<\/p>\n
George Clooney<\/a><\/strong> has no shortage of iconic roles under his belt \u2014 Dr. Doug Ross in ER, Danny Ocean in Ocean\u2019s Eleven, and a slew of prestige films and career-defining performances. But even mega-stars have their \u201cwhat if\u201d moments, and Clooney just revealed his biggest one. While promoting his new film Jay Kelly alongside co-star Adam Sandler<\/a><\/strong>, the actor opened up about the one Hollywood sliding-doors moment that stung for years: Losing the breakout role in Thelma & Louise\u2026 to none other than his future bestie, Brad Pitt<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n And he\u2019s not sugarcoating it.<\/p>\n Clooney set the scene during his interview with The Sunday Times<\/a> with total candor. \u201cSo, I was in TV,\u201d he began, reportedly using his signature gravelly voice to tell the tale. He was working steadily and making a good living, but in the early \u201990s, television actors were desperate to cross over into film prestige, and Clooney was absolutely one of them. \u201cBack then actors would say, \u2018Well, I\u2019m a film actor \u2014 I just happen to be doing TV.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Although it sounds “snooty” now, at the time, that distinction mattered. Clooney wanted the big screen. He wanted leading-man roles. And he came painfully close.<\/p>\n \u201cI got to the final test for a role in Thelma & Louise,\u201d he recalls of Ridley Scott<\/strong>\u2019s 1991 classic. It was a breakout role for a young wannabe Hollywood star \u2014 the charismatic, sexy drifter who steals Geena Davis<\/strong>\u2019s heart and launches the movie\u2019s most iconic sequence. \u201cAnd, mother****er, Brad got it.\u201d<\/p>\n Yes, that Brad \u2014 Brad Pitt<\/strong>, who would go on to become Clooney\u2019s longtime friend, partner-in-pranks, and eventual co-star in the Ocean\u2019s franchise (with Ocean\u2019s 14<\/a> officially in the works for next year). But back then? Clooney admits the loss cut deep.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t watch Thelma & Louise for years,\u201d he admits. \u201cBecause 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\u2019ve launched me? F***!\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to imagine the famously self-effacing Clooney holding a grudge, but this one left a mark for quite a while.<\/p>\n \ud83c\udfac\u00a0SIGN UP for Parade\u2019s Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox<\/a>\u00a0\ud83c\udfac<\/strong><\/p>\n But even though Clooney admits he stayed \u201cannoyed\u201d for years, he eventually came around. He says he avoided watching Thelma & Louise because the role had been such a missed opportunity, as it ended up launching Pitt\u2019s film career at a moment when Clooney himself was desperate to break into movies<\/a>.<\/p>\n Pitt, he confirms, knows all about it. \u201cOh yeah, he gives me shit,\u201d Clooney says, noting that his friend hasn\u2019t let him forget how that casting decision reshaped both of their early careers.<\/p>\n Still, when Clooney finally did watch the film, any lingering frustration lifted. As he puts it, \u201cwhen I saw it, I was, like, well it had to be that guy.\u201d And with Clooney and Pitt set to reunite in Ocean\u2019s 14 next year, the whole story now reads less like a career heartbreak and more like one of the early plot points in a long, intertwined friendship<\/a>.<\/p>\n Related: George Clooney Pokes Fun at His Iconic ’80s Haircut: ‘Look at That Hair’<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n This story was originally published by Parade<\/a> on Nov 30, 2025, where it first appeared in the News<\/a> section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" George Clooney has no shortage of iconic roles under his belt \u2014 Dr. Doug Ross in ER, Danny Ocean in Ocean\u2019s Eleven, and a slew of prestige films and career-defining performances. But even mega-stars have their \u201cwhat if\u201d moments, and Clooney just revealed his biggest one. While promoting his new film Jay Kelly alongside co-star […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2182307,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[25825,367766,346877,32720,345806,411450],"class_list":["post-2182306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-brad-pitt","tag-breakout-role","tag-danny-ocean","tag-george-clooney","tag-oceans-eleven","tag-thelma-louise"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/George-Clooney-Admits-the-One-Brad-Pitt-Role-That-\u2018Annoyed.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2182306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2182306"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2182306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2182308,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2182306\/revisions\/2182308"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2182307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2182306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2182306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2182306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Role That Got Away<\/h2>\n
From Annoyance to Acceptance<\/h2>\n