Did Geena Davis Really Have A Secret Fling With Brad Pitt While Filming Thelma & Louise?
Highlights
- Brad Pitt's step forward position in Thelma & Louise catapulted him into Hollywood stardom, in spite of dealing with competition from other actors.
- Geena Davis was once in an instant captivated via Pitt's attraction all through their audition, leading to intense on-screen chemistry between them.
- Pitt and Davis's on-screen connection translated into a real-life romance, which they controlled to keep hidden because of their modest life at the time.
With over 30 blockbusters in his repertoire, Brad Pitt reigns preferrred among the most bankable stars in Hollywood. But earlier than he may just turn into a field administrative center phenomenon, the ageless heartthrob had to settle for a less than lucrative, albeit career-altering role in Ridley Scott’s 1991 cult classic, Thelma & Louise.
Triumphing over heavyweights like George Clooney and Robert Downey, Pitt secured the position of J.D., Thelma’s (Geena Davis) enigmatic love passion within the film. As the cameras rolled, sparks flew between the twosome’s on-screen personas, leaving audiences questioning if their chemistry prolonged beyond the silver screen. So, did Pitt one way or the other arrange to thieve Thelma’s heart in genuine lifestyles too?
Thelma & Louise Was Brad Pitt’s Breakout Movie Role
Released in 1991, Ridley Scott's Thelma & Louise is famend for its strong feminine leads and resonant feminist subject matters. The film, which has since grow to be a cult classic, additionally marked Hollywood heartthrob Brad Pitt’s access into the big leagues. However, then a Hollywood newcomer, Pitt wasn't exactly a top contender for the role of sexy hitchhiker, J.D.
“I simply idea, I’m the man for this,” he told W Magazine in January 2023. “But they went through a couple of alternative actors. I didn’t get the phase at first, after which it came again around, and I didn’t get it again, and I went, “Huh. All right. Moving on.” And then it came back round again. I think adore it was thrice.”
It wasn’t till his audition with Geena Davis, who portrayed Thelma in the film, that the scales really tipped in his choose. “Each of them had been very good-looking,” Davis stated of her chemistry reads with the 5 peak contenders for the function of horny hitchhiker J.D. all over a 2022 look on The Graham Norton Show. “They all had brown hair and had been very proficient. I didn’t care who it was once going to be.”
Enter a 28-year-old Brad Pitt, whose iconic just right appears had Davis so gobsmacked, she had trouble maintaining her composure all through the audition. “I did effective with the primary few guys,” she admitted to Vanity Fair in 2011. “But the final one [Pitt] used to be so lovely I kept messing up my traces. I’m loss of life because I’m considering, ‘He’s nice, and I’m ruining his audition.’ I stored saying, ‘I’m so sorry!’ But he’s so sit back: ‘Hey, don’t concern about it. It’s all excellent.’”
So taken was the actress with Pitt, she failed to note she’d auditioned with but any other long run Hollywood heartthrob. “I was sitting on a aircraft next to George Clooney a couple years in the past,” she informed Access Hollywood in 2015.
“He says, 'I'm still mad at Brad Pitt.' I mentioned, 'Why, I thought he was once like your nice friend.' He says, 'He got the section in Thelma & Louise.' I stated, 'Did you need to be that section?'" Turns out Clooney had been one of the other four guys Davis had auditioned with. "He was once one of the different guys that learn with me!" she said. "I will have to by no means have just admitted I forgot George Clooney."
And it wasn’t just Davis who had a great time at the audition. “The read was a delight,” Pitt admitted to Vanity Fair in 2011. “Geena was incredibly disarming and playful as an actor. Rid was kind and to the point.”
Geena Davis And Brad Pitt Had Intense Chemistry On Thelma & Louise
After the electrifying audition, Davis knew exactly whom the role of J.D. should go to. “Lou and Ridley were talking about the other guys: ‘This one had a certain roughness. That one had a good look.’ They're not mentioning the last one!,” Davis recalled during her interview with Vanity Fair. “So I said, ‘Can I say something?’ And they're ‘Of course.’ I said, ‘The blond one. Duh!’”
The then 35-year-old kept gunning for Pitt, heedless of their seven-year age difference. “They then cast Brad Pitt to be my sort of…. love interest, and it wasn’t actually because he was younger,” she admitted during an appearance on the Allison Interviews podcast.
“They didn’t purposely try to cast someone younger than me. He just gave the best audition and he was the best choice. But I thought that was pretty cool. He’s only, like, seven years younger than me, but I thought that was quite cool that they did that.”
Davis' instincts turned out to be spot on, as sparks flew between the duo on screen, resulting in some pretty steamy NSFW scenes. “Geena [Davis] was so sweet and kind and delicate,” Pitt would later reveal to W Magazine. “That love scene, I think, went on for two days of shooting. She took care of me.”
Did Geena Davis And Brad Pitt Have A Secret Fling After Thelma & Louise?
The sizzling on-screen chemistry between Brad Pitt’s J.D. and Geena Davis’ Thelma fueled endless speculation about a possible off-screen romance. As it turns out, this assumption was spot-on!
The duo’s undeniable on-screen connection sparked a real-life romance, with Pitt frequently sneaking off to go visit Davis long after production had concluded. Then in the limelight, Davis had qualms about visiting Pitt, who was living in a frat-like North Hollywood apartment with a bunch of other struggling actors at the time.
Given Pitt’s immense star power and the longstanding fascination surrounding his love life, one might wonder how he and Davis managed to keep their fling hidden. However, as revealed by Beverly Hills 90210 star, Jason Priestley, in a 2014 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Pitt was then just another “unemployed couch surfer,” a far cry from the mega star we all know today. “We lived on ramen noodles and generic beer — the kind that came in white cans labeled BEER — and Marlboro Light cigarettes,” Priestley revealed. “We were all broke.”
Tragically, Davis and Pitt's relationship didn't manage to go the distance. However, unlike Thelma, who undoubtedly felt jilted after J.D ran off with her money, Davis still holds Pitt in high regard. “[Brad Pitt] just has ‘it,’” she gushed to People amid Pitt’s 2022 Oscar win. “He has completed so many incredible issues over the years. I don’t suppose that it is strange for him to be commemorated. He really is the ‘famous person’ of the instant, which is fabulous, and it is just nice to see.”
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