Forrest Gump: Tom Hanks' accent origins revealed in new interview

In a new interview on The Graham Norton Show, Tom Hanks revealed the origin of his famous accent in Forrest Gump, a film for which he’s still recognized today.

The Oscar winner recollected his time working with Michael Conner Humphreys, who portrayed the younger version of Forrest. Director Robert Zemeckis had a problem teaching the child actor how to break his accent, so Hanks concluded he should speak more like Humphreys.

“Somewhere I have cassettes, hours and hours of me just making chit chat with a very young Michael Conner Humphreys,” he said. “He was 7, 8 years old. He was a young man and that was the vernacular that we spoke in and that was priceless.” Watch video of Hanks’ interview below, and skip to around the 50-second mark to hear him replicate the hard “G” sound.

Cut to the present and Hanks is working on the next sequel to another iconic property. He said Pixar is working on Toy Story 4 right now, and he has a recording session on Dec. 2. “It’s very hard work animating these films,” Hanks said. “The recording sessions go on for 4 or 5 hours, so I always come out of recording Toy Story sessions…my diaphragm gets a workout.”

Toy Story 4 is scheduled for release on Jun. 15, 2018.