“I feel good about some I gave up”: John Travolta Won in The Long Run Against Tom Hanks by Choosing $213M Cult-Classic Despite Losing $60 Million Payday

John Travolta and Tom Hanks are one of the popular stars of the 1990s however the former’s career was not always shining like the latter. While Hanks went on to become a cultural icon by starring in several big projects, Travolta saw ups and downs in his career before his career had a resurgence in the early 90s. 

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Despite sharing a similar success timeline, the duo is associated with the same project. The former chose to let go of the latter’s widely acclaimed role in Forrest Gump to star in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. 

John Travolta Was The First Choice for Tom Hanks’ Forrest Gump

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Tom Hanks is well recognized for his titular role in the 1994 film, Forrest Gump which grossed over $678.2 million worldwide becoming the top-grossing film in America that year. The film was a critical and commercial success which won 6 Oscars including Best Actor for Hanks. Entertainment Weekly revealed that the project contributed to Hanks’s $60 million payday.

However, he was not the first choice for the film as director Robert Zemeckis wanted John Travolta to play the titular role. While Hanks’ career was in the spotlight, the latter the other hand was at his bottom and needed a project that could have given him a career boost. 

Given the success Hanks’ film achieved, Travolta would have been the recipient of it had he not turned down the role. However, he chose to turn it down to star in Pulp Fiction.

John Travolta Chose Pulp Fiction Over Forrest Gump

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Leaving the Oscar-winning film, he chose to star in Quentin Tarantino’s cult classic film, Pulp Fiction. It literally turned the tide for his struggling career as he got landed an Oscar nomination for his portrayal. What’s more ironic was the fact that he was nominated against Hanks, who won his second consecutive Academy Award in 1995.

In a 2007 interview with MTV, he opened up about having regrets over turning down Forrest Gump at the time. But he knew that he got landed a great opportunity by turning down that role.

“No, because if I didn’t do something Tom Hanks did, then I did something else that was equally interesting or fun. Or if I didn’t do something Richard Gere did, I did something equally well. But I feel good about some I gave up because other careers were created.”

Hence, in the long run, Travolta’s project ended up taking over Hanks’ project. With a star-studded cast, the crime drama film was a critical and commercial success grossing $213.9 million, and later became a cult classic.

Pulp Fiction is available on Apple TV meanwhile Forrest Gump is available on Amazon Prime Video.

Source: MTv