FORREST GUMP to be screened at UAlbany on Friday, October 20, 2017

ALBANY, NY (10/18/2017) (readMedia)-- Can you imagine John Travolta as Forrest Gump? Travolta was the original choice to play the title role, but turned it down for the role of Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction.

FORREST GUMP (United States, 1994, 142 minutes, color, directed by Robert Zemeckis) will be shown 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 20, in Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue on the University at Albany's downtown campus. Admission is free.

Sponsored by the New York State Writers Institute, FORREST GUMP is being shown in conjunction with the upcoming appearance of photographer Phillip Caruso at the University at Albany, who was the still photographer for the film and ranks it as one of his favorites. Caruso will discuss 'The Art of Still Photography on the Movie Set' at 7:30 p.m. Friday, December 1, at Page Hall.

Based on the 1986 nonfiction book of the same name by Winston Groom, FORREST GUMP was the top-grossing film in North America released in 1994, and won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Tom Hanks, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Film Editing. Along with Hanks, FORREST GUMP actors include Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Mykelti Williamson, and Sally Field.

In her New York Times review, Janet Maslin wrote, "Luckily, 'Forrest Gump' has Tom Hanks, the only major American movie star who could have played Forrest without condescension and without succumbing to the film's Pollyanna-ish tone." Roger Ebert calls FORREST GUMP a 'magical film,' and writes, "The movie is more of a meditation on our times, as seen through the eyes of a man who lacks cynicism and takes things for exactly what they are. Watch him carefully and you will understand why some people are criticized for being 'too clever by half.' Forrest is clever by just exactly enough."

In 2011, the Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

For additional information on the film, visit the Institute's website at www.nyswritersinstitute.org or call 518-442-5620.

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