The Tom Hanks movie that frustrated Quentin Tarantino: “It’s really annoying”
As one of the most unanimously beloved stars in Hollywood, there can’t be too many people who’ve found themselves seething at the mere thought of Tom Hanks, but Quentin Tarantino was among that number when the actor kept thwarting his dreams of cinematic domination at every turn.
In fact, if it wasn’t for Hanks, then Tarantino would have been responsible for not only the most talked-about film of 1994 but the movie with the greatest chance of sweeping the board at virtually every major awards ceremony on the calendar. Pulp Fiction did alright, but it was no Forrest Gump.
In any other year, being the writer and director responsible for changing the entire complexion of independent and American cinema at large with a labyrinthine instant classic would be the single most notable release to hit cinemas in a calendar idea, but Hanks and Robert Zemeckis had other ideas.
Pulp Fiction found itself competing directly against Forrest Gump at the Academy Awards in the ‘Best Picture’, ‘Best Director’, ‘Best Supporting Actor’, and ‘Best Editing’ categories. Of those four, Zemeckis’ fantastical drama won three of them, with neither of them emerging victorious in the supporting actor race when Ed Wood‘s Martin Landau defeated Samuel L. Jackson and Gary Sinise.
Fortunately for Tarantino, they were kept apart in the writing shortlists, with Pulp Fiction‘s only Oscar coming for ‘Best Original Screenplay’. Clearly, the Academy hugely favoured Forrest Gump, but it was an entirely different story at the MTV Movie Awards, where the winners are decided by a vote held amongst the general public.
At that gala, Pulp Fiction finally got the edge over Forrest Gump when it was named ‘Best Movie’, leaving Tarantino to channel Dennis Hopper’s Speed villain in his acceptance speech. “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,” he said. “What do you do? You go to the MTV Movie Awards!”
Fast forward three decades, and a Tarantino flick still hasn’t won him those elusive Oscars for ‘Best Picture’ or ‘Best Director’, and as he admitted to The Guardian, it may never happen at all because he can’t see a situation arising where he’ll be in a better position to do it than the one he found himself in with Pulp Fiction.
“Look, I don’t know if I will ever win a ‘Best Director’ award, because I think the closest I ever came to having a movie that would have a sweep, was probably Pulp Fiction,” Tarantino confessed. “I don’t know if I’m ever going to do a movie that’s going to have this big sweep that goes through all the awards.”
He’s only got one feature left, too, so if his swansong doesn’t end up netting him one of the two most prestigious prizes the industry has to offer, Tarantino’s desire to safeguard his own legacy will be missing a major accolade.