Forest Gump Sequel Was Dropped Following 9/11 Terror Attacks

Forest Gump writer Eric Roth has revealed that a sequel to the hit film was planned, but then shelved in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Speaking to Yahoo Entertainment Roth said he had finished a plan for a sequel on 10 September 2001 - just one day before the atrocious attacks.

Meeting with Tom Hanks and director Robert Zemeckis on 11 September, the decision was made to not go ahead the film.

Paramount Pictures

He explained: "We got together to commiserate how life was in America and how tragic it was.

"We looked at each other and said, 'this movie has no meaning anymore'. In that sense."

Going into more detail about the plan he had submitted Roth added: "It was going to start with his little boy having AIDS and people wouldn't go to class with him in Florida.

"We had this funny sequence where they were [desegregation] busing in Florida at the same time, so people were either angry about the busing or the kids having to go to school with the kid that had AIDS. So, there was a big conflict."

Like the original movie, he also planned scenes with Gump - played by Hanks - finding himself in all manner of high-profile scenarios.

"One of the funny things I had; I had him in the back of OJ's Bronco," he said. "And that he would look up occasionally and they didn't see him in the rear-view mirror, and he would pop down.

"I had him as a ballroom dancer who was really good. And then eventually, just as a charity thing, he would dance with Princess Diana."

He also went on to say that Gump would end up working as a bingo-caller, which he said was his 'calling'.

And, much like the 1994 movie, it would also have a fair bit of tragedy, Roth explained, telling Yahoo that Gump was set to find a new partner, a nursery school teacher. But as he sits waiting for her on a bench the building behind him - where she worked - would explode and collapse, being part of the Oklahoma city bombing terror attack, which happened in 1995.

Naturally, given the nature of this scene, it seems it may have been a hard film to create in the wake of 9/11.

Topics: TV and Film, tom hanks

Claire Reid

Claire is a journalist at LADbible who, after dossing around for a few years, went to Liverpool John Moores University. She graduated with a degree in Journalism and a whole load of debt. When not writing words in exchange for money she is usually at home watching serial killer documentaries surrounded by cats. You can contact Claire at [email protected]

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