There are some notable differences between the novel and the film. In the film, Forrest is seen as naive, impulsive, and more passive. This is seen in the chocolate scene. However, Gump’s character isn’t like this in the book. Groom’s Gump is more aware of his surroundings, saying about himself in the book’s opening that people treat him badly because he’s an idiot.
Groom’s Gump is also much bigger than Tom Hanks, being described as a man who is 6’6 and 240 pounds. Other things left out of the film include Forrest becoming an astronaut, running for the U.S Senate, and participating in a chess tournament.
Picture Perfect
The painting “Girl With a Black Eye” (also referred to as “The Shiner) by Norman Rockwell inspired the scene in which Forrest sat outside of the principal's office waiting for his mother. The painting appeared on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post published May 23, 1953.
It was Rockwell's 277th overall out of 322 total paintings that were published on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post. Rockwell said of model Mary Whalen that she was the best model he ever had. She ended up appearing on three Saturday Evening Post covers.
The Bench That Got Benched
That Forrest Gump bench is probably just as iconic as the whole movie. While it is just a bench, it just perfectly makes up the character's whole image, so you can imagine how important it was to have the right one. In fact, the producers just ended up buying it. And as you can imagine, that "prop" gained some significant notoriety ever since.
People were prepared to dish out a lot of money for that thing, which is why that the bench that Tom Hanks sat on with his box of chocolates sold in an auction in 2013 for a whopping $25,000. As for the set, producers kept it really authentic. For the town square scenes, they filmed them in Savannah, Georgia. In many scenes, Gump sat on a bench at Chippewa Square in Savannah, Georgia.
The Doors
Music of the band “The Doors” was featured often in the film, playing six of its songs throughout the movie. Director Robert Zemeckis was a big fan of the band and felt that their sound was perfect for the tone as it evoked the wild feeling of the era. He was completely right, we couldn't imagine the film without their music.
The American rock band was formed in Los Angeles in 1965, with Jim Morrison as the band’s vocalist. While their career ended almost 45 years ago, they remain popular to this day and have sold over 100 million albums worldwide.
Family Bus Ride
Tom Hanks’ daughter Elizabeth starred in the film as well as Zemeckis’ son Alexander. They were amongst the school kids on the bus who made fun of Gump. Elizabeth, who is commonly called EA Hanks, has since moved on to writing. She was a staffer at Vanity Fair magazine and an associate editor with The Huffington Post.
In addition, she has written for vanityfair.com, Guardian, time.com, The New York Times, and other top US magazines. That's not the only one of Hanks' offspring that got into the entertainment industry. Colin Hanks is also a well-known actor who has starred in a string of films.