The cast and director of Forrest Gump have revealed that the eponymous character once had an animated sidekick that didn’t make it to the finished film.
In a video interview with Entertainment Weekly, Tom Hanks, Robin Wright and director Robert Zemeckis — who collaborated on the new box office bomb Here — shared that Hanks’ character at one point was meant to be accompanied by an animated version of the classic character Curious George.
Hanks, 68, explained that screenwriter Eric Roth originally turned in a less reality-bound version of the picaresque dramedy.
‘I remember that first draft that Eric Roth wrote on Gump, it was like 179 pages — Eric had all sorts of like angels flying up, and dreamscapes.’
‘Including Curious George!’ Zemeckis, 72, added. ‘Curious George was a cartoon monkey on Forrest’s shoulder talking to him.’
The cast and director of Forrest Gump have revealed that the eponymous character once had an animated sidekick that didn’t make it to the finished film
In a video interview with Entertainment Weekly, Tom Hanks, Robin Wright and director Robert Zemeckis revealed that Curious George was once the title character’s companion; still from Curious George (2006)
Wright joined in to ask if the friendly simian was cut from the film due to licensing issues, but Hanks and Zemeckis pointed out that the character of Curious George is referenced multiple times throughout the film, including in a tender scene in which Forrest reads Curious George — his favorite book — to his son, who was played by a young Haley Joel Osment.
Zemeckis revealed that he was the person responsible for jettisoning the little ape from Forrest Gump.
He explained that he was sought out to direct the film when the existing script still featured the animated character, and he assumed producers thought he could handle that version of the movie because of his previous success combining animation and live-action film in Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
‘They said, “Get that guy who did Roger Rabbit,”‘ he said. ‘And I read the script, and I said, “I love this, but that monkey’s gotta go.
Curious George had previously appeared in animated shows that were broadcast on Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel in the 1980s, as well as puppet-animated short films, but Forrest Gump may have been Curious George’s theatrical debut if the film had stayed closer to Roth’s original vision.
Zemeckis’ instincts were ultimately vindicated, as Forrest Gump became a massive commercial success, as well as a hit with critics.
The film grossed $678 million against a budget of $55 million, according to Box Office Mojo, and it was nominated for 13 Academy Awards.
Forrest Gump won six, including Oscars for its director, lead actor, screenwriter and the coveted Best Picture Award.
Hanks also became the first actor since Spencer Tracy to win two consecutive Best Actor trophies, after he won the year before for Philadelphia.
Hanks and Zemeckis have collaborated several times since their hit film.
The Back To The Future filmmaker directed Hanks again in the hit film Castaway (2000), and they reunited just four years later for the computer-generated Christmas film The Polar Express.
Nearly two decades passed before Hanks starred in another Zemeckis film, the poorly received remake of Disney’s Pinocchio from 2022.
The longtime friends are back together again after most recently collaborating on Here, which also reunited Hanks with Wright.
Zemeckis (R) revealed that Hanks’ character originally had an animated version of the cartoon monkey on his shoulder in an early version of Eric Roth’s script; seen together October 24 in Hollywood
Wright asked if licensing kept the monkey out of the film, but Zemeckis clarified that he ordered it to be jettisoned when he joined the project; Wright and Hanks pictured in Forrest Gump
Forrest Gump might have been Curious George’s theatrical feature debut, as the character had only previously appeared in animated TV specials and short puppet-animated films; still from Curious George (2006)
Hanks, Wright and Zemeckis recently reunited for the film Here, which has been a box-office bomb and a source of critical derision
The trio seem to have lost some of their magic, as critics haven’t been kind to Here, which also bombed at the box office.
Hanks didn’t hold back when he described critics who panned his latest film as ‘c***s*****s’ during a recent appearance on the Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend podcast.
‘Let me tell you something about these ‘c***s****rs’ who write about movies,’ Hanks said, as he recalled a film critic who had written a scathing review of his directorial feature debut, That Thing You Do!
‘That same person later wrote about the cult classic That Thing You Do! Same exact person. They said, “All you need is 20 years between now and then, and it ends up speaking some words.”‘
