Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.
Robin Wright has hit back at critics who branded her Forrest Gump character Jenny as “anti-feminist”, describing her relationship with the film’s title character as “the sweetest love story.”
Jenny’s arc within the film, which takes her from childhood sexual abuse through drug use to an untimely death, has been widely criticised in the 30 years since the movie came out. The Independent’s Louis Chilton included it in a recent list of the “most problematic films ever made” thanks to “the film’s puritanical slut-shaming towards Robin Wright’s Jenny.”
In a new interview with The New York Times, Wright was asked whether Jenny was “punished for her choices” and if the role is “anti-feminist.”
“No! It’s not about that,” Wright responded. “People have said she’s a Voldemort to Forrest. I wouldn’t choose that as a reference, but she was kind of selfish. 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.
“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.’ And he still takes her: ‘I’ll take care of you at Mama’s house.’ I mean, it’s the sweetest love story.”
Wright has reunited with Forrest Gump director Robert Zemeckis and star Tom Hanks for Here.
Wright and Hanks appear several decades younger as the film, which is based on Richard McGuire’s 2014 graphic novel of the same name, takes place entirely in one living room over 100 years, with the camera fixed in one position for the entire 104-minute film.
Hanks and Wright play Richard and Margaret, the couple that lives in the house from the 1960s to the present day, thanks to makeup and digital de-ageing technology.
In another interview, Zemeckis explained what drew him to the film and why the single camera approach intrigued him.
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days
New subscribers only. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days
New subscribers only. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled
“The single perspective never changes, but everything around it does,” he told Vanity Fair.
“It’s actually never been done before. There are similar scenes in very early silent movies, before the language of montage was invented. But other than that, yeah, it was a risky venture.”
Zemeckis also added that the technology can only go so far and the actors and their character work make the performances believable.
“It only works because the performances are so good,” he said.
“Both Tom and Robin understood instantly that, ‘Okay, we have to go back and channel what we were like 50 years ago or 40 years ago, and we have to bring that energy, that kind of posture, and even raise our voices higher. That kind of thing.”
