Thelma & Louise, the Ridley Scott film that redefined feminism, won screenwriter Callie Khouri an Oscar and vaulted Brad Pitt into the public consciousness, returns to Orange County big screens for special 25th anniversary screenings Sunday and next Wednesday, Aug. 24.
It's considered one of the greatest road movies of all time as Thelma (Geena Davis) and Louise (Susan Sarandon) become accidental outlaws on the run across the Southwest after a tragic incident in a roadside bar.
Thelma & Louise is being presented by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, UK-based film distribution company Park Circus and Fathom Events, the Colorado company known for live simulcasts of high-definition content that is beamed into movie theaters across the country.
Film critic Ben Lyons introduces the film. There is a sweepstakes involved (read to the end of this post). Here's is the movie's new trailer:
More than 500 movie theaters are set to show Thelma & Louise, including AMC Orange 30, Edwards Aliso Viejo, Huntington Beach 20 at Bella Terra, Orange Stadium Promenade, Regal Irvine Spectrum and Edwards Long Beach Stadium.
Showtimes are 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday and Wednesday, Aug. 24, although double-check with your particular theater because I noticed at least one was only selling Sunday tickets for the 2 p.m. show. Tickets are mostly shown to be $12.50 but, again, check those local listings.
Fans can win the “Ultimate Road Trip” adventure by posting a selfie with the Thelma & Louise “selfie-stnadee” in participating theaters and using the hashtag #ThelmaAndLouise25. Full contest details are at FathomEvents.com/event/thelma-and-louise/more-info/sweepstakes.
Fathom also shot over these …
25 FACTS FOR 25 YEARS
1. Oscar-winning screenwriter Callie Khouri says the story came to her “in a flash” and she saw that, “through a series of accidents, they would go from being invisible to being too big for their world to contain”
2. Thelma & Louise was Callie Khouri’s first produced screenplay
3. George Clooney auditioned for the role of J.D. five times
4. Brad Pitt had unsuccessfully auditioned for Backdraft before Ridley Scott saw him audition for J.D.
5. Brad Pitt said he first became familiar with Ridley Scott when he was 15 years old and snuck in to a movie theater to see Alien
6. Geena Davis says that she had her agent call Ridley Scott every week for a year before he agreed to consider her for one of the leading roles
7. Initially, Geena Davis wanted to play the role of Louise, and had prepared for it–but in their first meeting with Susan Sarandon, both Davis and Ridley Scott say they knew she was Louise
8. Thelma & Louise takes place on the road from Arkansas to the Grand Canyon–but was filmed entirely in California and Utah
9. The “Grand Canyon” in the movie is actually Dead Horse Point State Park in Utah
10. The Oklahoma City motel where Thelma and Louise encounter J.D. still stands–in downtown Los Angeles: It’s the Vagabond Inn at 3101 S. Figueroa St.
11. Five identical 1966 Thunderbirds were used in production
12. Ridley Scott says the visual style of the film was strongly influenced by the still-life paintings of John Register
13. Thelma Dickerson’s birthday is Nov. 27, 1956–while screenwriter Callie Khouri’s real birthdate is Nov. 27, 1957
14. Charlie Sexton performs two songs in the film, “Tennessee Plates” and “Badlands,” and has a cameo as the lead singer in the band playing in the bar
15. Geena Davis planned to use a body double for her sex scene with Brad Pitt, but when she saw models being interviewed, she decided to do the scene herself
16. Susan Sarandon says of her driving experience: “I got so sick of that car–it took me weeks to stop driving like a maniac!”
17. Although the film was shot out of order (as are most films), the final scene shot was the final scene in the movie: the car going off the cliff
18. Producer Mimi Polk Gitlin said that the agreement with the film’s distributor specifically forbade changing the script’s ending
19. In addition to Callie Khouri’s Oscar-winning screenplay and nominations for Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon, Thelma & Louise was nominated for Best Director, Best Editing and Best Cinematography
20. Although he had directed such classics as Alien and Blade Runner, Thelma & Louise marked the first Oscar nomination for Ridley Scott
21. Thelma & Louise is one of only four films in which two lead performers were nominated as Best Actress; the others are All About Eve (1950), Suddenly Last Summer (1959), and Terms of Endearment (1983)
22. Thelma & Louise was a box-office hit, grossing $45 million in the U.S. (on a budget of $16.5 million)
23. Thelma & Louise has become a pop-culture touchstone, and the countless references to it include lyrics in the song “Today 4 U” in the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Rent
24. Thelma & Louise was featured on the cover of Time Magazine on June 24, 1991–exactly one month after its release
25. The American Film Institute has named Thelma Dickerson and Louise Sawyer to the list of 100 top film heroes. Together, they rank 24 … two spots above Superman.
