“You shoot off a guy’s head with his pants down, believe me, Texas ain’t the place you want to get caught.”

– Louise Sawyer (Susan Sarandon), Thelma & Louise, written by Callie Khouri

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi2wYh-9RJs]

There’s a great story I remember reading about Thelma & Louise. Through that six-degrees-of-separation thing, Khouri managed to get the script to director Ridley Scott. She got a phone call from his assistant, wanting to meet Khouri. You can imagine how nervous Khouri probably was because this was her first professional intersection with Hollywood. She shows up for the meeting. She’s escorted into Scott’s office. Scott looks up at her and the very first thing he says is, “Well, straight off, I want you to know, the ending stays.” Khouri knew right then that Scott ‘got’ Thelma & Louise because he understood the reasoning behind the controversial ending — where the two lead characters drive off a cliff to their death. And, of course, the ending did stay.