The iconic role Tom Hanks thought he was getting “so fired” from: “You’re out, baby”
Actors are an inherently insecure bunch. Perhaps it’s because most go through years of rejection before establishing a foothold in the industry, but that sense of nervousness that it could all go away in an instant never seems to leave some stars, no matter how famous they get. Take Tom Hanks, for example. He was already a two-time Oscar nominee and one-time winner when he became convinced he was about to be fired from the biggest job of his career.
The story of Hanks’ irrational worry that he was about to be sacked, even when he hadn’t done anything wrong, stemmed from a typical problem which often occurs on movie productions: budgetary disagreements. According to Hanks, there’s always a point in any film where a studio executive turns up out of the blue to tell the director and star that they can’t do something because the higher-ups are worried the budget is getting out of control. They’ll say the scene isn’t going to work, or they don’t see the point in shooting it, and the idea is to get the director to back down from his convictions.
While shooting Forrest Gump, this oh-so-predictable scenario played out when Paramount became concerned about the iconic sequence of Forrest running across America for 1,170 days. The scene was expensive, as it required capturing footage of Hanks and his stand-in brother Jim running in locations all over the country, and the joke in the film is that most people think Forrest is doing it for no particular reason. Of course, the real reason is that he is heartbroken after Jenny left him without a word the morning after finally sleeping with him, but for some bizarre reason, that must have been too subtle for the stuffed suits.
Either way, when the executive told director Robert Zemeckis that he would have to cut the entire section from the movie, Hanks felt awful. However, that feeling quickly turned to fear when he received word from his agent that Zemeckis wanted to chat with him at his home. Despite being the beloved star of the movie and a man who had just won an Oscar for Philadelphia, those old insecurities came flooding back like a tidal wave.
“I thought, ‘I am so fired now,'” Hanks admitted to Stephen Colbert in 2024. “Because when you get that call – the director is coming to your house to talk to you – that means you’re out, baby.” Naturally, Zemeckis didn’t invite himself over to Chez Hanks to tell the star he was being let go. That would have been insane. Instead, Zemeckis wanted to talk with Hanks about the running sequence and present him with a risky proposition. “Bob came out and he said, ‘Tom, Tom. I cannot make a movie without the star of the movie as my soulmate,'” Hanks revealed while doing a pitch-perfect Zemeckis impression. “‘So, you and I have to be joined at the hip throughout all of this.'”
By this, Zemeckis meant that he and Hanks needed to be on the same page about what was and wasn’t crucial for the vision of Forrest Gump. Thankfully, both men agreed that the running sequence was integral to Forrest’s character arc. Sadly, though, the studio wasn’t backing down in its determination to shave some money off the film’s budget, so Zemeckis pitched an idea to Hanks. “Let’s knock money out of our salary,” Hanks revealed the director suggested, “and we will pay for it ourselves.”
Now, in Hollywood, it’s often said that no actor or director should ever pay for a movie with their own money. Zemeckis’ plan, though, wasn’t for him and Hanks to simply pay for the scene out of the goodness of their hearts. Instead, they would only do it if, in return, they were awarded points on the backend, which would work out extremely well for them in the long run if Forrest Gump became a box office hit.
The studio gleefully agreed to this proposition, and the running sequence came out of Zemeckis and Hanks’ pockets 50/50. Then, it proceeded to make $678 678 678million at the worldwide box office, and, to Paramount’s chagrin, both men made back that money many, many times over. In fact, it’s believed Hanks walked away with $70million from Forrest Gump, which is around $120m in today’s money.
