The iconic role Tom Hanks will always regret rejecting
After starring in Big, the 1988 fantasy comedy directed by Penny Marsh, Tom Hanks enjoyed a significant rise in popularity, but it would be a few more years before he had top-flight directors scratching at his door. The slow climb to the top can be a brutal one, but soon enough, Hanks would find his way to Hollywood’s pinnacle. Unarguably, the early 1990s were the most critical period of Hanks’ career.
An appearance in Philadelphia opposite Denzel Washington in 1993 and in Forrest Gump the following year saw the Californian actor win his only two Academy Awards to date, both for ‘Best Actor’. It is a feat that very few performers can lay claim to. This career zenith saw Hanks become only the second actor, behind Spencer Tracy, to have won two consecutive ‘Best Actor’ Oscars. It made him perhaps the most desired actor in the business.
Regarding the actor’s oeuvre since then, Hanks can surely have few complaints. The star has continually worked on not only commercially successful pictures but also true cult hits with huge cultural sway. However, not all movies can be hit movies, and not all decisions can be the right ones. There is one big role he passed on that will surely have stirred a few “What ifs?”
While Hanks was working on Forrest Gump in the early 1990s, he was approached by director Frank Darabont, who was, at the time, pulling together a cast for his adaptation of Stephen King’s novel, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. The author would offer up the novel as part of an incredibly fortuitous deal for the director.
Darabont purchased the movie rights to the story in 1987 but didn’t begin working on the project for another five years. After writing the script over an eight-week period, Darabont secured a $25million budget from Castle Rock Entertainment to shoot what would become his masterpiece, The Shawshank Redemption. The movie would go on to become one of the biggest hits of the decade and is still widely beloved by fans today. While the story is a powerful one, it is the performance that truly make the picture.
Initially, Darabont considered some of his favourite acting legends, including Clint Eastwood, Paul Newman, Gene Hackman and Robert Duvall, for the lead role of Andy Dufresne, but they were sadly unavailable. Later, opting for a younger leading man, he made offers to Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, and Kevin Costner.
All three passed on the opportunity: Hanks due to his Forrest Gump commitments and Costner due to his concurrent role in Waterworld. Meanwhile, Cruise allegedly attended a script run-through but ultimately declined due to Darabont’s lack of experience at the time.
Johnny Depp, Nicolas Cage, and Charlie Sheen were also considered for the Dufresne role at different stages of casting. Still, Tim Robbins made the final cut opposite Morgan Freeman as Red. It would be a genius move. Though Hanks may have excelled in the role, the unassuming nature of Robbins worked perfectly for the role. It pitched Dufresne as the unlikely hero and criminal mastermind.
Although Hanks felt The Shawshank Redemption was a huge, potentially rewarding role that passed him by, Forrest Gump won more trophies and performed better at the box office. We’d need a time machine to tell what might have happened if Hanks traded places with Robbins in 1994, but I feel that Hanks was better suited to Forrest Gump, and the role was more constructive for his career in the long run.
In 2000, six years after The Shawshank Redemption, Darabont helmed The Green Mile, another prison-based Stephen King adaptation. This time, Hanks was delighted to be free of prior obligations and threw himself into the lead role of Warden Paul Edgecomb.
