They're one of Hollywood's strongest and suavest bromances, but did a movie role nearly come between best buddies and frequent co-stars George Clooney and Brad Pitt? The dashing duo have starred in a whopping seven films together over the decades, serving as members of the Ocean's trilogy cast and starring in Burn After Reading, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, 8 and Touch of Evil. And they're next set to reunite for a movie with Spider-Man director Jon Watts -- an action-thriller called Wolfs that will reportedly be dropping on the 2024 movie schedule this September. All that aside though, it turns out Clooney wanted one Pitt's most famous roles.
Considering how close the two are, that had to have been a great part in order to derail the famous friendship -- and it was. Apparently, the Michael Clayton actor wanted his pal's Thelma & Louise gig. It also sounds like a lot of work went into casting the character, too. Brad Pitt's co-star, Geena Davis, recalled the auditions during an appearance on The Graham Norton Show. When the titular talk show host claimed that the actress was the reason for Pitt's breakout role as the ab-tastic cowboy-thief J.D. in the 1991 Ridley Scott film, Davis explained:
Once I was cast, it was down to four finalists for that role and they said, 'Would you read with them so we can see what you're like?' and each one came in and each one was very handsome, they all had brown hair, very talented—I didn't care who it was gonna be. And then the fourth one who comes in is Brad Pitt, and he's so charismatic and so incredibly talented that I was, like, screwing up his audition, I'd forget to say my line because I'm like, 'Wow, he's really talented!' I didn't know if they'd wanted my opinion or not but I said...'the blonde one!'
The actress -- who scored an Oscar nomination for her role as naive housewife Thelma Dickinson in the beloved road movie -- went on to reveal the other actors who were in contention for the role of J.D. along with Brad Pitt. She specifically name-dropping Dynasty actor Grant Show and Poor Things star Mark Ruffalo.
But while on an international flight from Europe back to Los Angeles, she later encountered the third man who had been up for the part. This is the story the actress relayed on the British chat show:
The third person I was sitting next to on a flight from Europe back to LA and the flight attendants met me at the door and said, 'Guess who you're sitting next to!'... And this gentleman was very friendly and great. And he finally said, 'You know, I hate Brad Pitt,' and I said, 'No, you don't. He's like a really good friend of yours.' And he said 'No, I hate him because he got the part,' and I said 'Oh, did you want the part?' and he said, 'You couldn't tell when I auditioned with you?' And it was George Clooney!
It seems like George Clooney is seemingly still smarting -- albeit jokingly -- about the slight years later. But he's in good company: Oppenheimer star Robert Downey Jr. was also in the conversation to play J.D., but Ridley Scott and the casting directors allegedly shut that down once they saw how the five-foot-eight Downey would look next to the six-foot Davis. So they opted for the nearly six-foot Pitt instead.
Thankfully, though, the friendship between Brad Pitt and George Clooney is still intact in the decades since that Thelma & Louise snub. The latter even said that his future plans include slowing down and having Pitt as his neighbor in the South of France. Until then, you'll be able to see the A-list BFFs, ironically, playing two professional fixers going after the same job when Wolfs opens in theaters on September 20, 2024. It'll also be available to stream with an Apple TV+ subscription following its theatrical run. You can stream Thelma & Louise now for free on Tubi.
