Tom Hanks Movies: How the Actor Saved 'Forrest Gump'

Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks |

"Forrest Gump" is arguably one of the most iconic films of all time, but if lead star Tom Hanks did not step up and personally finance one of the scenes in the film, then the entire thing might have turned out differently.

"The studio was one day away from pulling the plug on this one movie I was going to make, and the director came out to my house and said, 'Look, this is going to fall apart because they won't give us the budget for shooting this one sequence, and we've got to have this sequence,'" Hanks shared with Yahoo! Movies.

Director Robert Zemeckis then proposed that he and Hanks split the cost of shooting that particular sequence, just so the studio would allow them to make the film they envisioned.

Without hesitation, Hanks agreed. When asked what that scene was that the studio refused to finance, the actor answered: "The sequence was Forrest running across the country. And we were 48 hours away from it being shut down. So I'm glad that worked out."

Hanks has one of the most enviable careers in Hollywood, but surprisingly, he hates watching films of himself.

"The only movie of (mine) that I can watch over and over again is 'That Thing You Do,' because I wrote it," Hanks revealed.

"That Thing You Do" is a 1996 comedy about a 60s pop band, and Hanks said that the whole movie was such a treat to make since it had a great cast, "infectiously fabulous" music, and a final product that "came out the way I imagined."

Hanks also directed the film, and his fourth child was also born while he was making the movie, therefore making it even more memorable for him.

With that exception, Hanks actually prefers not to watch his own films. "The problem with these movies that you're in, is they never change," he said. "Once you see them, it's not like they're longer or better, or there's a better angle of you - they're locked in stone, and if you hate any moment of it, you hate it for the rest of eternity. I leave the room sometimes when they come on."

Hanks will next appear in Clint Eastwood's film "Sully," which is about a US Airlines pilot named Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger. For the film, the actor had to dye his hair white.

"It's very hard to dye my hair white, it turns out," Hanks shared. "It took a lot of time and eventually they had to stop doing it, because it was white enough, and the lady at the salon said, 'Your scalp can't take any more of this.'"