Tom Hanks was not paid a traditional flat salary for his legendary performance in 'Forrest Gump', instead opting for a percentage of the film's gross receipts after the studio…

A closer look

Tom Hanks was not paid a traditional flat salary for his legendary performance in 'Forrest Gump', instead opting for a percentage of the film's gross receipts after the studio ran into major budget issues, and to keep the production afloat, Hanks and director Robert Zemeckis even paid for the iconic cross-country running sequence out of their own pockets when Paramount refused to fund it; this massive financial gamble resulted in Hanks walking away with approximately sixty million dollars, making it one of the most lucrative acting paydays in the history of cinema and perfectly demonstrating how movie studios will gladly nickel-and-dime a timeless classic to death, only to end up accidentally paying their star enough money to purchase a small island nation out of sheer corporate stinginess