Robin Wright is addressing some long-standing backlash to her Forrest Gump character.
While Wright, 58, and her costar Tom Hanks spoke with The New York Times about their new movie Here in an interview published Friday, Nov. 1, the actress was asked to comment on the notion that she played “kind of an anti-feminist role” in the movie.
“No! It’s not about that. People have said she’s a Voldemort to Forrest. I wouldn’t choose that as a reference, but she was kind of selfish,” Wright said. In Forrest Gump, Wright portrays Jenny, the title character’s childhood friend whom he remains in love with throughout the movie. Forrest Gump traces the characters’ lives over many decades. They cross paths multiple times as adults, eventually welcoming a child together before Jenny grows terminally ill.
“I don’t think it’s a punishment that she gets AIDS. She was so promiscuous — that was the selfishness that she did to Forrest,” Wright added. “He was in love with her from Day 1. And she was just flighty and running and doing coke and hooking up with a Black Panther. And then she gets sick and says, ‘This is your child. But I’m dying.’
Robin Wright and Tom Hanks in 1994’s Forrest Gump.
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The relationship between Forrest and Jenny in Forrest Gump, one of Hanks and Wright’s most recognizable films, has remained a major point of discussion in the three decades since it released in 1994.
“And he still takes her: ‘I’ll take care of you at Mama’s house,’ ” Wright recalled. The movie ends as Forrest cares for Jenny until her death and takes their son to his first day of school. “I mean, it’s the sweetest love story.”
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Forrest Gump is considered one of the best movies of the 20th century. It won six Academy Awards at the 67th Oscars, including the Best Picture award and Hanks’ victory in the Best Actor category.
“It’s a movie that I will always feel sentimental about, not only because it’s a great movie,” Wright told the Times of the film elsewhere in the interview. “Sentimental working with these guys because it was such a great experience.”
Robin Wright in 1994’s Forrest Gump.
Moviestore/Shutterstock
30 years after Forrest Gump popularized lines like “Run, Forrest, run!” and “Life is like a box of chocolates,” Wright and Hanks reunited with the movie’s director Robert Zemeckis for Here, which makes a novel approach in telling its story by rooting its camera in one space to tell a story that spans most of history.
Here is in theaters now.
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