Susan Sarandon's Bold Script Notes Shocked Geena Davis on Set
A simple script meeting between two actresses revealed something profound about women speaking up in Hollywood. What happened during that conversation would change one star's entire perspective on having a voice.
Ridley Scott's 1991 road movie starring Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon broke new ground by centering two women in a genre dominated by male stories. Yet the most powerful moment didn't happen in front of cameras. It occurred during a routine script review.
Davis and Sarandon sat down to work through their scenes together. What happened next left Davis stunned. Sarandon began suggesting edits without hesitation. Cut this line. Move that dialogue to page two. This section doesn't work.
Davis recalled the moment in a 2016 conversation with Emma Watson: "So I meet Susan, and she was amazing. We sit down to go through the script. I swear, I think it was page one, she says, 'So my first line, I don't think we need that line. Or we could put it on page two. Cut this...' And I was just like... My jaw was to the ground."
The shock wasn't about bad suggestions. Sarandon's notes made sense. Davis was amazed that her co-star simply voiced her thoughts out loud.
"Because she was just saying what she thought! She was saying her opinion. Even though I was 34 or 35 or something. I was like, 'People can do that? Women can actually just say what they think?' It was an extraordinary experience to do that movie with her because every day was a lesson in how to just be yourself."
Breaking Hollywood's Male-Dominated Road Movie Formula
Late 1980s and early 1990s cinema belonged to men. Top Gun followed Maverick's journey. Rain Man tracked two brothers. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade continued Indy's adventures. Women appeared in these films but never drove the narrative.
Road movies were especially male-centric. Easy Rider and Midnight Run featured men chasing freedom and self-discovery. Women barely registered in these journeys.
This film flipped that formula completely. The story never shifts focus away from its female leads. No male character takes control. Romance doesn't hijack the plot halfway through. These women aren't supporting anyone else's story.
They're also written as complex, flawed humans. They panic, make mistakes, act impulsively and face consequences. That kind of character freedom was typically reserved for male protagonists in major studio releases.
Callie Khouri's Award-Winning Script
Screenwriter Callie Khouri crafted a script that takes time establishing both women's constrained lives through small conversations and quiet car scenes. The convenience store robbery unfolds awkwardly and messily by design, showing character transformation in real time.
Even when FBI agents enter the story, focus remains on the women. The canyon ending builds gradually rather than arriving as a shock twist.
That screenplay control earned Khouri the 1992 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. The film maintains a 7.6/10 rating on IMDb and 87% on Rotten Tomatoes.