Tom Hanks Briefly Plays A Second Character In Forrest Gump (& He's The Exact Opposite Of Forrest)

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Forrest Gump

It often gets overlooked that Tom Hanks actually plays two characters in Forrest Gump. In fact, the second character - Nathan Bedford Forrest - is the polar opposite of the title role Hanks plays in the film. The film is based on the 1986 published work of Winston Groom, where the Forrest Gump novel was very different to the motion picture. The movie takes viewers on a journey through the 1960s and 1970s, where Forrest finds himself in the middle of some huge historical events in Forrest Gump.

Despite Zemeckis' project being met with skepticism ahead of production, the picture is now considered one of the all-time greats, with Forrest Gump winning Best Picture over Pulp Fiction at the 1995 Academy Awards. Much of its success can be awarded to Hanks' phenomenal performance, which only serves as a reminder of the actor's skill set and permitted him to effortlessly transform into Nathan Bedford Forrest. With the inclusion of various real-life characters in Forrest Gump, it highlights the greater story to be told surrounding Hanks' secondary character, who served as a real general in the Civil War.

Tom Hanks Plays General Nathan Bedford Forrest In Forrest Gump

It has been reported that Tom Hanks personally paid for a number of Forrest Gump scenes, which led to a long-lasting partnership between himself and the infamous director, Robert Zemeckis. Many of the scenes that have become synonymous with Forrest Gump often overshadow some of the more uncomfortable interactions within the movie, and Hanks' very brief secondary role is one of those moments. Nathan Bedford Forrest's appearance occurs relatively early on in the movie's run, during a flashback to where the audience discovers how Forrest received his name.

Forrest making the claim that there's an association between the pair is exactly why it makes more sense for Hanks to have a dual role here.

The ensuing flashback is narrated by Gump, who says "she says [his mother] we were related to him in some way." Forrest making the claim that there's an association between the pair is exactly why it makes more sense for Hanks to have a dual role here. However, the flashback reveals that Nathan Bedford Forrest was a white supremacist, and generally just the complete opposite of the lovable, endearing Forrest himself.

The scene lasts for roughly 40 seconds, and presents Hanks as Nathan Bedford Forrest, donning a white hood. The final line of the flashback, "mamma said the Forrest part is to remind me sometimes we all do things that well, just don't make no sense," makes for an uncomfortable simplification of the greater issue. It seems that Groom's novel goes into more detail regarding the Civil War General, and it's understandable that the movie would cut a larger proportion of Bedford's backstory.

Was General Nathan Bedford Forrest A Real Person?

Bedford Was A Civil War General And Had A Large History With The KKK

In actual fact, Nathan Bedford Forrest did serve as a general in the Civil War, and was an early member of the Ku Klux Klan during a brief period in the 1800s. Nathan Bedford Forrest was a General Wizard within the Klan for a year, before he became disillusioned with the group, and many others that advocated white supremacy in the era. He later distanced himself from the group rather publicly and ultimately made efforts to dissolve the Klan.

Tom Hanks as Forrest and Haley Joel Osment as Forrest Jr in Forrest Gump.

Forrest Gump Ending Explained

Forrest Gump is a fictional larger-than-life story of the "slow-witted" Forrest Gump and the way he touches the lives of everyone around him.

According to Nathan Bedford Forrest: In Search of the Enigma written by Eddy W. Davidson, Forrest "volunteered to help exterminate those men responsible for the continued violence..." at the hands of the Klan in 1874. It's clear that General Nathan Bedford Forrest is an increasingly complicated figure within history, and this is likely the reason that Forrest Gump does not go into more detail about his life, aside from a a mere 40-second mention within the film.

Source: HuffPost