20 Things You Somehow Missed In Forrest Gump
7. The Lincoln Memorial Crowd Was CGI
Another jaw-dropping visual effect you likely never would've guessed occurs during the scene where Forrest speaks at the peace rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Given that Forrest Gump was shot in 1993, you certainly couldn't be blamed for assuming that the production simply corralled like 10,000 extras to shoot the scene entirely in-camera, but that wasn't the case at all.
Instead, the crowd was replicated digitally - only the audience members at the very front below Forrest were there for the entire shoot, while the crowd at the sides were created through VFX.
The crew had a pool of 1,500 extras move around the sides of the Reflecting Pool in stages, allowing them to then stitch these shots together and give the impression of a massive crowd. Incredible stuff for its era, and yet something we totally take for granted today.
Check it out for yourself in the VFX breakdown below (relevant clip at 7:40):