Crossing over to the light side

“Thelma & Louise,” Callie Khouri’s screenplay for the 1991 film about two friends on the road who embark on a journey of unlikely self-discovery, wound up winning the Hollywood newcomer the Oscar, the Golden Globe and Writers Guild awards for original screenplay. But the film turned out to be something much larger as well. The moving tale of female empowerment didn’t just tap into the zeitgeist; it hit a gusher, instantly becoming a cultural touchstone and a landmark in feminist cinema.

These days find Khouri, 50, directing “Mad Money” and seeking much simpler goals. “It is absolutely unabashed entertainment,” she says of her new female-centric heist flick, “and it aspires to nothing more lofty than that.”

The movie, starring the perhaps unlikely trio of Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah and Katie Holmes, is a romp of a crime caper about three women who decide to rob the Federal Reserve Bank. “I jokingly say to my friends, it’s the least demanding movie you’ll see all year,” Khouri says over a late breakfast at a West Hollywood cafe.

If that sounds like an odd comment for Khouri to make, perhaps it’s that she’s found more inner peace with age. Or maybe it’s that it’s easier to enjoy the success you find in life after sparer years spent overcoming any number of professional obstacles.

In the wake of “Thelma’s” success, work was plentiful for Khouri, who spent time rewriting other people’s scripts and penning the 1995 Julia Roberts-starrer “Something to Talk About.” But, she says plainly, “it took me 10 years to get somebody to let me direct a movie.”

When asked what the holdup was, she demurs, “I wouldn’t want to say,” but adds that -- at least in more recent years -- she wouldn’t attribute any barriers to her gender. “It’s not easy for anybody. Guys who’ve directed 20 pictures have a hard time getting a picture. The marketplace is going through incredible shifts right now, it’s really tough out there.”

Khouri initially moved to Los Angeles from Nashville in 1982 to pursue acting. She quickly figured out it was not going to be her calling, “but I loved the making of scenes,” she says. “I didn’t know about writing, I didn’t know about directing, I chose acting because that was the result. But once I was here and I realized, ‘Hey, they’re not making that up,’ I drifted to my stronger suits.”

She landed a job as a receptionist at a production company, where she later began producing music videos and low-budget commercials. While there, she wrote “Thelma & Louise,” her first script, with the intention to direct it. “It was a story that I saw so clearly,” she notes. “That being said, when Ridley Scott wants to direct your movie, that’s the right choice.”

In addition to Khouri’s awards, the film garnered five other Oscar nominations, including one each for Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis. (It also introduced moviegoers to a young actor named Brad Pitt.) But “Thelma & Louise” has enjoyed a resonance in the pop culture consciousness afforded to few films -- it’s been referenced in countless other movies and television series and even served as the basis for two recently published books: “Thelma & Louise and Women in Hollywood” by Gina Fournier and “Thelma & Louise Live! The Cultural Afterlife of an American Film,” a compilation of six essays by noted scholars, edited by Bernie Cook, about the legacy of the film.

Still, it was almost a decade before Khouri got the opportunity to direct her first feature, 2002’s “The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood,” which she adapted with Mark Andrus from Rebecca Wells’ novels. The cast featured plenty of A-list actresses -- Sandra Bullock, Ellen Burstyn, Fionnula Flanagan and Ashley Judd -- and though it was met with mostly tepid reviews, it performed well at the box office.

As with “Mad Money,” the film centered on strong female characters; when asked if that was her focus, Khouri replies, “It’s what I’m predominantly offered.”

Not that such films are easy to get produced, with the international market traditionally favoring action over dialogue. “Mad Money” was first set up at MGM five years ago but was put on hold after Sony bought a controlling interest in the studio. Producer Jay Cohen then got the rights to the script back, and the project ultimately was made with independent financing and bought by Overture Films.

Truly in her element

Despite the hurdles, Khouri says she relishes every aspect of directing. “I like all the people, I like all the choices, I like getting to pick every single aspect of how something’s going to look, I like working with the [director of photography], I like dubbing, I like the music . . . I am so happy when I’m directing, it’s ridiculous.

“Writing is not a collaborative process, and when it is, it’s not that pleasant,” Khouri continues, delineating the routine humiliations a writer endures, from endless script notes to being excluded from a film’s production. Determined to include “Mad Money” writer Glenn Gers in the filmmaking process, she invited him to come to the set as often as he could be there, even offering to pay for his visits herself.

“You’ve got somebody there looking out for hair, costumes, lighting, camera, every other aspect,” she points out. “To have one person there really hearing whether or not the story is getting told in the midst of all that controlled chaos, I think of it as essential.”

When on set, Gers was introduced to the cast and crew, invited to dailies and given a seat by the monitor to watch the action. “She’s really supportive -- I think it’s partly a woman thing,” he suggests. “She wasn’t there for her ego or to boss people around or to impose. She was there to guide and support.”

Keaton agrees with the description, if not the attribution to Khouri’s gender. “I attribute that to the fact that she’s Callie,” she says by phone, adding that Khouri was always open to hearing her opinions and concerns. “She did not create a wall around her as a director, which I think a lot of people do. I was actually asked to participate in what I felt the scene was about. She was very engaging in that regard, and that’s unusual.”

The admiration is clearly mutual. “I’ve had some great gifts come my way in my life, but that was right up there, just watching the three of them interact,” says Khouri of her leading women. “Each one brought something really unique to it.”

And as for moving toward lighter, more comedic projects than the intense fare that first put her on the Hollywood map, Khouri -- who was about to head to Hawaii for some well-earned relaxation -- says she sees no conflict. The progression, she insists, is a natural one.

“Comedy to me is a very benevolent act. It’s what I enjoy watching the most,” she explains. “I think it’s a good use of my time and hopefully other people’s.”