Who could have played a better Gump?

It's always been rumored that Bill Murray was "considered" for the role, though he says he was never offered it, nor did he ever have any serious conversations with the producers or director about it. I think I could see him playing the role, but nowhere near as well as Hanks. Maybe that's just because of how good he was in What About Bob?.

Baldwin couldn't pull off the warmth, kindness, and innocence of Forrest.

Willis would have been and absolute disaster.

Joe Biden

Dustin Hoffman!

But the problem with this movie is they needed a teenage Gump. Hanks is way too old in those scenes of him running from the dudes in the truck.

Still one of my favorite movies but it's hard to watch older people playing teenagers.

Plus, Hoffman would have probably turned this role down because he wouldn't have wanted to get type-casted as a person with mental disabilities. He was great in Rain Man though. If you like FG but haven't seen RM, I would highly recommend it.

What do you think about Edward Norton as Forrest?

Johnny Depp

Billy Bob Thornton playing Karl Childers playing Forrest Gimp. That would rock.

Randy quaid.

Nobody would have played it better than Tom Hanks. However, if Hanks wasn't cast as Gump, the only two other actors that I could see remotely pulling it off would either be Mel Gibson or (bear with me on this one since he stinks to high Heaven now) possibly Nic Cage. Cage was riding a big time high in the 90's.

That being said, neither Mel Gibson or Nic Cage would be even close to as good as Hanks' portrayal, but I do think both of them would have done an at least acceptable job. Tom Hanks as Gump is one of those absolutely perfecting castings in movie history.