When it comes to films, some of the most memorable moments that you see on-screen are often unplanned. These scenes come from actors' impulsive reactions, accidents, or because a director might have liked some of the spontaneity that resulted from their improvisation and put it in the final cut. These kind of scenes bring unexpected realism to performances.
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Moments become unforgettable when an actor suffers a real injury, remains in character, or delivers a spontaneous line that fits better into the scene compared to the original script, thus adding new depth to the film.
Whether it has blood running down Leonardo DiCaprio's hand in Django Unchained or Viggo Mortensen losing his toe in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, these moments become iconic because they take place with real emotions.
The following are 20 examples of moments where the actors went on to improvise their scenes in some iconic movies, thus making them levels better than what it was intended to be. Sit back and enjoy!
1) Django Unchained (2012)
Leonardo DiCaprio, playing Calvin Candie, slams his hand on a table and cuts his palm on a glass, but instead of flinching for the camera, DiCaprio used this real injury to heighten the scene with his hand bleeding aplenty as he continued to talk for his monologue. In this scene, Kerry Washington and the rest of the cast were left in character, and so an intense and uncomfortable moment unfolded as DiCaprio spread his blood onto Washington's face.
It added such a visceral quality to what was turning out to be then the most disturbing scene prepared for this film, that eventually stood out as one of the film's most memorable scenes. This happened because Quentin Tarantino chose to keep the take since DiCaprio was thoroughly into the character.
2 The Dark Knight (2008)
In one of the film's most pivotal scenes, where Joker blows up a hospital, Heath Ledger is not given lines to show his reaction when the detonation appears to suddenly go haywire.
Ledger portrayed the anarchic Joker who pressed the detonator, which did not explode as it had a technical problem, and he fidged with the detonator in frustration before it finally blew. His surprise, mixed with Joker's reaction, with the mad laughter of his own, perfectly suited to the unconventional volubility that characterises him, locked the frame into chaotic energy.
Ledger's quick thinking wraps up one of the best moments of the movie, showing how completely he had sunk into the character, adding to the mythos of his characterization of Joker.
3) The 40-year-Old Virgin (2005)
In The 40-Year-Old Virgin, one of the funniest scenes is Steve Carell's chest-waxing scene. Why? Because It is real!
He insisted on actually having his chest waxed for authenticity, and the scene was done in one take. All his genuine screams of pain and expletive-filled reactions, as well as the other actors' laughter, came out raw without a script. Even his expletives, including "Kelly Clarkson!" gave a hilarious twist to the whole comedy scene.
The pain was written on Carell's face as he went through waxing, making the scene much funnier and more relatable for viewers.
4) The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
Jennifer Lawrence, who plays Katniss Everdeen in the Catching Fire arena scenes, temporarily went deaf because of an ear infection. When she jumped into the water in one scene, she was dazed because of her infection and from the cold water; so she was not acting.
It added a new dimension to her performance when Lawrence's character was confused and panicked because of her actual discomfort. Lawrence later disclosed she had lost her hearing for days, and that only made the ordeal even more gruesome. The unplanned scene served to depict Katniss's vulnerability and disorientation during those barbaric games of the Capitol.
5) The Avengers (2012)
Robert Downey Jr. is known to be impulsive in most situations and he outdid himself on the sets of The Avengers. He stashed his snacks within the lab scene, pulled them out without a pause, and dished them out to fellow actors at the time when the dialogue was climactic.
The look on their faces, especially that of Mark Ruffalo and Chris Evans, was entirely real because they did not expect this impromptu conversation. Director Joss Whedon was so enamoured with Downey's improvisation that he retained it in the final cut.
That little moment became a part of this playful dynamic between characters as it showed the bonhomie between the actors and elevated the authenticity of the scene.
6) Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
In Thor: Ragnarok, Loki, played by Tom Hiddleston, has to contend with the Hulk. That has been something that occurred before, and Hulk had famously been known to slam around Loki like a rag doll when the duo faced each other in The Avengers. Hiddleston was not ready for the improv moment when Hulk suddenly grabbed Loki while fighting one in a gladiator battle. The genuine look of terror and the line, "I have to get off this planet," were very real.
Hiddleston's impulsive reaction did just what was required for Loki's character arc by infusing the comedic and dramatic aspects into the scene. Director Taika Waititi gave the freedom to the actors to improvise, and this moment of real fear gave them one of the most hilarious callbacks in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
7) Jaws (1975)
In Jaws, when Chief Brody first looks at the gigantic shark they are after, all that Roy Scheider's character can do is remain in stunned silence. "You're going to need a bigger boat," he says, delivering unscripted lines that are also reflective of how surprised he must have felt while filming this scene with the model of the shark. Well, the shark kept malfunctioning; just imagine all that frustration on set.
The deadpan response was suitable for the absurdity of the situation and captured the fear and disbelief the character would have felt. The director, Steven Spielberg, loved the spontaneity of the moment and put it in the final cut, where it has become one of the most quoted lines in cinematic history.
8) The Shining (1980)
In Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of The Shining, Jack Nicholson famously exclaimed, "Here's Johnny! as he burst through the bathroom door brandishing an axe. The line, a reference to Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show, was never in the script and was a surprise to Kubrick as well as Shelley Duvall and Wendy. Duvall's reaction already was one of true fear due to Kubrick's intense direction, which became even more believable when Nicholson delivered the impromptu line.
This unscripted moment added to the horror and madness of Nicholson's performance as Jack Torrance, making the scene one of the most memorable in horror film history.
9) Pretty Woman (1990)
Richard Gere's playful snapping of the jewellery box shut on Julia Roberts' hand was completely unrehearsed. Gere wanted to pull a fast one over on Roberts, so when she really and truly laughed at the trick, her natural, surprised laughter found its way into the final cut. The scene added some sweetness and humour to that moment as their characters were fast finding chemistry together.
Roberts' spontaneity and joyful reaction pretty much captured the charm of the character and helped make the film's romance all the more believable. This brief, unscripted scene has emerged to be one of the most memorable scenes in the film.
10) Titanic (1997)
When James Cameron directed Titanic, Leonardo DiCaprio's now-famous line, "I'm the King of the World," was not scripted at all. As Jack Dawson stands on the bow of the ship, with arms stretched wide into the air, DiCaprio is moved by the moment to yell out the line as an expression of the abandonment of his character.
Cameron loved it so much that he decided to keep it in the final cut. The line epitomises Jack's zest for life and his freedom in life, hence among the most quoted moments from the movie. DiCaprio's improv helped create one of the most lasting scenes from the Titanic, giving new subtext to the whole epic romance of the tale.
11) Saving Private Ryan (1998)
The opening sequence of the D-Day invasion of Saving Private Ryan is featured for its intense realism that makes you feel as if you have been through all the various battles. Director Steven Spielberg took the chaos-filled battle scene in such a way that most of the reactions from the actors were very spontaneous because they were not quite prepared for the intensity of the scene.
The confusion, fear, and shock displayed by the soldiers were genuine because the soldiers reacted to the loud explosions, shaky camera work, and unanticipated actions that were taking place on the sets.
Spielberg used handheld cameras to plunge actors into the chaos of war; therefore, their performances came out even more authentic. The resulting action scene is among the most frightening and authentic ever filmed.
12) The Office (US)
In the episode "Gay Witch Hunt" of The US version of The Office, Steve Carell's character Michael Scott kisses Oscar Nunez - unscripted, which leaves the entire cast in shock. And the shock comes from John Krasinski (Jim). Jim wasn't prepared for the kiss, and his reaction of wide-eyed shock is entirely authentic.
Carell's moment going off-script added a zing to the action; simply befits Michael's clueless and boundary-pushing personality. That kiss turned out to be one of the most memorable scenes from The Office: it is the scene where cringe humour and surprise were mixed, creating some of the funniest scenes of the series.
13) Rocky IV (!985)
Sylvester Stallone and Dolph Lundgren wanted their fight scenes to be as real as possible. At one time, he made Lundgren punch him in the chest for real. Lundgren punched, but the blow became so strong that it strained Stallone's heart, admitting him to the ICU for several days. The scene looks appallingly realistic, but what happened with his chest was more dramatic than anybody might think.
This level of dedication to realism made the fight scenes in the movie so vivid and dramatic, which is why the movie Rocky IV has remained one of the all-time classic sports movies for as long as anybody can remember.
14) Scream (1996)
Casey, played by Drew Barrymore, is getting tortured by a masked killer man in the very first scene of the movie. Director Wes Craven had told some real stories of animal cruelty to get Barrymore crying on cue. Barrymore is an acknowledged animal lover, and those tales made her cry uncontrollably. All her pain and tears in that scene were natural.
This raw emotion sets the tone of the film: intense and unpredictable. The opening scene, complete with Barrymore's authentic terror and sorrow, has become one of the most iconic moments in horror cinema for a genre-redefining launch of Scream.
15) Zombieland ( 2009)
Much of Bill Murray's cameo in Zombieland was improvised. His hilarious and memorable death scene comes from much improvisation. His dying words, mostly unplanned, were said to Columbus, portrayed by Jesse Eisenberg, as he was mistakenly shot by the protagonist.
Dry and comedic, Murray declared how sorry he was to have played Garfield. It was an unexpected addition that was brilliant on its end and one that his co-stars weren't quite prepared for. What could have been a simple death scene is transformed by Murray's improvisation, turning it into one of the funniest and most quoted moments in the movie.
The cameo is one of the most memorable moments in Zombieland and brings surprise and some much-needed humour to complement the film's tone.
16) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter franchise, had a line in Chamber of Secrets that was ad-libbed that brought some comic relief to the pompous personality of the character.
When Goyle is unable to think of a fast retort to one of Draco's questions, Felton on the spot ad-libbed: "I didn't know you could read." This line is so characteristic of the character of Draco that it was kept in the final draft.
Daniel Radcliffe, the actor who played Harry, was shockingly surprised by the remark and so his reaction in the scene is also all the more effective. The humour of the situation was also added through quick thinking by Felton.
17) The Exorcist (1973)
Ellen Burstyn's character is slapped backwards offscreen from behind by a supernatural entity while being assaulted. She wore a harness that yanked her with considerable force but, in one take, was pulled much harder than the stunt people calculated, proving very painful on her back. Her scream of agony in the scene was authentic and William Friedkin made it part of the film.
Years later, Burstyn noted that she has had this injury all her life, but the fact that the shot told of fearfulness and her agony that she portrays in the film helped to make the scene so intense, that it made the film an all-time horror movie classic.
18) The Hateful Eight (2015)
In one of the scenes in this movie, Kurt Russell has a guitar that he smashes in a fit of rage. What was not planned is that the guitar was not a prop, but an actual piece from the 1870s and had been borrowed from a museum. Jennifer Jason Leigh, as Daisy, knew what the guitar was worth, and her reaction to the act of the smashing by Russell is realistic.
It was an accident of destruction since the guitars were passed around from one take to another, and Russell was never informed. The shock that Leigh had at that moment made it even more intense, though the destruction of the guitar caused much ado after filming had wrapped.
19) Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
One cannot forget the scene in The Two Towers, which saw Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) kicking a helmet in frustration as he thought his friends were dead. In that scene, while filming, Mortensen kicked the helmet so hard that he broke two of his toes, and his scream of agony during the scene became real. Instead of breaking character, Mortensen used the pain to make the scene even better as he fell on his knees in despair.
The director particularly loved the raw emotion Mortensen produced in taking that shot into the final cut. Mortensen's dedication to acting has sealed Aragorn as one of the series' most established and admired characters.
20) Fight Club (1990)
Brad Pitt plays a macho character, Tyler Durden in this all-time classic. At one point in the film, the narrator, played by Edward Norton, and Tyler Durden are involved in a brutal fight in a parking lot.
Norton says that he was told by Fischer to just tap Brad Pitt, but at the last minute, Fischer instructed him to hit Pitt in the ear. The movie shows Pitt's actual reaction to this punch and line as well: "You hit me in the ear!" were very real, because he didn't think that Norton was going to hit him.
It was certainly no surprise when true amazement from Norton emerged in Pitt's response. That made the scene more realistic and set a feeling in the movie about the raw, wild nature of their relationship. The impromptu scene became one of the standout scenes in the movie.
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