It’s 30 years since Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis drove into history in the road movie that was supposed to change everything. Pamela Hutchinson explores the legacy and enduring appeal of this Nineties classic.
"Screenplay idea: two women go on a crime spree.”
Callie Khouri was working as a production assistant for a firm in Los Angeles making ads and pop videos when she wrote this memo to herself in 1987. It was a germ of an idea, but a potent one: giving two women the kind of rule-breaking, all-action lead roles Hollywood regularly handed out to men.
As Khouri fleshed out the idea, she wrote her screenplay out by hand at home, and typed it up at work.
Thelma & Louise became one of the most talked-about films of 1991 and Khouri walked away with an Oscar, a Bafta and a Golden Globe.