We all know that Tom Hanks is an amazing actor. The guy has won two Academy Awards to prove it. However, we didn't know just how good he was until now.
Some of Hanks' audition tapes for "Forrest Gump" surfaced online last month, just a couple of weeks after the 20th anniversary of the film. The video has now taken off on the Internet, and once you watch it, you will see why.
In the clip, which was posted on YouTube by Regal Reels, we see Hanks audition and screen test for the iconic titular character, which won him one of those Academy Awards. We see Forrest make a surprise visit to Jenny, played by the also awesome Robin Wright, and learn that he had a son with Jenny. There's also a chemistry test between Hanks and a 5-year-old Haley Joel Osment, who played Forrest and Jenny's son in the film, where they discuss Osment's birthday and "Darkwing Duck." All together now: Awwww.
You'll immediately notice something very, very strange about the audition. Hanks does not speak in the southern drawl that is so much a part of the Forrest Gump character. Instead, the actor pretty much just sounds like his normal self. This is probably because Hanks was at first skeptical of putting on an accent in the film.
"I was always trying to convince ["Forrest Gump" director Robert Zemeckis] that there was some way of soft-pedaling it somehow, even though it is so evocative and it's grammatically written out in Winston Groom's novel ... I told Bob, 'This is new turf for me, and I don't know how to do this. I think the audience is going to hate us, like I'm doing Ken Berry in Mayberry RFD.' Bob says, 'Look, you've just got to figure out a way of doing it," Hanks has said in the past.
The actor who played the young Forrest in the movie, Michael Conner Humphreys, actually inspired Forrest's ultimate accent. Hanks studied how Humphreys spoke and incorporated it into his performance. You'll see a taste of Humphrey's accent in this audition reel as well, which includes part of the famous "Run, Forrest, run!" scene with Hanna R. Hall, the actress who played the younger version of Jenny.
Hanks and Wright light up every screen they are on, but it is really a treat to see them perform in a less-polished venue. Without makeup, without editing, without special effects, this audition reel is so delightful to watch because you really see the impeccable raw talent of these actors. Get ready to fall in love with "Forrest Gump" all over again.
