20 Things You Didn't Know About Forrest Gump

By Jack Pooley / September 16, 2021

15. Despite Playing His Mother, Sally Field Is Only 10 Years Older Than Tom Hanks

Sally Field does a wonderful job playing Forrest's dear mother Mrs. Gump, and through a combination of clever costume design and phenomenal, Oscar-nominated makeup, Zemeckis was able to make a 47-year-old Field look far older than her actual years.

But what's especially interesting about Field's casting as Forrest's mother is that she's not even 10 years older than Tom Hanks - 9 years and 8 months, to be more precise.

Hilariously, Hanks and Field actually played romantic interests a few years prior in the 1988 comedy Punchline, underscoring that their pairing as mother and son really shouldn't work, and yet, it totally does.