Believe it or not, in the original “Forrest Gump” novel by Winston Groom and its sequel, “Gump & Co.,” the titular character is not the sweet-natured, easy-to-like guy whom everyone adores even as he naively stumbles his way through history.
First off, Forrest is not as wholesome as Tom Hanks’ big-screen version from the 1994 film adaptation. He’s got a bit of a potty mouth in the book, and he’s no stranger to the temptation of wine, women, and song — in fact, he’s often pulled off the straight and narrow by all three, plus the lure of money. If you’ve ever wanted to hear Forrest use some four-letter words, then the book has you covered.
That’s far from the only major change that the movie makes. When Forrest creates his shrimp company, Lieutenant Dan is never involved in its formation — the military superior never becomes as close to Forrest in the book as he does in the movie. The friend he names that shrimp company after — Benjamin Buford “Bubba” Blue — is actually a college associate in the novel.
The most significant changes involve Forrest’s relationship with his one-that-got-away-and-came-back, Jenny. In the book, her actions are more villainous and selfish than they are in the movie. While she doesn’t die yet, she grabs Forrest’s son and runs away yet again, leaving him to be with another man — a shocker and definitely a dark part of Forrest’s history. Jenny later dies of hepatitis C, and Forrest continues raising his son — with occasional commentary from Jenny’s ghost, who proceeds to haunt the family.
On top of that, lots of adventures Forrest indulges in during the novel are chopped out for length; for one, he ends up saving Chairman Mao from drowning, a strong nod to how much of a satire Groom intended the book to be. With so many differences between these versions, one might think the author might be offended by the many switches that were made for the film. He was at first, but he’s come to appreciate them over time.
Winston Groom actually came around on the changes the movie made to his book
Winston Groom was, at first, less than thrilled about what the movie version of “Forrest Gump” did to his creations. “Why the hell didn’t they use my line? Why are they using this line? Well, what do I know? Everywhere I go, people send me chocolates. I hate chocolates!” he said in an interview shortly after the film’s release (as quoted by The Telegraph).
And yet, Groom’s opinion of the film did soften a bit with time. “They kept the character pretty much as I intended. As I see it, it’s a story about human dignity, and the fact that you don’t have to be smart or rich to maintain your dignity even when some pretty undignified things are happening all around you,” he said to The New York Times. Groom’s participation in the moviemaking process seemed sometimes to be a ghastly ordeal. His script was adapted by other hands, then, when it won a slew of Oscars, his name did not come up in the acceptance speeches.
Even worse, though Groom was contracted to receive 3% of the movie’s grosses after selling the rights to the book for $350,000, Paramount claimed that the movie was operating at a loss in 1995; this was something that critics claimed was creative bookkeeping. Groom hired a lawyer, and the studio paid him another $250,000 for future projects. While a sequel to “Forrest Gump” was discussed and even scripted, the film has never had a second chapter, unlike Forrest’s book adventures.
“There’s not a week that goes by that half a dozen people don’t ask me for an autograph for Gump. In the end, I’m just really damn grateful for the whole thing,” Groom declared about his creation. He would go on to write plenty of nonfiction and several more novels. He died on September 17, 2020, at the age of 77.
