It turned traditional 'buddy movie' tropes on their head to pass the Bechdel Test with flying colours and become one of the best loved films of all time, but according to its star Susan Sarandon, Thelma and Louise just wouldn't get made today, thanks to sexist attitudes in Hollywood.
Speaking at Kering's Women In Motion event at the Cannes Film Festival, Sarandon asserted that if the iconic film was pitched to a major studio today, it would most likely be turned into 'an animation.'
'I don’t think the studios have had an epiphany about women in film, because after Thelma & Louise, it didn’t happen. And that movie made a lot of money,' added Sarandon, who played Louise in the 1991 film.
Her co-star Geena Davis added, 'The thing about film is it can change overnight. It isn’t like real life, where it takes so long to get women to be half of Congress or boards or CEOs. The next movie somebody makes can be gender balanced. We don’t have to sneak up on it, just do it.'
When quizzed further on Hollywood's gender problem, Sarandon explained 'There are still many more male executives making these decisions. Hollywood has become more and more corporate [...] Whereas women can see a woman or a man in a leading role, I don't think it's as easy for a guy to see a woman in a leading role and say "I'll get behind that." I think it's a cultural thing, and that's part of what slows it down: a lack of imagination on the part of men.'
While the film - which earned Sarandon and Davis an Academy Award nomination apiece - has since been hailed as a feminist classic, the leading actresses didn't necessarily view it as such at the time. 'When we were making it, we weren’t making a feminist film – we were making a buddy film,' Sarandon explained.
'Nobody making it had any idea that it was going to strike a nerve the way it did,' agreed Davis, who now heads up her own research organisation dedicated to improving gender representation in the media. 'It caused a big stir that we were totally unprepared for. But it was fun.'
READ MORE: Natalie Portman: 'Women In Hollywood Still Have A Long Way To Go'