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8 Facts About 'Thelma And Louise' That Will Make You Want To Let Your Hair Down

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For more than 27 years, Thelma and Louise has entertained audiences across the globe.

The road film was dubbed as one of the strongest feminist movies of the decade, and was noted for it's brilliant acting and incredible soundtrack. But while audiences may have fully enjoyed Thelma and Louise's antics, only true fans would know what really went on behind the scenes.

Here are eight facts about Thelma and Louise that'll make you say the code word "peaches."

1. Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis weren't the first choices for the lead roles

Among the top contenders were Jodie Foster, Michelle Pfeiffer, Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn, and Holly Hunter.

2. George Clooney auditioned five times to play J.D.

The famed actor ended up losing the part to his close friend, Brad Pitt.

“I didn’t watch that movie for a long time,” Clooney said during an interview at the Telluride Film Festival. “I was really stuck doing a lot of bad TV at that time. And I had auditioned and auditioned, and it got right down to Brad and I, and he got it. And I just couldn’t watch that movie for a couple of years... When I saw it, I thought actually that was the right choice. [Brad] was really good in it, and I would have f***ed it up somehow."

3. Brad Pitt was only paid $6,000 for his supporting role

While Pitt only made $6,000 on the 1991 film, he would later earn $10 million for his role as Michael in Barry Levinson's Sleepers.

4. The cast wasn't always sober

"We asked the prop guy, 'Do you have any real tequila? Because it’s easier to act if we taste alcohol.' So we pounded back quite a few, and we’re laughing between takes and both feeling, 'We're so drunk! This is great!'" Davis said.

5. Davis wanted to be Louise, instead of Thelma

Davis wanted the part of Louise so badly, she had her agent call the film's director, Ridley Scott, every week for a year, so she could persuade him to give her the role. But then she met Sarandon.

"Pretty much the second Susan walked in the room, I was [like], 'Are you kidding that I could play Louise?' Susan was so self-possessed, so centered and together," Davis said.

6. Davis was Darryl's fiancee in real life

Actor Christopher McDonald, who played Thelma’s controlling and disrespectful husband Darryl, was actually Davis's real-life ex-fiance. When asked about the pair's professional reunion, McDonald said, it was "really cathartic" in a 1992 interview.

7. Sarandron was amendment the ending wouldn't change

Scott wanted to change the film's iconic ending, where Louise would push Thelma out of the car before it plunged into the Grand Canyon. However, Sarandron was adamant the ending was the same as screenwriter Callie Khouri's original script.

"I think by then we had earned that ending," Sarandon told Entertainment Weekly in 2011.

8. There was an alternative ending

Fans who owned the DVD copy learned Ridley had actually filmed an alternative ending of Thelma and Louise, where the Thunderbird would descend into the canyon to B.B. King’s "Better Not Look Down."

What were you surprised to learn about the making of Thelma and Louise?

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