Forrest Gump is one of the greatest films of all time.
You cannot fail to be moved by this funny, tragic and heart-warming classic which turned 21 last year.
If by some chance you’ve never seen it, the film is about a slow-witted but good-hearted Alabama boy who overcomes tremendous adversity to become a war hero, ping pong champion and millionaire owner of a shrimp boat empire.
We all remember the young Forrest Gump in the film – teaching Elvis Presley his famous dance moves and the ‘run, Forrest, run!’ scene where he breaks out of his leg braces running away from bullies.
Even that iconic Alabama drawl, which helped immortalise lines from the film like ‘life is like a box of chocolate’, was inspired by the child actor who played Forrest Gump, as Tom Hanks explains here.
But whatever happened to the lad who played him?
Well it’s actually a case of life imitating art as the young Michael Humphreys, who featured in Robert Zemeckis’ Oscar winning film, grew up to join the US Army.
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Speaking about the iconic role, Michael told AL.com:
“In a way, ever since then, I’ve been motivated to do something that matters.”
The now 29-year-old served four years in the U.S. Army infantry, which included an 18 month tour of duty in Iraq.
He said it wasn’t surprising that his nickname in the military was “Gump.”
Although he said he doesn’t speak with Tom Hanks or Robert Zemeckis on a regular basis, he did add that they met up when Hanks and Zemeckis were filming portions of “Castaway” in Memphis.
Hanks talked to Graham Norton about working with Michael on the 1994 film and how they created that classic Forrest Gump accent…
