John Travolta, Chevy Chase, and Bill Murray all turned down the role of Forrest Gump.
In reality, Sally Field is only 10 years older than Tom Hanks.
The scene where Forrest sits in the hallway of his school while his mother talks to the principal was inspired by the Norman Rockwell painting “Girl with a Black Eye.”
Ice Cube and Dave Chappelle both turned down the role of Bubba.
Jenny’s last name is Curran, but it is never said in the film.
This was Haley Joel Osment’s first film role.
Kurt Russell reportedly provided the voice of Elvis Presley in the film, but was never credited.
The line “My name is Forrest Gump. People call me Forrest Gump” was ad libbed by Tom Hanks while filming the scene.
Forrest has his eyes closed in every photo you see of him in the movie.
Tom Hanks’ younger brother Jim Hanks doubled for him in the wide shots of the running sequences.
There was no ball in the Ping-Pong matches scenes; it was entirely CGI.
The Doors have a total of six songs in the movie, more than any other band.
The line Forrest says when his microphone is turned off at the Vietnam rally is:
“Sometimes when people go to Vietnam, they go home to their mommas without any legs. Sometimes they don’t go home at all. That’s a bad thing. That’s all I have to say about that.”
Forrest always wears a blue plaid shirt in the first scene of each age transition.
Following the huge success of the film, Winston Groom (the author of Forrest Gump) wrote a sequel novel, Gump & Co.
On the first page, Forrest Gump tells readers, “Don’t never let nobody make a movie of your life’s story.”
