The movie Forrest Gump is a celebration of the American spirit, told through the life story of a well-meaning simpleton. However, this feel good movie was initially slated to be a much darker tale of human misery and immorality. The title of the script was originally "Forrest Manson", a story of an insane serial killer who, through no intention of his own, found himself involved in nearly every major news story of a thirty year time span.
The character of Jenny, a fan favorite from the Gump movie, was in the original script, however she was not only Forrest's lover, but also his partner in crime. Sample dialogue consisted of: "Jenny, I may not be a morally conscious or mentally sound man, but I know what love is. And Jenny, I love you, especially when you're wearing that dead guy's head."
Not surprisingly, Tom Hanks was not initially involved in the project until the script change to the movie that we know today. Hanks called the original script "sick, disgusting and depraved. How the hell could I win an Oscar for that?"
If the movie had been made as originally scripted, the world would have been denied such characters as Lt. Dan, a vietnam vet who begrudgingly became Gump's friend. In the original script, his character was Wilson, a volleyball that Forrest talked to, a character that Hanks stole for his movie "Castaway".
Several scenes from the original were altered for inclusion in the revised screenplay. For example, the crowd pleasing "shit happens" scene was originally "double homicide with satanic overtones happens."
When asked if his performance in the recent "Road To Perdition" was influenced by the Forrest Manson character, Hanks growled at us until we went away.
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