of chocolates…
The success impressively proved Zemeckis right. Forrest Gump earned Hanks his second consecutive Best Actor Oscar after Philadelphia. The film received a total of 13 nominations for the Golden Boy, six of which were converted into awards – including “Best Film” and “Best Director”.
