The Filming Sites for Forrest Gump
Tom Hanks plays the title character in the 1994 drama film Forrest Gump, detailing his life narrative; but, where was the cast and crew filming it? From his eventful life growing up in Alabama, battles in the Vietnam War, runs across the nation, and more, Forrest Gump chronicles The cast and crew visited several sites to capture the 1994 comedy-drama, much as Tom Hanks' character traveled. Forrest's life's significant events take place in several different cities and locations, thus it makes logical why the production was distributed around the United States. Though Forrest Gump mostly relies on on-location filming, main photography only ran roughly five months, starting in August 1993 and finishing in December.
Notes of Honor for Forrest Gump
Six Oscars—best picture, best director (Robert Zemeckis), best actor (Tom Hanks), best adapted screenplay ( Eric Roth), best film editing (Arthur Schmidt), and best visual effects (Ken Ralston, George Murphy, Allen Hall and Stephen Rosenbaum). Forrest Gump has evolved into a classic in the years since its opening. Naturally, both viewers and critics praised the 1994 comedy-drama highly upon its premiere and found it to be a box office success since it grossed $678.2 million against a $55 million budget. Still, it has endured; many still quote the well-known lines from Forrest Gump and routinely view the movie thirty years later. But it all started when the crew and actors started shooting the comedy-drama late 1993.
Chippewa Square located in Savannah, Georgia
The bench scenes feature maybe the most famous Forrest Gump site. Tom Hanks opens Robert Zemeckis' 1994 film as Forrest seated on a bench at a bus stop. Even if they don't want to hear it, Forrest tells strangers his whole life story while waiting for his bus to arrive. As Forrest Gump flashes to many spheres of his life, the bench scenes frame everything.
The Savannah History Museum has a replica of the Forrest Gump bench used in the movie; the original bench is apparently housed at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles. Considering its significance in the film, many viewers have visited Savannah, Georgia's Chippewa Square to see the bench scenes filmed. Regretfully, the bench the production crew created for Forrest Gump was a fiberglass prop. It is therefore not in the square but rather the James Oglethorpe Monument, which is visible behind Forrest in the film. Still, Chippewa Square is clearly the most often visited place for people heading to the Forrest Gump sites.
yemassee and Beaufort, South Carolina
In the comedy-drama Forrest and Jenny (Robin Wright in the Forrest Gump ensemble) grow up in the small town of Greenbow, Alabama. Greenbow is a fictional city, though, thus these events were not even recorded in Alabama. Rather, the actors and crew visited Yemassee and Beaufort in South Carolina to film every Greenbow sequence. The towns of Yemasee and Beaufort filmed all those scenes (and more) when young Forrest Gump's braces break off while running from bullies or when Forrest and Jenny pray in a cornfield while running from her father.
Built for the movie, Forrest and Jenny's houses were destroyed following filming. Plum Hill in Yemasee, South Carolina is the site of the huge oak tree where Forrest and Jenny hide and where Forrest later graves Jenny.
Monterey Park, California's Weingart Stadium
Though Forrest is teased and bullied a lot in Forrest Gump, things change when he gets a football scholarship at the University of Alabama. Although some scenes involving Forrest on the field under real-life figure Bear Bryant show in Forrest Gump, they were not really shot on the University of Alabama campus. Rather, the production team made use of Weingart Stadium located in Monterey Park, California, East Los Angeles College. Although there were a few extras in the stadium, special effects were used to cover every seat and replicate Bryant–Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Fripp Island, South Carolina; Hunting Island
The Forrest Gump crew members recreated the terrain of Vietnam on Hunting Island and Fripp Island in South Carolina, claims Smithsonian Magazine. As viewers will remember, Forrest joins the United States Army and subsequently travels abroad to fight in the Vietnam War alongside friend Bubba in the middle of the Robert Zemeckis film. Still, all the war scenes were shot in South Carolina, apparently a preferred site for the production team.
Reflective Pool at Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C.
Among the historical events in Forrest Gump are the October 21, 1967 anti-war March on the Pentagon gathering. Following his return from the Vietnam War and award of the Medal of Honor, Forrest is strolling around Washington, D.C. when he comes upon the demonstration and inadvertently gets the mic across from the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. At the rally, Jenny sprints across the pool screaming Forrest's name. For the first time since Forrest left for the war, the childhood friends hug and get back together.
Cast Forrest Gump
Task
Actors
Forrest Gump
Tony Hanks
Jenny Currant
Robinson Wright
The mother of Forrest
Sally Fields
lieutenant Dan Taylor
Gary Sinise
Benjamin Buford Blue, sometimes known as "Bubba"
Herkelti Williamson
Forrest Gump Jr.,
Haley Joel osment
young Forrest
Michael Conners Humphreys
Fresh Jenny
Hanna R. Hall
Stoney Creek Presbyterian Chapel at McPhersonville, South Carolina
Starting his prawn business in Forrest Gump, Forrest and Lieutenant Dan find it difficult to find any shrimp. So, Gary Sinise's character suggests that Forrest pray for them to find shrimp, and he takes that advice to heart. Forrest attends Four Square Baptist Church and sings in the church choir, and the church that Tom Hanks filmed at was Stoney Creek Presbyterian Chapel in McPhersonville, South Carolina.
Lighthouse in Maine's Marshall Point
Later on in Forrest Gump's timeline, Forrest spontaneously decides to go for a run, and he doesn't stop. He ends up running across the country, meaning that the production crew had to pick out several locations to show Forrest's journey. One of the places that Forrest runs to is the Marshall Point Lighthouse in Port Clyde, Maine. He travels all the way to the end of the dock before turning around to continue running throughout the United States.
Monument Valley, Utah and Arizona
Eventually, Forrest's run across America has to come to an end in the 1994 comedy-drama. After a group of people join him on his run, Forrest stops in the middle of U.S. Route 163 in Monument Valley (which encompasses both Utah and Arizona). He turns around and tells them, "I'm pretty tired. I think I'll go home now," and starts walking back to Alabama. Monument Valley is a popular filming location as several movies have used it besides Forrest Gump, including Stagecoach, Once Upon a Time in the West, Back to the Future III, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, and more.
In this iconic piece of American film history, the presidencies of Kennedy and Johnson, the events of the Vietnam war, Watergate, and other history unfold through the perspective of an Alabama man with an IQ of 75.
Source: Smithsonian Magazine
