by Becky Aikman
“somebody who is physically powerful”: Ibid.
“This giant walked in”: Ibid.
“Who likes her”: Ibid.
“I always felt”: “Alien at 35: Sigourney Weaver Reflects on Ridley Scott’s Masterpiece,” Hero Complex, October 6, 2014.
“muddled yet mesmerizing”: Janet Maslin, “Futuristic ‘Blade Runner,’” New York Times, June 25, 1982.
“Blade Runner was a disaster”: Author interview with Scott, 4/2/15.
“They would never take into account”: Ibid.
“No—she had a great ass”: Ibid.
CHAPTER 8: D-GIRLS
“Do you want to read it?”: Author interview with Diane Cairns, 1/30/15.
“I had youthful ignorance”: Ibid.
Only two women: Rankings of top box-office movies from Box Office Mojo, cross-referenced with data from Internet Movie Database.
“It was a no-brainer”: Author interview with Cairns, 1/30/15.
“You’re never going to be an agent”: Ibid.
“I was this cupcake”: Ibid., 1/26/15.
“I’ll scar my face”: Ibid.
“Everybody thinks”: Ibid.
“It was a complete whiff”: Ibid.
“You mean as a topless mermaid”: Author interview with Mimi Polk Gitlin, 7/22/14.
“I found the best man for the job”: Author interview with Ridley Scott, 4/2/15.
“One of the best ways”: Author interview with Polk Gitlin, 7/22/14.
“Not many scripts”: Ibid.
“Ridley is like a wizard”: Author interview with Susan Sarandon, 11/17/15.
“He’s a bull”: Stephen Galloway, Tony Scott’s Unpublished Interview: “My Family Is Everything to Me,” Hollywood Reporter, August 22, 2012.
“It was very much not my thing”: Author interview with Scott, 4/2/15.
“He was very good with women”: Ibid.
CHAPTER 9: PLAYING A DIFFERENT GAME
“I was just mad for it”: Geena Davis in The Last Journey, documentary by Charles de Lauzirika, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios video, 2002.
“These were two completely”: Author interview with Geena Davis, 7/21/14.
“Has anything changed”: Author interview with David Eidenberg, 12/15/15.
“I couldn’t see spending my life”: Holly Millea, “The Woman Who Fell to Earth,” Premiere, July 1997.
“not rapeable enough”: Author interview with Jonathan Kaplan, 3/23/15.
BEING DROP-DEAD GORGEOUS: Ben Steelman, Philadelphia Inquirer, February 23, 1989.
“It was lightning in a bottle”: Author interview with Diane Cairns, 1/28/15.
“Two girls commit murder”: Author interview with Mimi Polk Gitlin, 7/22/14.
“For guys—no problem”: Ibid.
“It was brilliantly written”: Author interview with William Gerber, 2/17/16.
“You’ve got to get in there”: Author interview with Cairns, 1/28/15.
“Thelma & Louise was a magical”: Author interview with Rebecca Pollack Parker, 2/18/15.
“Some days we had money”: Ibid.
“The other studios”: Author interview with Greg Foster, 3/24/15.
“the goal was to make”: Author interview with Pollack Parker, 11/19/14.
“Some people are great movers”: Ibid.
“He cut me loose”: Ibid.
“The next thing I knew”: Ibid.
“When I watched the women”: Ibid.
“Laddie is very, very astute”: Author interview with Ridley Scott, 4/2/15.
“I didn’t think of them”: Author interview with Alan Ladd Jr., 11/17/14.
“there were women’s pictures”: Ibid.
“It’s one of the few scripts”: Ibid.
“What can I say”: Author interviews with Cairns, 1/28/15, and Pollack Parker, 2/18/15.
CHAPTER 10: THE RIGHT MAN FOR THE JOB
“I like it”: Author interview with Ridley Scott, 4/2/15.
“But that’s the whole point”: Ibid.
“It was like a sponge”: Author interview with Callie Khouri, 8/12/14.
“daily lectures”: Ridley Scott, Audio Commentary, Thelma & Louise, DVD, MGM, 2003.
“Are you kidding me”: Author interview with Scott, 4/2/15.
A little humor, dear: Ibid.
“Shit, if I walk by”: Ibid.
“That happens to everybody”: Author interview with Khouri, 5/12/15.
“I took it mainly”: Scott, Audio Commentary.
“If you make this serious”: Author interview with Scott, 4/2/15.
“If it’s devoid of humor”: Author interview with Khouri, 2/5/15.
“It should start out”: Ibid.
“to see them become more”: Ibid.
“You’re supposed to be cutting”: Author interview with Mimi Polk Gitlin, 7/22/14.
“Callie really cared about”: Ibid.
“I liked him a lot”: Author interview with Khouri, 2/5/15.
“I respected the fact”: Author interview with Scott, 4/2/15.
“He didn’t really get it”: Ibid.
The newbie director admired: Author interview with Jeremiah Chechik, 3/12/15.
“Tony could deliver an odyssey”: Author interview with Scott, 4/2/15.
“I was totally behind”: Author interview with Jonathan Kaplan, 3/23/25.
“was irritated by it”: Author interview with Scott, 4/2/15.
Harry Hook, a Brit: Pathé Memorandum, Rebecca Pollack to Alan Ladd Jr., November 9, 1989. Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
“I’m not sure it would have”: Author interview with Scott, 4/2/15.
“She would have been”: Ibid.
“Ridley is very fair-minded”: Author interview with Sue Williams, 2/25/16.
“Because the focus”: Philip Thomas, “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun . . . ,” Empire, August 1991.
“Why not me”: Author interview with Khouri, 5/12/15.
“We’re going to get the biggest”: Ibid.
as to be “historic”: Author interview with Richard Donner, 2/26/15.
“It was a tough time”: Ibid.
“It would be up to the audience”: Ibid.
proposed that his wife, Lauren Shuler Donner: Per author interviews with Donner and Scott. In an author interview with Shuler Donner, she does not recall.
“There was always a reason why”: Author interview with Alan Ladd Jr., 11/17/14.
“If you’re a producer”: Ridley Scott in The Last Journey, documentary by Charles de Lauzirika, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios video, 2002.
CHAPTER 11: THE CURSE OF KATHERINE
“Every day, you’d hear different”: Author interview with Jonathan Kaplan, 3/23/15.
“It was a free-for-all”: Author interview with Diane Cairns, 1/28/15.
“You would have to be a complete idiot”: Author interview with David Eidenberg, 12/15/15.
misspelled as “Gina”: Various Pathé memos, including November 1, 1989, Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
But women captured only 29 percent: Richard Corliss and E. E. Bland, “Women on the Verge of Nervy Breakthrough,” Time, February 18, 1991.
“If the trend continues”: Ibid.
twenty-five years later: Mike McPhate, “Hollywood’s Inclusion Problem Extends Far Beyond Oscars,” New York Times, February 23, 2016.
With the ongoing rise of action movies: Quigley’s Top-Ten Box Office Champions (1932 to Present), quigleypublishing.com.
“There were very few women”: Author interview with Susan Sarandon, 10/21/14.
“By the time an actor was”: Author interview with Carrie Frazier, 1/23/15.
“Oh, here comes Katherine again”: Ibid
.
“Katherine is sexy”: Ibid.
They told her Cybill Shepherd: Various Pathé memos.
“it created a firestorm”: Author interview with Rebecca Pollack Parker, 11/19//14.
“He didn’t get you a hearing”: Ibid.
“Cher could have been quite good”: Author interview with Alan Ladd Jr., 11/17/14.
But Ridley didn’t think: Author interview with Ridley Scott, 4/2/15.
“To sit in a meeting with Meryl Streep”: Author interview with Pollack Parker, 2/18/15.
“I think that Meryl could”: Author interview with Ladd, 11/17/14.
“Every actress will tell you”: Bernard Weinraub, “Her Peculiar Career: Meryl Streep,” New York Times, September 8, 1994.
“You just keep rejecting people”: Author interview with Ladd, 11/17/14.
“all look and no heart”: Roger Ebert, rogerebert.com, September 22, 1989.
“I needed to step off”: Ridley Scott, Audio Commentary, Thelma & Louise, DVD, MGM, 2003.
“I’m busy and can’t do it”: Author interview with Scott, 5/4/15.
She’s bloody right: Ibid.
CHAPTER 12: WHO’S PLAYING WHOM?
“Ridley’s not known for humor”: Author interview with Jeff Berg, 2/26/15.
“I knew with Ridley”: Author interview with Callie Khouri, 5/12/15.
“But she was maybe a tad”: Author interview with Ridley Scott, 4/2/15.
“Not that she was posh”: Ibid.
“She’s still here”: Author interview with David Eidenberg, 12/15/15.
“I was attracted to Geena”: Author interview with Scott, 4/2/15.
“I had read the script”: Author interview with Geena Davis, 7/21/14.
“I need you to understand”: Ibid.
“Geena’s a tall girl”: Author interview with Scott, 4/2/15.
“Soooo”: Author interview with Davis, 7/21/14.
“You know, I’ve been listening”: Ibid.
“We will both die”: Author interview with Eidenberg, 12/15/15.
“Getting Thelma & Louise”: Author interview with Davis, 2/25/15.
“Susan has always been”: Author interview with Scott, 4/2/15.
“The contrast in”: Author interview with Brett Goldstein, 6/25/15.
“Geena and Susan are so not”: Ibid.
“I’ve always made”: Author interview with Susan Sarandon, 9/29/14.
“I thought it would”: Ibid.
“I never saw it”: Ibid.
“There are a lot of questions”: This and other quotes from this encounter come from author interviews with Sarandon and Scott.
“For a guy’s guy, Ridley”: Author interview with Goldstein, 6/25/15.
“Even though Louise”: Author interview with Sarandon, 9/29/14.
“It fit into my needs”: Ibid.
She was content: Author interview with Khouri, 5/12/15.
“Those were Ridley’s choices”: Author interview with Alan Ladd Jr., 11/17/14.
“He tended to have the most successful”: Author interview with Rebecca Pollack Parker, 2/18/15.
“If those are the actresses”: Author interview with Ladd, 11/17/14.
“Given the star power”: Author interview with Diane Cairns, 1/28/15.
CHAPTER 13: “GOOD LUCK, HONEY!”
“You don’t send girls to college”: Author interview with Geena Davis, 2/25/15.
“Youth,” she notes drily: Ibid.
“It never occurred to us”: Ibid.
Doctor Brewster kisses all the women: Tootsie. Directed by Sydney Pollack, 1982.
“I got a little tired”: Author interview with Davis, 2/25/15.
“Good luck, honey”: Ibid.
“I didn’t know how”: Ibid.
“Not that I was the go-to gal”: Author interview with Susan Sarandon, 9/29/14.
“I didn’t know actresses”: Claudia Dreifus, “The Playboy Interview: Susan Sarandon,” Playboy, May 1989.
“Acting is a profession”: Author interview with Sarandon, 9/29/14.
“Anyone who would rub lemons”: Ibid.
“This scene should be shown”: Dreifus, Playboy.
“I am very stunned and flattered”: Ibid.
“I said something dumb”: Author interview with Sarandon, 9/29/14.
“She’s the kind of person”: Author interview with Lucinda Jenney, 11/12/14.
“I don’t think I had many problems”: Author interview with Sarandon, 9/29/14.
“I’m just trying to find roles”: Lisa Schwarzbaum, “Driving Force,” Entertainment Weekly, May 21, 1991.
“The thing about having a career”: Author interview with Sarandon, 9/29/14.
“She’s always had a very strong”: Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly.
“I had all these girly ways”: Author interview with Davis, 7/21/14.
“On page one”: Ibid.
People can be like her: Ibid.
“Yeah, I have a problem”: Author interview with Sarandon, 9/29/14.
Louise has an engagement ring: Callie Khouri, Thelma and Louise, First Draft, September 1988, Ridley Scott Collection, USC Cinematic Arts Library.
“Here’s a woman”: Author interview with Sarandon, 9/29/14.
“I see your point”: Ibid.
“It’d be an interesting sex scene”: Ibid.
Are you kidding: Author interview with Davis, 7/21/14.
CHAPTER 14: A FRESH EYE ON AMERICA
“She was game and brave”: Author interview with Susan Sarandon, 9/29/14.
“European filmmakers”: Author interview with Hans Zimmer, 11/17/14.
“I like the patina”: Carl Nolte, “Obituary—John Register,” San Francisco Chronicle, April 11, 1996.
“What do you think”: This quote and the continuing conversation: author interview with Ken Haber, 10/20/14.
“It’s not going to work”: Ibid.
“In Arkansas, that’s not a good idea”: Author interview with Ridley Scott, 5/4/15.
“I wanted to show America”: Ibid.
“I love Bakersfield”: Ridley Scott, Audio Commentary, Thelma & Louise, DVD, MGM, 2003.
of top-tier stars: Budget information from Pathé memo by Mel Dellar, February 1, 1990, Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
“Have you ever seen Monument Valley”: This quote and subsequent quotes: author interview with Haber, 10/20/14.
CHAPTER 15: REAL CHARACTERS
“His friends were a certain”: Author interview with Brett Goldstein, 6/25/15.
“They didn’t give a crap”: Ibid.
“I am a very niggling caster”: Author interview with Ridley Scott, 5/4/15.
“Surprise me”: Richard Sandomir, “Seeking Ms. Right in Throngs of Ms. Wrongs,” New York Times, November 24, 1991.
TV’s The Mod Squad: Lists of actors considered for roles from 1990 audition schedules provided by Ira Belgrade.
“It was about women, in a real way”: Author interview with Harvey Keitel, 3/6/15.
“The perception of Harvey”: Author interview with Scott, 5/4/15.
“He’s a very sensitive man”: Ridley Scott, Audio Commentary, Thelma & Louise, DVD, MGM, 2003.
“Why don’t you ever cast me”: Author interview with Scott, 5/4/15.
“You’re going to have to”: Ibid.
“That’s cool”: Scott, Audio Commentary.
“Stop fucking about it”: Sheila Weller, “The Ride of a Lifetime,” Vanity Fair, February 10, 2012.
“We need to accept”: Philip Thomas, “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun . . . ,” Empire, August 1991.
“Do you know how hard”: Author interview with Ira Belgrade, 6/30/15.
“He is the funnies
t guy”: Author interview with Geena Davis, 7/21/14.
I’d have to take whatever: Author interview with Chris McDonald, 10/28/14.
“I knew this woman was stuck”: Ibid.
“I wanted somebody”: Scott, Audio Commentary.
“Give Madsen a gun”: Author interview with Michael Madsen, 11/11/14.
“I don’t want to play Harlan”: This quote and following conversation: author interview with Madsen, 11/11/14.
“There’s a touch of Elvis Presley”: Author interview with Scott, 5/4/15.
“If I had known how many times”: Author interview with Madsen, 11/11/14.
“A lot of what she went on about”: Ibid.
“He certainly was”: Author interview with Susan Sarandon, 9/29/14.
“Susan’s the kind of girl”: Author interview with Madsen, 11/11/14.
CHAPTER 16: “THE BLOND ONE!”
“Dangerously sexy”: Author interview with Ira Belgrade, 6/30/15.
“He made the biggest classic mistake”: Ibid.
“not bad-boyish enough”: Ibid.
“I don’t know who besides Lou”: Author interview with Brett Goldstein, 6/25/15.
“What’s with the toothpick”: 1990 audition tapes from the collection of Ira Belgrade.
“You would never in a million”: Author interview with Belgrade, 6/30/15.
“He could play the kind of guy”: Author interview with Callie Khouri, 2/5/15.
“It was hotter”: Ibid.
“was the best script I’ve ever read”: Kathryn Shattuck, “Back to the ’70s to Find Relief from the ’90s,” New York Times, August 3, 2008.
“Hey, Ira”: Author interview with Belgrade, 6/30/15.
“Whoever nails the hair dryer scene”: Ibid.
“They were all handsome”: Author interview with Geena Davis, 7/21/14.
“I want to see a real sociopath”: Brad Pitt in The Last Journey, documentary by Charles de Lauzirika, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios video, 2002.
I’m just a guy: This and following quotes from Callie Khouri, Thelma & Louise, Second Draft, April 4, 1990, Ridley Scott Collection, USC Library of Cinematic Arts.
“Oh!” she exclaimed: This quote and the following quotes: author interview with Davis, 7/21/14.
“Here was this kid”: Richard Sandomir, “Seeking Ms. Right in Throngs of Ms. Wrongs,” New York Times, November 24, 1991.