Imagine Thelma and Louise, But with Robert Downey Jr. Instead of Brad Pitt

Per Vulture, this is what almost happened. According to Off the Cliff: How the Making of Thelma and Louise Drove Hollywood to the Edge, a book about the making of the film, Hollywood auditioned all of the hot men they could think of for the role—George Clooney, a young Mark Ruffalo, Dylan McDermott, Dermot Mulroney—but somehow eventually gave the role to William Baldwin. Before Baldwin signed the contract, he took a role in Backdraft, and the producers were left scrambling.

The one person that was available to take the role was….Robert Downey Jr., a fine man and actor who was probably kind of handsome in his time, but is entirely unimaginable as J.D. Please try to picture him in this scene. Just try.