Where this was said
Thelma & Louise: Susan Sarandon and the Art of Not Apologizing
At 47:19 · chapter starts 45:00
The very first creative meeting for Thelma & Louise revealed everything. Susan Sarandon opened her script to page one and told Ridley Scott she thought they could move a line to the next scene. Just like that. No preamble, no apology, no softening. Geena sat there astonished: 'How did she just do that?' The behavior that had seemed shocking in a meeting was Sarandon's baseline on set for the entire production. Geena spent the film doing the opposite of what she'd always done — actually saying what she thought — and watching Sarandon be universally adored for it. The lesson she took away was both the simplest and the hardest of her career: you don't have to apologize for having thoughts about the work you're in.
Working with Susan Sarandon on Thelma & Louise transformed Geena Davis's professional behavior: Sarandon was the first woman she had ever seen advocate for herself without a single apology.
On the first day of Thelma & Louise, Susan Sarandon opened the script to page one and told Ridley Scott she wanted to change a line. No hedging, no apology. Geena Davis had never seen a woman do that. It rewired how she thought about herself on set — and in life.
Thelma & Louise was wildly successful — and widely condemned. A week after release, Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis appeared on the cover of Time magazine alongside editorials denouncing the film as male-bashing propaganda. Dax's take: 'You mean rapist-bashing? There's hopefully a difference between men and rapists.'
