Chevy Chase turned down the role of Forrest Gump. What if he had accepted the role? How different would the film be? How well would the film have done at the Oscars?
I don't think it would have done as well, but then again the author of the original novel, Winston Groom, pictured John Goodman playing the character.
The original novel is terrible in comparison to the movie. One of the few times a movie based on a book completely triumphed on nearly if not on all levels to the book.
I think with Chevy, the movie would attempt to be more of a laughfest -- easy humor at Forrest's expense, etc -- and it would have lacked lots of the emotional depth. It also would have suffered a bit in that Chevy didn't have nearly the box off draw of Hanks.
I don't think it would have done as well, but then again the author of the original novel, Winston Groom, pictured John Goodman playing the character.
The author thought Forrest Gump should be played by John Goodman.
I don't think the film would've been nearly as successful as it was. I personally don't think Chevy Chase is that good of a comedic actor (possible exception being the Vacation movies) so I don't think he could've pulled off a dramatic role. It's safe to say (despite the author of the original book envisioning Forrest being played by John Goodman) that the role of Gump was made for Tom Hanks.
Even the other people they considered for the role, John Travolta and Bill Murray (at least according to Wikipedia so don't quote me on this) would've done better in the role than Chevy Chase or John Goodman for that matter.
With Chevy Chase in the lead, What film do you think would have won best picture in 1994?