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What Lies Beneath
What Lies Beneath
What Lies Beneath
Back to the Future Part II
Back to the Future Part II
Forrest Gump
Forrest Gump
Forrest Gump
Forrest Gump
Stats
- Episodes featuring their films
- 7
- Movies in this archive
- 7
Rewatchables episodes featuring Robert Zemeckis’s films
Forrest Gump
1994 film
Bill Simmons · Chris Ryan · Sean Fennessey · Mallory Rubin
Aired February 13, 2024
Displaying all 7 episodes
Mentioned in discussions
Who Lost the Movie?
Category rejected; Zemeckis suggested, then dismissed.
The panel proposes a new category here.
In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:36:47Read transcript
- A Who Lost the Movie category is proposed and rejected as too negative. — Bill Simmons
- Zemeckis is briefly floated but dismissed because Cast Away followed. — Bill Simmons
- The writer is also dismissed as a loser because the movie made nearly $300 million. — Bill Simmons
In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:30:00Read transcript
- Pfeiffer is proposed as the strongest Oscar choice.
- Zemeckis and the cinematography are proposed as alternatives. — Bill Simmons
- The film is ultimately described as outside Oscar territory. — Bill Simmons
Cruise or Hanks?
Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks tie, 2–2.
In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:17:46Read transcript
- Hanks is chosen for the value of playing against his trusted image in a Zemeckis movie. — Bill Simmons
- Cruise is chosen for the evil turn, sex scene, possession reaction, and physical climax. — Mallory Rubin
- Hanks is defended as stronger counter-programming, while Cruise’s Eyes Wide Shut role is used against repeating another troubled marriage.
- Cruise is defended as likely to intensify the role and perform the water and vehicle stunts. — Bill Simmons
- The final tally is explicitly called a rare two-to-two tie. — Bill Simmons
Apex Mountain
Cinematic Vermont, tentatively; no firm consensus.
In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:16:42Read transcript
- Pfeiffer, Ford, ghost movies, cheating-husband comeuppance movies, haunted-house movies, Zemeckis, and the waterlogged corpse are considered and rejected or questioned. — Bill Simmons
- Cinematic Vermont is proposed and receives tentative approval. — Bill Simmons
- Grown Ups 2 is jokingly offered as a competing Vermont answer. — Bill Simmons
- Grown Ups 2 is called good, and a participant says his children love it and the family owns it. — Bill Simmons
In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:38:40Read transcript
- Michael J. Fox is initially selected, with Doc floated, but the discussion shifts to Robert Zemeckis for the visual invention following Roger Rabbit and explicitly agrees on him.
Podcast choices
Apex Mountain
Sports almanacs; Tom Wilson; Jeffrey Weissman; Oh LàLà magazine; D. Jones Manure Hauling; hoverboards.
In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 01:15:06Read transcript
- Fox, Thompson, Shue, Beat It and Zemeckis are rejected. Sports almanacs receive an unequivocal yes. — Bill Simmons
- Mr. Sandman loses to Halloween II; time-travel movies lose to the original Back to the Future. — Bill Simmons
- Tom Wilson is affirmed for his multiple roles, with no later rival identified. — Bill Simmons
- The fictional 2015 loses to the actual year's Fox-Lloyd reunion for Sal. — Bill Simmons
- Jeffrey Weissman, Oh LàLà magazine, D. Jones Manure Hauling and hoverboards are affirmed. — Bill Simmons
- Sports-gambling movies receive an initial yes, then debate includes The Gambler, Two for the Money, The Hustler, Rounders, Focus and Uncut Gems without a settled conclusion. — Bill Simmons
What’s Aged the Best?
Future predictions, Silvestri’s score, Nike shoes, Jaws 19 and the jokes.
In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 00:49:45Read transcript
- The successful future predictions and Spielberg's presenting credit. — Bill Simmons
- Alan Silvestri's score, also remembered from the Universal tour. — Bill Simmons
- The lack of chemistry or purpose for Jennifer is perversely funny: she is quickly tranquilized, and Zemeckis regretted putting her in the car.
- A comic approach to the future and the Nike shoe concept's eventual commercial influence. — Bill Simmons
- The Jaws 19 trailer's absurd premise and Max Spielberg credit.
- Fox looked better in real 2015 than the film's aged Marty; the future jokes and the insult slacker still work. — Cousin Sal
In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:43:00Read transcript
- Back to the Future pairs Zemeckis’s technological storytelling; Cast Away pairs Zemeckis and Hanks; The Waterboy supplies the strongest comic dumb-hero pairing. — Sean Fennessey
- The coming Zemeckis/Hanks/Wright/Roth reunion Here is discussed as a future companion but not offered as the final double-feature selection. — Sean Fennessey
Just One Oscar
Tom Hanks gets the one Oscar over Robert Zemeckis.
In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:36:35Read transcript
- The response is immediate and agreed without a countercase. — Bill Simmons
Apex Mountain
Tom Hanks, Gary Sinise, Forrest’s bedroom speed, and the 1994 Oscars: yes
In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 01:15:59Read transcript
- Back-to-back Oscars, this difficult performance, and $678 million make Hanks able to obtain virtually any next project. — Bill Simmons
- Robin Wright’s later House of Cards run is considered stronger; Zemeckis’s Oscar win competes with Back to the Future’s lasting achievement.
- Forrest’s bedroom speed gets a joke apex, while the film is weighed against The Big Chill as boomer-pop-culture peak.
- The long shrimp-recitation sequence makes a case for shrimp; Sinise is placed here over Apollo 13. — Bill Simmons
- The 1994 Oscars represent a peak culture-war and audience moment, with 49 million viewers versus 19 million in 2023. — Bill Simmons
- Michael Clarke Duncan’s apex is Heat, and Dumb and Dumber wins the dumb-character movie preference for immediate viewing. — Bill Simmons
Half-Assed Internet Research
Fictional Greenbow, the demolished Gump house, Jenny’s disease, Elvis, prosthetics, doubles, props, the rally speech, profit points, the novel, and death theories
In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 01:12:15Read transcript
- Greenbow, Alabama is fictional, and the Gump house built for two months was demolished after a land dispute rather than preserved as an attraction. — Bill Simmons
- Novelist Winston Groom intended Jenny’s disease as hepatitis C, while the filmmakers’ presentation is interpreted as AIDS. — Bill Simmons
- Kurt Russell voiced Elvis, Michael Clarke Duncan wore a prosthetic lip as Bubba, and Hanks’s brother Jim doubled the cross-country run. — Bill Simmons
- Jenny’s birth date matches the Trinity nuclear test, and the Savannah bench is now in the Smithsonian. — Bill Simmons
- Hanks said Forrest’s cut-off rally speech described soldiers returning without legs or not returning at all. — Bill Simmons
- Hanks and Zemeckis exchanged fees for profit points when Paramount sought cuts and earned enormous returns.
- The novel also makes Forrest an astronaut, wrestler, chess player, and broader savant. — Chris Ryan
- An internet theory says bullies kill Forrest early and the braces breaking mark his spirit’s release, with the feather as eventual angel wings; Osment’s later Sixth Sense role is playful support. — Chris Ryan
Casting What-Ifs
Harry Anderson, John Travolta, Sean Penn, several Bubbas and Jennys, Terry Gilliam, and Joe Pesci form the casting tree.
In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:05:53Read transcript
- Zemeckis reportedly wanted Harry Anderson, who was unavailable, while John Travolta declined Forrest and later called that a mistake. — Bill Simmons
- Travolta’s later Michael and Phenomenon are read as attempts to recover the benevolent-simple-man role; Sean Penn claimed he was a second choice. — Bill Simmons
- David Alan Grier, Dave Chappelle, Ice Cube, and Tupac Shakur connect to Bubba; Chappelle later sought Hanks collaboration after regretting the miss. — Bill Simmons
- Jodie Foster, Demi Moore, and Nicole Kidman reportedly declined Jenny, and Terry Gilliam declined directing.
- Joe Pesci as Lieutenant Dan is embraced as an extraordinary visual and comic alternate.
Displaying discussions 1 - 12 of 25 in total
Films in the archive
Back to the Future
1985
Back to the Future Part II
1989
Cast Away
2000
Flight
2012
Forrest Gump
1994
Romancing the Stone
1984
What Lies Beneath
2000