While some fans would love to think that their favorite actors write their own lines of dialogue,
films are scripted.
Still, when you are working with talented actors that immerse themselves into a role,
their dialogue becomes natural for them.
From serious performances to comedic roles; actors sometimes improvise their dialogue
while performing in a scene.
As we go over your favorite films, subscribe to Screen Rant for more fun videos like this
one.
Here is Screen Rant’s list of ten Actors Who Wrote Their Own Dialogue In Popular Movies.
Robert Downey Jr. and William Hurt in The Incredible Hulk
At the end of Louis Leterrier’s 2008 film The Incredible Hulk there is an end credit
scene with actors Robert Downey Jr. and William Hurt.
After being disgraced by the incident with Emil Blonsky, Thaddeus Ross drinks away his
troubles in a bar.
Intoxicated, he is greeted by Tony Stark, who tells him that a special team is being
put together and even though he doesn’t mention the name we know it is The Avengers.
The actors were given plotlines to discuss but no dialogue and improvised their entire
scene.
Bill Murray in Caddyshack
Bill Murray’s hilarious role in Caddyshack was only supposed to be a cameo but after
his performance, director Harold Ramis asked him to stick around for six days.
Not surprisingly those six days of acting proved to be comedy gold but surprisingly
all of his dialogue was improvised.
From his speech about meeting the Dalai Lama to his iconic “Cinderella Story.”
In fact, the only direction in the script for his “Cinderella Story” read: “Carl
cuts off the tops of flowers with a grass whip.”
Talk about talent!
Jeremy Renner in Avengers: Age of Ultron
Jeremy Renner plays Hawkeye for the MCU and in the film Avengers: Age of Ultron, he has
a lighthearted competition with Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Quicksilver.
During a battle Quicksilver dashed off when Hawkeye points his bow at him remarking, “Nobody
would know… ‘last I saw him, Ultron was sitting on him!’”.
This improvised dialogue received big laughs and is one of Renner’s best moments in the
film.
Tommy Lee Jones in The Fugitive
Harrison Ford starred in 1993’s The Fugitive but his co-star stole the movie from him.
Ford plays Dr. Richard Kimble who was wrongly accused of murdering his wife and is chased
by a U.S. Marshal played by Tommy Lee Jones.
In the scene where Ford gets the upper hand on Jones, he points his gun at Jones and proclaims,
“I didn’t kill my wife!”
Jones responds with the simple and character driven line, “I don’t care,” which was
improvised and proved to best explain his character’s motivations.
Denis Leary in The Amazing Spider-Man
Denis Leary’s comedy is far from PG and the actor had a hard time keeping his jokes
clean while performing in 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man.
Since he is a seasoned actor he did find ways to use his quick sense of humor in the film
and sneak in a few improvised lines.
Including the scene where Peter Parker goes to the police station to ask Captain Stacy
for help to defeat Dr. Curt Connors.
Leary makes a reference to Godzilla, asking Parker “do I look like the mayor of Tokyo,
to you?”
Leaving star Andrew Garfield in silence.
Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver
Martin Scorsese knows how to work with actors and how to get the best performance out of
them, if you don’t believe us just watch anything Leonardo DiCaprio or Robert De Niro
have done with the director.
He lets his actors-act and does not hold them back giving them ample room for improvisation.
In 1976’s Taxi Driver, when De Niro utters the famous line “You talking to me?”
the script simple said, “Bickle speaks to himself in the mirror” De Niro gave us one
of the most memorable lines in movie history.
Sean Gunn in Guardians of the Galaxy
When you watch the film Guardians of the Galaxy you hear Bradley Cooper as the voice of Rocket
Raccoon, but it was director James Gunn’s brother, Sean, who performed him on set.
When Star Lord gets his team to rally behind him, they stand up to show their support.
To mock other film moments like this, Rocket is the last to stand and says, “Now I’m
standing, you all happy?
We’re all standing up now.
Buncha jackasses standing in a circle.”
Sean improvised this on set and since his brother loved the line he had Cooper record
it for the final product.
The Main Cast in The Breakfast Club
When John Hughes directed The Breakfast Club, he shot the entire 1985 classic in chronological
order.
Despite being a talented writer himself, he saw the talent his cast had and decided to
let them improvise the final scene.
Since they knew their characters and the emotions their characters went through, the cast mostly
improvised the scene.
With little direction from Hughes he took a big chance on his young cast and it worked
out perfectly.
Richard Castellano in The Godfather
Italian-American actor Richard Castellano plays the Corleone family’s capo Peter Clemenza
in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather.
His character is ordered to carry out a hit on Paulie Gatto for his betrayal of the family’s
boss, Don Vito Corleone.
Before leaving his house for, let’s just say…work, his wife reminds him to bring
home some cannolis.
After shooting Gatto his line was supposed to be “Leave the gun” but he added the
now famous line, “Take the cannoli.”
Chris Evans and Scarlet Johansson in Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Captain America and Natasha’s relationship were a key plotline to Captain America: The
Winter Soldier and who knows these characters better then their stars.
During various scenes with actors Chris Evans and Scarlet Johansson their dialogue was improvised.
The screenwriter Christopher Markus placed these two characters at moral odds in the
film and felt their improvised dialogue was true to the theme of his story.
So did the director and their dialogue made it to the final cut.
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Did we skip over any of your favorite Actors Who Wrote Their Own Dialogue In Popular Movies?
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