7. Zemeckis wasn’t Paramount’s first choice to direct the film. The project was offered to a member of the Monty Python troop Terry Gilliamwho passed, and Barry Sonnenfeldwho only signed up to head Addams Family Values instead.
8. While the movie is great fun putting Forrest in the middle of some fairly monumental moments in history, such as being the one who unknowingly exposed the Watergate scandal, one planned moment turned out to be a little too much for Zemeckis . Originally, Forrest was supposed to come across it Martin Luther King Jr. and his supporters as riot police released German Shepherds on them. Forrest was to step in and distract the dogs with a fetch game. Given that the scene is tasteless as it downplays the violence that King and his followers face, the director left it out.
9. Though uncredited, the voice of youth Elvis Presley anyone who rents a room from Forrest’s mother was made available by Kurt Russellwho previously played the rocker in the 1979 television biopic Elvis.
