In 1994, the world was introduced to what many consider Tom Hanks’ career peak performance in “Forrest Gump.” Not necessarily the best bit of acting the A-lister has ever put on film, but his role as the loveable Gump is easily his most iconic. The film would go on to win 6 Oscars and become one of the biggest films of the year. And for many, the idea of a sequel seems ludicrous. But at the turn of the millennium, Tom Hanks, director Robert Zemeckis, and writer Eric Roth were about to gather to discuss the first draft of a proposed sequel film. Only one problem, it was delivered on September 10, 2001.
“I literally turned it in the day before 9/11,” says Roth in a new interview with Yahoo. “And Tom and I and Bob got together on 9/11 to commiserate about how life was in America and how tragic it was. We looked at each other and said, ‘This movie has no meaning anymore.’”
And since there’s no way the film would ever get made, Roth took the time to describe the hijinks that Gump would find himself navigating in the 1990s. For those that somehow missed the first film, “Forrest Gump” followed the titular character, who, for lack of a better term, was not the sharpest tool in the shed. With tons of compassion and heart, Gump would find himself in the middle of some of the biggest events of the ‘70s and ‘80s, ending with the revelation that the love of his life, Jenny, had given birth to his son and that she was dying of AIDs. The film leaves off with Forrest raising his child by himself after Jenny passes away.
“It was going to start with his little boy having AIDs,” reveals the writer. “People wouldn’t go to class with him in Florida.”
But even with his newfound fatherhood, Gump would still become intertwined with some of the biggest newsmakers of the ‘90s.
“One of the funny things is that we had him in the back of OJ’s Bronco,” says Roth, referencing the famous murder trial of OJ Simpson.
READ MORE: Watch: Celebrate 20 Years With The Honest Trailer For ‘Forrest Gump’
He added, “I had him as a ballroom dancer that’s really good. And eventually, just as sort of a charity kind of thing, he danced with Princess Diana.”
And yes, he would find love, with a Native American woman on a reservation. “There’s a funny sequence when he meets on the bus, a Native American woman. He says, ‘I finally found my calling.’ And he’s a Bingo caller on a reservation,” revealed Roth.
However, it’s because of this Native American woman, we find out exactly why “Forrest Gump 2” was never produced. And ultimately, it’s probably for the best.
Roth explains, “The big event in [the film], which you can see is only diminished by the real tragedy [of 9/11] because its the same tragedy, is that he’d go wait for his Native American partner, she taught nursery school at a government building there in Oklahoma City. He was sitting there on the bench, waiting for her to have lunch, and all of a sudden the building blows up.”
Obviously, if you are aware of ‘90s US history, you know that he’s referencing the tragic Oklahoma City bombing of April 19, 1995.
Overall, you can see that Roth was hoping to capture some of the same magic, combining the humor, heart, and tragedy that made “Forrest Gump” so special in 1994 with the sequel.
I talked to Forrest Gump screenwriter Eric Roth about the sequel he wrote, and it would've been… interesting. @YahooEnt pic.twitter.com/pLkN4GeXC5
— Kevin Polowy (@djkevlar) March 20, 2019
