Source: Entertainment Weekly

Brad Pitt beat George Clooney out for a role that helped launch his career — and neither actor will forget it anytime soon.

During an interview with U.K. outlet The Times alongside his Jay Kelly costar Adam Sandler, Clooney discussed losing a star-making role to Pitt.

“I got to the final test for a role in Thelma & Louise,” he said. “And, motherf—er, Brad got it.”

The role, of course, was J.D., the attractive young drifter who briefly romances Geena Davis’ Thelma as she distances herself from her husband Darryl (Christopher McDonald). The role marked a turning point in Pitt’s career, as he began landing key roles in films from massive Hollywood filmmakers like Robert Redford and Tony Scott shortly after its release.

Clooney, however, remained relegated to supporting roles on TV shows like the Look Who’s Talking spinoff Baby Talk and the CBS drama Bodies of Evidence for most of the early ’90s — and he maintained resentment toward Pitt for beating him out for the Thelma role.

“I didn’t watch Thelma & Louise for years,” the actor admitted, “because I was annoyed. The part launched his career in film. He was doing sitcoms and crap before, so when it was the thing that could’ve launched me? F—!!”

The Michael Clayton star said that Pitt still teases him about the Thelma & Louise rivalry.

“Oh yeah, he gives me s—,” Clooney said before admitting that the F1 star was the right person for the role. “Of course, when I saw it, I was, like, well, it had to be that guy.”

Sandler remembered witnessing Pitt’s shirtless scene in the movie with an excited crowd.

“I saw that at the cinema and when Brad took his shirt off people went nuts,” the Happy Gilmore actor recalled. “But it should have been you, Clooney.”

Davis previously remembered Clooney complaining about losing the part to Pitt in a 2016 interview with Good Morning America.

“I was on a plane next to George Clooney by happenstance. We’re chatting, and he says, ‘You know, I hate that Brad Pitt,'” the League of Their Own actress recalled. “And I said, ‘No, you don’t, he’s your friend.’ And he said, ‘No, I hate him because he got that part in Thelma & Louise.’ And I said, ‘Oh, were you interested in that part?’ He said, ‘Oh, couldn’t you tell when I read with you?’ And I said, ‘Oh.'”

Clooney and Pitt later became frequent collaborators, appearing in a multitude of projects together like 2001’s Ocean’s Eleven and its sequels Ocean’s Twelve and Ocean’s Thirteen. Clooney also directed Pitt in a small role in his directorial debut Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. In addition, the two appeared together in the Coen brothers’ Burn After Reading and Jon Watts’ caper Wolfs.

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Clooney recently said that he’ll soon star in Ocean’s Fourteen. Though there’s no official word on which cast members will join him (besides Andy Garcia), the Out of Sight actor suggested that he hopes Pitt, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts, and Don Cheadle will all come aboard.

“They’re all still really dear friends, so the chance to work together would be fun,” Clooney told E! News in October.

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