Mama Always Said: Take Our ‘Forrest Gump’ Quiz

Forrest Gump is based on a 1986 novel by Winston Groom. Although Tom Hanks won an Oscar for his portrayal of Groom’s protagonist, he wasn’t the first, second or even third choice for the role. Groom — whose version of Gump is 6 foot 6 inches tall and 242 pounds — wrote the character with John Goodman in mind, and director Robert Zemeckis reportedly wanted to cast Bill Paxton. Meanwhile, Bill Murray, Chevy Chase and John Travolta all turned the part down.

Forrest Gump hails from the fictional town of Greenbow, Alabama. “One of the things that was most important to everyone, and in particular to Forrest, was his home of Alabama,” producer Wendy Finerman said in audio commentary for the movie’s 25th anniversary Blu-ray release, according to Alabama news website AL.com. Even so, the movie wasn’t actually filmed in Alabama. Production was based in Beaufort, South Carolina, and scenes were shot throughout the South — primarily in South Carolina and Georgia.

In the opening scene of Forrest Gump, an ethereal white feather falls from the treetops to the streets of Savannah, Georgia, where it lands at the feet of Forrest Gump who is sitting on the iconic park bench where he narrating his life story to a series of strangers. The feather — which director Robert Zemeckis has said is a metaphor for the randomness of life — reappears at the end of the film, when it falls from a book as Forrest waits with his son for the school bus to arrive.

Forrest meets his shrimp-obsessed “best good friend,” Bubba, while serving in Vietnam. Following Bubba’s death from combat wounds during the war, Forrest establishes a shrimping business in his honor: Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. Following the film’s success, entrepreneur Anthony Zolezzi licensed the name “Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.” from Paramount Pictures, and in 1996 he opened his first restaurant. Today, the chain has 34 locations across nine states and seven countries.

"Jenny and me was like peas and carrots," Forrest says of Jenny, his lifelong love and best friend. Director Robert Zemeckis said Forrest and Jenny represented opposite versions of America. Jenny was the aimless, unfulfilled America represented by sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll, while Forrest was "the ideal of what America was supposed to be — Mom, God and apple pie," Zemeckis said in audio commentary for the movie’s 25th anniversary Blu-ray release, according to Alabama news website AL.com.