20 Things You Didn't Know About Forrest Gump

6. Terry Gilliam & Barry Sonnenfeld Turned Down Offers To Direct It

Despite being hot off a string of box office hits when he was hired to direct Forrest Gump, Robert Zemeckis wasn't in fact Paramount's first choice to helm the project.

The film was first offered to Barry Sonnenfeld, who turned it down in order to direct Addams Family Values, a choice that clearly suited Sonnenfeld's sensibilities far more comfortably.

Elsewhere, the studio wanted Terry Gilliam to direct, and he turned it down, later admitting that he didn't believe in the material, satisfied that he made the right choice and that Zemeckis was the appropriate filmmaker to do it justice.

Gilliam's uniquely eccentric voice likely wouldn't have meshed well with the whimsically earnest tone of the script, honestly, so everything clearly worked out as it was supposed to.

As for Zemeckis, he not only had a critical and commercial smash hit on his hands, but won the Best Director Oscar for his efforts.