STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES

Starkey shares stories from the production of the classic American film that won him an Academy Award.

Few films permeated the popular culture of the 1990s like Forrest Gump, but on the day the script first landed on the author’s desk—placed there by his long-term collaborator, director Robert Zemeckis—the project’s success was far from assured. Zemeckis already had a string of hits under his belt, and the attached star, Tom Hanks, was highly marketable, but the picaresque story of a “stupid” baby boomer’s brushes with history gave the studio pause. “It was clearly a large production with an unconventional script,” writes Starkey. “It did not fit into any box of chocolates they had ever seen.” The producer was sent on a scouting mission to find locations around the South, assemble a crew, and put together a budget. He takes readers through the movie-magic details of making Beaufort, South Carolina look like the jungles of Vietnam; figuring out the logistics of Gump’s continent-spanning run; and working with special effects artist Ken Ralston to allow Forrest to “meet” such historical figures as presidents Kennedy and Nixon. The book includes rare full-color photographs from the shoot, including one of Tom Hanks dressed as Gump’s ancestor, Nathan Bedford Forrest (footage of which was inserted by Ralston into a scene from Birth of a Nation). Starkey provides accounts of tense meetings with studio executives irate over the film’s ballooning budget—in one anecdote, an exec asks Starkey how many extras would be needed for an upcoming scene. “As many as we can afford,” answers Starkey. The back-and-forth continues: “You don’t seem to understand…Maybe you can use cutouts.” Starkey offers little of the juicy gossip that accompanies many Hollywood memoirs, but he provides a detailed and comprehensive look at how the film was produced. Gump fans and aspiring filmmakers alike will enjoy this deep dive into the process.

A fascinating glimpse into the logistics of making an ambitious and expensive film.