FILM 1906: FORREST GUMP

FILM 1906: FORREST GUMP

TRIVIA: With every transition of Forrest's age, one thing remains the same. In the first scene of each transition, he wears a blue plaid shirt.

Tom Hanks was not paid for this film. Instead, he took percentage points which ultimately netted him in the region of forty million dollars.

When Forrest gets up to talk at the Vietnam rally in Washington, the microphone plug is pulled and you cannot hear him. According to Tom Hanks, he says, "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."

Tom Hanks signed onto this film after an hour and a half of reading the script, but agreed to take the role only on the condition that the film was historically accurate. He initially wanted to ease Forrest's pronounced Southern accent, but was eventually persuaded by Robert Zemeckis to portray the heavy accent stressed in the novel, and he patterned his accent after Michael Conner Humphreys (young Forrest), who actually spoke that way.

During the ping-pong matches, there was no ball; it was entirely CGI, animated to meet the actors' paddles.

David Alan Grier, Ice Cube, and Dave Chappelle turned down the role of Bubba. Ice Cube refused to play an idiot and Chappelle thought the movie would bomb. Chappelle had since admitted to deeply regretting not taking the role, and would eventually go on to play Tom Hanks' best friend in a different movie, You've Got Mail (1998)).

Forrest and Dan's Shrimp Emporium, "Bubba Gump," is now a themed restaurant in 33 locations around the world in the U.S., Japan, China, Mexico, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, and the U.K. There is one at the entrance to the Universal theme parks in Orlando, Florida, at the Wyndham Ocean Walk Hotel in Daytona Beach, Florida, at the Anaheim Gardenwalk in walking distance from Disneyland Park (TM) in Anaheim, California in the Los Angeles area, at Pleasure Pier in Galveston, Texas, Cannery Row in Monterey, California, City Market in Charleston South Carolina, the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, Navy Pier in Chicago, Illinois and downtown Gatlinburg, Tennessee, New Orleans, Louisiana, The Las Vegas Strip, Pier 39 in San Francisco, CA, Destin Florida, Lahaina in Maui, HI, and the Ala Moana mall in Honolulu, HI.

The movie's line, "Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." was voted as the #40 movie quote by the American Film Institute (out of 100).

The house used in Forrest Gump is the same house used in The Patriot (2000). Some paneling was changed for interior shots in the latter film.

Every still picture of Forrest during this film shows Tom Hanks with his eyes closed.

Sally Field is only ten years older than Tom Hanks.

Jodie Foster, Nicole Kidman, and Demi Moore turned down the role of Jenny Curran.

When this film became wildly successful, talk of a sequel naturally arose. However, at the time, Tom Hanks adamantly refused to work in any sequel (and making the sequel with another actor was not a consideration). Although Hanks has since reconsidered his stance on sequels/prequels (Toy Story 2 (1999), Toy Story 3 (2010), Angels & Demons (2009)), a sequel remained in "development hell" for years. As of 2010, Gump & Co. is in development.

One of three movies - the other two being Apollo 13 (1995) and The Green Mile (1999) - in which Tom Hanks and Gary Sinise appear together. All three movies were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, but only Forrest Gump won in the category.

Following the success of the movie, Winston Groom wrote a sequel novel, 'Gump & Co.' (1995), which referenced the movie as if it had been released in Forrest's world (he mentions that the movie was an inaccurate telling of his life - and brought him unwanted press attention). Forrest also meets Tom Hanks in the novel.

Robert Zemeckis used the paintings of Norman Rockwell as the design inspiration for the town of Greenbow, Alabama. The scene where Forrest sits in the hallway of his school while his mother talks to the principal is a direct re-creation of Rockwell's painting "Girl with a Black Eye".

Tupac Shakur auditioned for the role of Bubba.

The Doors have more songs in the movie than any other band with a total of six. These are, "Soul Kitchen" (in one of the Vietnam scenes), "Hello, I Love You" (first song in Gump's first ping pong sequence), "People Are Strange" (second song in Gump's first ping pong sequence), "Break On Through" (third song in Gump's first ping pong sequence), "Peace Frog" (during a New York City scene with Lieutenant Dan) and "Love Her Madly" (when Jenny is leaving her abusive boy friend).

According to writer Winston Groom, John Goodman was the perfect Forrest Gump in his mind.

Contrary to popular belief, the feather was not entirely CGI. The effects team digitized film of a real feather blowing and twisting in front of a blue-screen. This was then edited into segments, which the computer could link and morph together, allowing the "virtual" feather to move however the filmmakers needed. Thus, there was a real feather, but its performance in the movie was computer-based. This is demonstrated in the DVD supplementals.

In the movie there are four actors/actresses who play multiple roles. Gary Sinise plays Lieutenant Dan as well as all of his ancestors. Mykelti Williamson plays Benjamin Beaufort "Bubba" Blue, as well as the waiter opening Dr. Pepper bottles, in the scene where Forrest meets JFK as an All-American. Sally Field plays Forrest's momma, as well as a male reporter during Forrest's run across America. Tom Hanks plays Forrest, of course, as well as the ancestor he was named after.

Apart from a fixed fee, author Winston Groom made a deal for a three percent share in the film's net profits. However, he never received money from this source. Even though the film turned in more than $350 million in revenue, the studio employed creative accounting by claiming that the movie had actually lost money after correcting for the costs of production and advertising. Groom unsuccessfully tried to sue the studio for money, but to appease him, they bought the rights to the sequel novel 'Gump & Co' from him for a seven-figure sum.

Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.

The first Best Picture Oscar winner to also win Best Visual Effects.

Acting debut of Haley Joel Osmet

FILM 1521: THE BLIND SIDE

TRIVIA: When Quinton Aaron auditioned for the film, he was working as a security guard between acting gigs. After his audition, he left a card with his contact information and offered to work as a security guard on the set in case he wasn't selected to play Michael Oher.

Collins Tuohy, an A student, rearranged her schedules, and dropped out of several advanced placement classes, to share more classes with Michael Oher and help him graduate.

The Lawrence Taylor hit on Joe Theismann happened November 18, 1985, during a Monday Night Football game between the Giants and Redskins. It was the most gruesome injury ever seen on a nationally-televised regular season NFL game. Taylor, who frantically motions for help after the hit, claims that he has never seen replays of it, and never wants to.

Julia Roberts was offered the role of Leigh Anne Tuohy before Sandra Bullock, who turned it down three times because of her concerns about playing the part of a devout Christian. During the first couple of weeks of shooting, Bullock thought her acting was so bad she considered dropping out. John Lee Hancock had worked so hard on the project she didn't want to ruin it. However, she didn't quit and ended up winning the Best Leading Actress Oscar for her performance.

Michael Oher was an experienced football player when he enrolled at Briarcrest. He developed into a premier left tackle, and was heavily recruited by top schools in the Southeastern Conference. Oher was less than pleased by the movie's depiction of him as passive, unskilled big guy who was only barely acquainted with football. Nor was he enamored by the Forrest Gump (1994)-like depiction of himself in the film.

While Miss Sue fibs to Michael about where the bodies are stored, she is telling the truth about the University of Tennessee and its association with the FBI. The University has a facility, started by William Bass (often called BARF - Bass Anthropological Research Facility), that does study the stages of decomposition of human remains in a variety of scenarios.

When the Tuohys are riding home from S.J. Tuohy's school play, Sean Tuohy says the "quesadilla saved our ass". According to the book, Taco Bell sales were down at one time and Sean's stores were in some financial trouble. Then, Taco Bell introduced the quesadilla and sales increased and Sean's stores prospered.

The highest-grossing sports drama of all time.

Sandra Bullock took a pay cut to make the film and agreed to a percentage of the film's profits, which turned out to be considerable.

The first time a movie marketed with a sole actress's name above the title grossed over $200 million.

The real Michael Oher (born in 1986) is two years younger than Quinton Aaron (born in 1984).

Among the texts on the set-list proposed by Miss Sue are Tale Of Two Cities and Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, and Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. All concern transformation of the protagonist into an improved person, and the latter two particularly by protagonists born in poverty.

FILM 1278: JERRY MAGUIRE

TRIVIA: Two lines from the film, "Show me the money" and "You had me at hello", are in the AFI's top 100 movie quotes (at numbers 25 and 52, respectively).

Jonathan Lipnicki showed up on the set one day telling everyone that, "the human head weighs eight pounds". Cameron Crowe liked it so much he wrote it into the script.

The title role was written for Tom Hanks.

This was Tom Cruise's fifth consecutive $100-million-plus film, a new record.

The parts of Dorothy and Jerry were originally written for Winona Ryder and Tom Hanks. Hanks was unable to commit to the project due to his work on That Thing You Do! (1996). Ryder was able to commit, but when screen tests were done with Tom Cruise, they "looked like brother and sister" when standing together.

The baseball field at the end of the film is the same field used in Hook (1991).

Film 887: Silver Linings Playbook

Trivia: Anne Hathaway was originally cast opposite Bradley Cooper, but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts.

Rachel McAdams, Olivia Wilde, Elizabeth Banks, Blake Lively, Rooney Mara, Kirsten Dunst and Andrea Riseborough were considered for the lead female role that went to Jennifer Lawrence.

Mark Wahlberg was cast in the lead role but director David O. Russell decided to go with Bradley Cooper instead, even though Wahlberg had both produced and co-starred in Russell's last film, the critically acclaimed smash The Fighter.

This is the first film, other than a Rush Hour movie, that Chris Tucker has been in since Jackie Brown in 1997.

The results of Eagles and Phillies games mentioned in the movie are all real and all took place in 2008.

Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence spent weeks practicing the climactic ballroom dance routine with choreographer Mandy Moore. "None of that was improvised, absolutely not," asserts Lawrence. "I'm a terrible dancer, so I would never have been able to do any of that. When it finally came together, that scene really was just as fun as it feels."

Robert De Niro and Chris Tucker both starred in Jackie Brown, though they did not have any scenes together in that movie.