Forrest Gump refers to the character and the film released back in 1994 with Tom Hanks in the title role. This film went on to become one of the most-loved films of all time based on its word-of-mouth and official worldwide box-office sales. Forrest Gump also went on to win the heart of movie critics and bagged the Best Picture Oscars award along with Best Actor for Tom Hanks and Best Director for Robert Zemeckis. The following are some fun facts related to this film:

Fact 1: Tom Hanks was not the first choice for the title role. Hanks was catapulted to become one of the biggest Hollywood stars because of this movie but it was actually John Travolta who was initially offered the role. Bill Murray and Chevy Chase were also considered but all of them turned the role down.

Fact 2: The famous bench in the movie where the title character sat at was sold later at an auction for a whopping 25,000 US dollars. This is considered the iconic bench with the most famous scene wherein Tom Hanks delivered his famous line “Life is like a box of chocolates”.

Fact 3: Robert Zemeckis was also not the first to be offered to direct the movie. The likes of Barry Sonnenfeld and Terry Gilliam were first considered but both directors turned the job done and this eventually led to the hands of Zemeckis who later won the Oscar Best Director award.

Fact 4: Tom Hanks did not get paid for his role in this iconic film. Hanks instead opted to get a share of the film’s profits. This turned out to be a great decision because the film went on to be a huge hit worldwide.

Fact 5: Haley Joel Osment was introduced in this film. Osment played his first movie role as Forrest Junior. This young actor went to become a star of his own with the movie Sixth Sense with Bruce Willis. But Forrest Gump was to be the first movie of this budding young star.

Fact 6: The brother of Tom Hanks also portrayed the role of Forrest Gump in some scenes. Jim Hanks served as double for Tom during the running scenes of the movie.

Fact 7: The Bubba Gump Shrimp Company in the Forrest Gump movie later became an actual restaurant. This restaurant was fictional but later became a reality and now serves customers around the world in 39 different locations.

Fact 8: Ice Cube was offered the role of Bubba. This character was also well-loved by fans of the movie and the role eventually went to Mykelti Williamson.

Fact 9: Sally Field, Tom Hank’s mother in the movie was actually only 10 years older than him. With the help of make-up and costume, Sally Field went on to be very convincing with her role as Forrest Gump’s mother in the worldwide hit.

Fact 10: Forrest Gump actually had a sequel in the form of another novel. Winston Groom made a follow-up story to Forrest Gump a year after the movie was released. The book was titled “Gump & Co.” and was later made into a screenplay about 6 years later. But both Hanks and Zemeckis decided not to make the 2nd movie.