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Actor says his ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ co-star still teases him about it
Jacob StolworthySunday 30 November 2025 09:47 GMTComments
CloseJay Kelly’s George Clooney on his favourite movie memories
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George Clooney has revealed he’s still annoyed that Brad Pitt beat him to a 1990s movie role.
The Hollywood stars were both on the cusp of film stardom in the late 1980s and would often audition for the same roles, but Pitt hit the big time first after scoring a role in Thelma & Louise.
Clooney, who is close friends with Pitt, has now admitted to feeling frustrated as he got to the final test for a role in Ridley Scott’s 1991 drama starring Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis.
“So, I was in TV,” he told The Times. “I was making a good living, but back then, actors would say, ‘Well, I’m a film actor – I just happen to be doing TV. And I got to the final test for a role in Thelma & Louise. And, motherf***er, Brad got it.”
Clooney, who can next be seen in Noah Baumbach’s Jay Kelly, said he didn’t watch Thelma & Louise for years because he was annoyed.
“The part launched his career in film,” the actor continued. “He was doing sitcoms and crap before, so when it was the thing that could’ve launched me? F***!”
According to Clooney, his Ocean’s Eleven co-star Pitt still teases him about it.
“He gives me s***. But, of course, when I saw it, I was, like, well, it had to be that guy.”
open image in galleryGeorge Clooney and Brad Pitt have been friends for decades (Getty Images)In the film, Pitt played JD, a charming drifter who briefly seduces Thelma (Davis) and later robs her. The actor recently admitted to feeling starstruck upon meeting the film’s lead stars, but said he ‘got over it quickly”.
Before Thelma & Louise, Pitt had a non-speaking part as a waiter in the cop film No Man’s Land, written by TV producing maestro Dick Wolf (Law & Order).
At the time, he had yet to be permitted into the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) – a membership that requires you to have had at least one speaking part. With this in mind, Pitt, in a decision that “still haunts” him to this day, ad-libbed a line during the scene.
“The whole game was, how do you get your SAG card? Because you can’t get a job if you don’t have your SAG card, but you can’t get your SAG card unless you’ve had a job. It’s this catch-22,” he said on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast.
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open image in galleryBrad Pitt in 'Thelma & Louise', his breakout role (MGM)“Like a jackass, they’re doing the scene. I get to the last actor, and she seemed lower on the totem pole, maybe,” Pitt said. “And, literally, the scene is going on, I pour her champagne and I go, ‘Would you like anything else?’ It was ‘CUT! CUT! CUT!’”
The actor was scolded by the Assistant Director, who ran over to tell him, “You do that again, you’re out of here.”
It would take Vlooney another three years to earn his flowers after scoring the role of Doug Ross in hit medical show ER, which propelled him to fame.
Film roles in From Dusk till Dawn, One Fine Day, Batman & Robin and Out of Sight soon followed. The actor will reunite with Pitt for a fourth Ocean’s film, titled Ocean’s 14, set to be filmed next year.
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