Tough Pitch
Film producer Wendy Finerman found the novel ‘Forrest Gump’ very interesting and set out to make it into a movie. It was 1986, and no one shared her enthusiasm in Hollywood. She pitched the idea for nine years, but not until she signed Tom Hanks for the lead role did anyone actually have an interest in this film. Tom Hanks, on the other hand, saw the potential of the story quite quickly. It took him only one and a half hours after reading the script to sign into the movie.
A Lifetime Opportunity
While filming on Capitol Hill the scene of Forrest Gump in Washington DC having returned from Vietnam, director Zemeckis approached a couple of passing by tourists, and asked them to help him with this particular scene. The couple visiting from Atlanta Georgia became actors in the movie, simply because they were in the right place at the right time. They even got to say a few lines. Nothing like timing and a bit of good luck.
