Tom Hanks initially worried that audiences wouldn’t care about the character of Forrest Gump.

In a recent New Yorker Live event, the two-time Oscar winner recounted a conversation he had with director Robert Zemeckis, in which he worried that the 1994 movie would be a major flop.

“I say, ‘Hey Bob, I’ve got a question for you. Is anybody going to care about this movie?” the actor wondered, reports People. “This guy sitting on a thing in these goofy shoes and this cuckoo suit with a suitcase full of Curious George books and stuff like that. Are we doing anything here that is going to make any sense to anybody?'”

According to Hanks, Zemeckis agreed that the film was a huge risk.

“It’s a minefield, Tom,” the 66-year-old actor recalled as Zemeckis’ response. “We may be sowing the seeds of our own destruction. Any footstep we take can be a bouncing Betty that’ll blow our nuts right off.”

Hanks added that Zemeckis taught him to have “faith” in what they were shooting and worry about the rest later.

“Bob Zemeckis – God bless him, I’ve worked with him more than once – landed on the absolute truth of anybody who has gone forward and said, ‘We are going to commit something to film today, and eventually we’ll cut this into something.’ You do not know if it is going to work out. You can only have faith,” he shared.

The movie ended up winning six Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Hanks and Best Director for Zemeckis.

The duo worked together again on Cast Away, The Polar Express, and 2022’s Pinocchio.

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