mango sentinel posted:

Hanks certainly adds to the charm and I don't think it would have gotten so much acclaim without it, but I the rest of the cast is solid and I think it could have worked with a different lead.

The author of the book wanted John Goodman to play Forrest. Given that the book version of Forrest is basically a retarded Hank Hill who swears and likes sex, that would have been great. Goodman could have still probably done the kindhearted idiot we actually got and it would have been solid.