Unbeknownst to most, the original script for Thelma and Louise featured two lovely ladies in the autumn of their youth bickering about the adventures they had stealing automobiles, shooting up honky-tonks and sleeping with handsome strangers.
Difficulties with the script hampered the director, however. For example, both Thelma and Louise were referred to as “the white-haired lady with bat-wing spectacles and a straw bonnet,” making for much confusion. When it came to filming, the actresses were frequently thrown off their game by props which caused them to wander from the script into reminisces of their own.
Here is a still from the time an entire day’s shooting was wasted because the actress playing Thelma kept talking about a gentleman she once robbed while playing golf. He was wearing plus-fours. As you can see, a plate of petit-fours was the likely culprit. Louise, perhaps trying to keep up, entertained her colleague’s banter by interjecting with a story of her own about a time she ended up on all fours while servicing a gas station attendant.
Still more havoc visited filming when it was discovered that one of the ladies had paid a set-hand to spike their floats with rum. Neither would own up to it and became quite belligerent, even threatening to call their SAG rep about inhumane working conditions.
Eventually, the producers decided that they had to start from scratch after watching early footage and saw that Louise had only intermittent control over her teeth. They went with Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis instead, but were so distraught by the thought of them turning into their elderly counterparts in sequel after sequel that they drove them off the Grand Canyon and into oblivion.
Home-Style Cooking, Better Homes and Gardens