Casting What-Ifs
Harry Anderson was Zemeckis's first choice for Forrest; Bill Murray, John Travolta and Chevy Chase turned it down; David Alan Greer (as transcribed), Dave Chappelle and Ice Cube turned down Bubba and Tupac auditioned; Jodie Foster, Nicole Kidman and Demi Moore turned down Jenny; Terry Gilliam and Barry Sonnenfield (as transcribed) turned down directing
In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 00:33:52Read transcript
- Robert Zemeckis's first choice for the title role was Harry Anderson, who was unavailable because of a commitment to Dave's World on CBS. — Sean Fennessey
- The late Harry Anderson as Forrest Gump is dumbfounding; it might have been good but a different, smaller movie, and Anderson was not that famous even then.
- Bill Murray, John Travolta and Chevy Chase turned down Forrest; Travolta has called it one of the biggest regrets of his career. The hosts think Travolta would have been terrible, that he kind of played Forrest Gump in Phenomenon, which one still rides for, and that Michael was him trying to get back to that moment.
- David Alan Greer (as transcribed), Dave Chappelle and Ice Cube turned down Bubba. Ice Cube refused to play an idiot and is literally too smart for the part; Chappelle thought the movie would bomb, regretted it and worked with Hanks four years later on You Got Mail (as transcribed); Tupac auditioned for Bubba, which would not have worked. Bubba's name is Buford Blue.
- Jodie Foster and Nicole Kidman turned down Jenny and both could have been good; Demi Moore also turned it down and would have been too old to pull off the high school and college stretch that Robin Wright managed, with a tangent on when Striptease came out.
- Terry Gilliam and Barry Sonnenfield (as transcribed) turned down directing; Gilliam's version would have been amazing and a lot different. Hanks was probably not the first choice because he was unavailable. Bill Murray would not work: he only played dumb as Carl in Caddyshack, for comedy, and What About Bob is the craziest he has gone.