Stupid Is as Stupid Does - The Unlikely Journey of a Producer on Forrest Gump

Steve Starkey, Tom Hanks

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English

Sand Point Press
01 August 2024

Electronic, holographic & video art; Film movie production: technical skills; Biography: arts & entertainment

In the summer of 1993, an army of filmmakers arrived in the Lowcountry of South Carolina and began work on the groundbreaking film Forrest Gump. Led by visionary director Robert Zemeckis and the extraordinary Tom Hanks, the team didn't know at the time that the film would make cinematic history. They were challenged by the complicated details of the production on a movie that depicted a turbulent time in American history in places that ranged from backroads of South Carolina and the bayous of Louisiana to the jungles of Vietnam and the Washington, D.C., Mall. In these pages, Steve Starkey, one of the producers of the film, takes you behind the scenes and shares his memories of the unlikely journey to make the Oscar-winning film.

Beginning when his filmmaking partner, Robert Zemeckis, dropped the script on his desk and continuing to the film's release to critical and popular success, Starkey reveals the magic of the filmmaking process: discovering the locations for the film, including the Gump house; figuring out how to shoot Gump's transcontinental runs; and, especially, creating the extraordinary visual effects that, among other things, allowed Forrest to interact with several presidents of the United States.

He also relates the difficulties of working with Paramount Pictures, a reluctant partner on the film, and how the filmmaking team was eventually able to overcome all obstacles and make the film of their dreams. Illustrated by a large number of film stills taken during the making of the film, Stupid Is as Stupid Does brings to life an iconic, beloved movie.

By: Steve Starkey
Foreword by: Tom Hanks
Imprint: Sand Point Press
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 17mm
Weight: 458g
ISBN: 9798218975166
Pages: 252
Publication Date: 01 August 2024
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Academy Award-winning producer Steve Starkey is a longtime collaborator with legendary filmmaker Robert Zemeckis. After producing Death Becomes Her, his first film with Zemeckis, Starkey went on to produce and win the Academy Award for Best Picture on the film Forrest Gump. Following their film Contact, Zemeckis and Starkey formed the company ImageMovers with agent Jack Rapke. The first of their distinctive films with the new company included What Lies Beneath and Cast Away. After producing The Polar Express, Beowulf, and Monster House, the first feature-length films using motion-capture technology, Zemeckis, Rapke, and Starkey launched a company at Disney, Imagemovers Digital, to make feature films using that technology. A Christmas Carol and Mars Needs Moms were made under their new banner. During this time, Starkey produced films for a number of other directors, including Matchstick Men with Ridley Scott and The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio with Jane Anderson. Returning to live-action filmmaking, Zemeckis and Starkey continued their collaboration on Flight, The Walk, Allied, and Welcome to Marwen.Starkey is also the author of Breaking & Entering: The Education of a Film Producer.

Reviews for Stupid Is as Stupid Does - The Unlikely Journey of a Producer on Forrest Gump

When I think back on the making of Forrest Gump, my mind swirls in disbelief at what I and the film company went through to get that movie done. In order to get the cross-country run on film, we worked 27 days in a row. The show was relentless, but we got through it and maybe got a little bruised in the process, but, at the end of the day, we made the film we set out to make. -Tom Hanks Many of the amusing stories that Starkey tells in his trip down memory lane I had completely forgotten about. All I tend to remember about the shooting of the film was how hard it was. When I think back on the shots he describes, I remember my fears of having bumps in a camera move or if the shot was in focus. Steve's book is a look behind the curtain-an enjoyable firsthand account of the making of Forrest Gump. -Robert Zemeckis