This 1991 $45M Movie Launched Brad Pitt into $400M Stardom, Changed Hollywood Forever
If this movie didn’t exist, there would have been no Brad Pitt the Movie Star, and there would have been very different male beauty standards in Hollywood today.
Summary:
- Brad Pitt’s successful Hollywood career started in 1991 with Ridley Scott ’s movie.
- To this day, Pitt credits Thelma & Louise for his sudden ascent to the top of the food chain.
- Pitt’s appearance in the film dramatically changed male beauty standards in Hollywood, too.
Brad Pitt has been one of Hollywood’s most celebrated royalty for so long few people even stop to ask themselves just when his reign started. But the star actor himself knows exactly who to thank for changing his entire life — and subsequently, changing Hollywood’s standards for male beauty for decades to come, as well.
One Movie That Changed Brad Pitt’s Life
In 1990, Brad Pitt was still just one of the thousands upon thousands of unbelievably handsome but poor and unknown aspiring actors. He was scraping to find even a minor role for himself, hoping for a breakthrough… And unlike countless folks less fortunate than him, he found his. Brad Pitt credits only one movie for his success.
“[What changed my life?] Certainly, it was Ridley [Scott] and Geena [Davis] bringing me into Thelma & Louise. That was my first shot in the big leagues,” the actor told IGV.
Indeed, 1991’s Thelma & Louise was the ultimate breakthrough for Brad Pitt: an aspiring youth at the time, he used this $45M movie as the first stepping stone in building his outstanding career that led to him accumulating over $400M in net worth. But Pitt’s life wasn’t the only thing changed dramatically by Ridley Scott’s film.
One Movie That Changed Male Beauty Standards
When Thelma & Louise was released, no one knew Brad Pitt just yet — but boy did he surprise the world with his first appearance. In the era of Arnold Schwarzenegger, men were expected to be huge and monstrously muscled; but Pitt stunned viewers and critics alike with his fit and slender frame, and Hollywood’s standards changed.
“Brad Pitt took his shirt off in Thelma & Louise. Men were never the same,” The Ringer’s Manuela Lazic once wrote, perfectly describing the massive shift.
It’s safe to say that Ridley Scott’s unlikely decision to give a young unknown actor a chance to star in his upcoming flick paid off in more ways than one. Both Brad Pitt’s life and Hollywood’s expectations from men changed, and definitely for the better.
Sources: IGV via YouTube, The Ringer