Barry Sonnenfeld Turned Down Forrest Gump To Direct The Addams Family Sequel

Upon reflection, there couldn't be two '90s Hollywood studio films that are more opposite than Barry Sonnenfeld's "Addams Family Values" and Robert Zemeckis' "Forrest Gump." Both released in the mid-1990s (although the novel "Forrest Gump" was released a decade before making it to the big screen), the two films might represent the ends of an anarchist spectrum. On the one hand, the Addams family is a creepy bunch of murderers who live in a strange haunted mansion, and who take delight in the misery of others. They live far out on the fringe and they love it. They spray blood on people, pour boiling oil on Christmas carolers, and, in the famous climax of "Values," kill off all the counselors at a summer camp. 

"Forrest Gump," meanwhile, is a cube of American cornpone about the Rockwellian nature of old American institutions. "Forrest Gump" argues that the inside was the place to be, and by unwittingly buying into capitalism, into the military, and rejecting the hippie movement, one would achieve wealth and success. "Forrest Gump" seeks to reinforce the American status quo while wistfully smiling. "Addams Family Values" seeks to burn it down while wickedly cackling. While "Gump" would go on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, Sonnenfeld's two "Addams Family" movies more openly represent the bleak humor and dissatisfaction permeating the 1990s. 

In 2021, Sonnenfeld was interviewed by Variety on the legacy of his movies based on the comics of Charles Addams, the first of which was then celebrating its 30th anniversary. Despite the odd horror of his film, it was a big hit, and Paramount started going to Sonnenfeld for new projects. Weirdly enough, he was next asked to take on "Forrest Gump." The director reveals that he did sign on to the project but, as history attests, he eventually left to be altogether ooky.

Barry Sonnenfeld began his career as a cinematographer, having shot "Blood Simple," "Raising Arizona," and "Miller's Crossing" for the Coen brothers, as well as high-profile comedy films like "Throw Momma From the Train" and "Big." Sonnenfeld seems to have fostered warm relationships with actors he's worked with, having the wherewithal to call up Tom Hanks, who was given carte blanche to try out some wild improv in "Big," to appear in "Forrest Gump." Everything was moving forward, despite — it seems — a small amount of trepidation. As Sonnenfeld said in an interview with Variety: 

"[Producer] Gary Lucchesi had sent me this book called 'Forrest Gump' and he said read it and tell me we need to do it because 'I have eight scripts and they're all terrible.' I said, 'Let's change the main character from a big fat guy that's a really big running back to a thin guy that runs all the time and I'll send it to Hanks because I had shot "Big" with him.' I said, 'You'll probably not want to do it because it's similar to "Big" in that it's another man-child kind of thing.' Hanks loved it. He signed on, I was signed on to direct it."

The original "Forrest Gump" novel was written by Winston Groom in 1986, and the title character was originally written as a tall, imposing lummox. The character possesses a low IQ, but he also views the world practically and compassionately. "Big," meanwhile, was about a 12-year-old boy who, thanks to a magic spell, wakes up one morning having suddenly aged to his 30s. The premise isn't the same, but Sonnenfeld knew these would both be instances of Hanks playing adult characters with childlike minds.

Paramount was to release "Addams Family Values," in November of 1993. As it so happened, Sonnenfeld had made a film called "For Love or Money" which was released by Universal the previous month. "Money" starred Michael J. Fox as a hotel doorman who is asked to "look after" a wealthy client's secret mistress (Gabrielle Anwar). Naturally, Fox and Anwar's characters fall in love. "Money" was in the middle of shooting when Sonnenfeld — already planning on doing "Forrest Gump" next — heard that a sequel to "Addams" was nigh. He was torn enough to ask his lead actor for advice. As Sonnenfeld recalls: 

"[A] year and a half [after the first film], Paramount decides to make 'Addams Family Values,' so I had a choice between staying with 'Forrest Gump' or going back to the very first thing I'd ever directed. I was working ... with Michael J. Fox, and I said, 'what should I do?' Michael said, 'you set the table with "Addams Family," now you need to go have dinner.' I loved directing 'Addams Family Values.' Christina Ricci and Christine Baranski and Peter MacNicol and Joan Cusack are particularly funny in that film.

Sonnenfeld doesn't express any regrets about turning down "Forrest Gump" in the Variety interview. While "Gump" was a juggernaut at the box office (it made over $678 million worldwide), "Values" was a hit unto itself, and remains a celebrated comedy classic to this day. Sonnenfeld's film has also not undergone quite the same re-litigation as "Gump," with Zemeckis' film having been largely reassessed in recent years. Zemeckis may have won Oscars, but Sonnenfeld made the stranger, more beloved film.