“It's A Masterpiece Without A Doubt.” Tom Hanks Praises Forrest Gump's Greatest Rival and Is Fed Up with Criticism of His Movie
Tom Hanks addressed Forrest Gump's rivalry with Quentin Tarantino's film, a source of criticism of the movie featuring him.
During the 1995 film industry awards season, there was considerable competition between the movies of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Zemeckis. The productions competed against each other for awards in many categories, including the key one – for best film at the Oscars. The statuette then went to the makers of Forrest Gump, which was a source of frustration for Tarantino, whose Pulp Fiction was also nominated in this category.
The filmmaker confessed this while accepting the award for Best Picture at the MTV Movie Awards.
Pop quiz hotshot, you go to awards shows all year long, you keep losing to Forrest Gump, it’s really annoying the hell out of you. What do you do? You go to the MTV Movie Awards!
The movies have been compared to each other to this day because of the fierce rivalry, and Pulp Fiction is cited as one of the productions that deserved to win the Best Picture award at the Oscars. During interview for New York Times Tom Hanks, who is full of admiration for Tarantino's work, and is fed up with the criticism that Forrest Gump faced for the whole situation, addressed this topic and the fact that the film starring him is unfairly criticized.
There’s books of the greatest movies of all time, and Forrest Gump doesn’t appear because, oh, it’s this sappy nostalgia fest. Every year there’s an article that goes, “The Movie That Should Have Won Best Picture” and it’s always Pulp Fiction. Pulp Fiction is a masterpiece without a doubt.
Hanks explained later in the interview that his production is unfairly judged as simply playing on nostalgia. In his opinion, there is a poignant humanity in Forrest Gump that allows the audience to identify with the film. And that's what made it so likable and deserving of its awards.
Tom Hanks, as you can see, appreciates Pulp Fiction and doesn’t deny that it is a masterpiece, but disagrees with the notion that Forrest Gump is boring.
