Behind the scenes of every movie you love, years of planning have gone in to making sure
that every line, prop and camera angle are exactly what the filmmakers want.
The crazy thing about movie making, though, is that sometimes, even with all that planning,
the filmmakers and actors decide to toss out the script and improvise instead.
Sometimes this can be disastrous, but sometimes these unplanned moments turn out to be seriously
awesome.
For this video, we are taking a look at some of the best for our list of 10 Improvised
Movie Scenes That Made Actors React Out Of Nowhere.
Enjoy this video and be sure to hit the subscribe button for more awesome Screen Rant content,
every day of the week.
The Wolf Of Wall Street Matthew McConaughey had himself a pretty good
2013.
Not only did he take home the Best Actor Oscar for Dallas Buyers Club, he also delivered
a quick but quality performance in The Wolf Of Wall Street.
Fans loved the scene where McConaughey was banging his chest, and as it turns out, this
is something that the actor made up on the spot.
The ritual was actually something McConaughey would do before shooting, and he decided that
he would bring it into the scene.
DiCpario is a world-class actor, but you can totally see him cracking up, and even looking
over to the camera crew as McConaughey’s chest beating and humming escalates.
Zoolander While 2016’s Zoolander sequel was an absolute
travesty, the original film is actually quite hilarious and is jam packed with fun unscripted
moments.
In one scene involving David Duchovny and leading man, Ben Stiller, Duchovny’s character
is explaining how the fashion industry has been behind every high profile political assassination
of the last hundred years.
Stiller’s Zoolander asks, “Why male models?” which prompts Duchovny to give a long and
clear explanation.
Stiller then stares right at him and again asks “Why male models?”
As it turns out, this moment happened because Stiller actually forgot his line and just
opted to repeat his previous one.
This prompted Duchovny to ad-lib his response “Are you kidding?
I just told you like a minute ago.”
The scene was totally unplanned but thanks to Duchovny’s great reaction, it ends up
fitting in perfectly!
The Dark Knight The Dark Knight is still regarded as one of
the best superhero movies of all time and Heath Ledger’s Joker performance has become
even more iconic as the years go on.
It is well known that Ledger threw himself deep into the role and this led to some pretty
amazing unscripted moments.
A lot of people know about the improvisation in the scene where the Joker blows up the
hospital, but there is also a great-unscripted moment from when the clown prince is locked
up behind bars.
As the officers in the room applaud Commissioner Gordon’s promotion, Ledger begins, totally
off script, to slowly clap – never changing his facial expression and staring through
the prison bars with a truly terrifying look.
It was just a simple improvisation but it totally changed the vibe of the scene and
has become an iconic moment from the film.
The Silence of The Lambs Even though he had less than 25 minutes of
screen time in the movie, Anthony Hopkins performance as Hannibal Lecter is still one
of the most bone chilling portrayals of all time.
Even with such little screen time, Hopkins found ways to improvise some truly creepy
moments.
In one scene, Dr. Hannibal Lecter is in the middle of telling a story to FBI agent Foster’s
Clarice about his cannibalistic ventures.
At the end of this story, Hopkins decided to add-lib a truly haunting hiss sound that
is now an iconic part of his character.
Apparently, this was something that Hopkins would do often between scenes to try to spook
Foster, so when he brought the hiss in to the scene, the terror on Foster’s face is
totally genuine.
Fast & Furious 6 The Fast & Furious movies have brought us
some of the best over the top action scenes in recent memory.
But, hidden between scenes of cars doing back flips are some pretty well acted moments featuring
a talented cast.
Fans were excited when The Rock joined the franchise, but who would have known that he
would deliver the best-improvised moment from the entire series.
In the sixth film, The Rock is walking up to join the group and Tyrese Gibson’s character
starts to chirp him.
Instead of sticking to the script, The Rock decided to chirp back by saying “You better
hide that big ass forehead!”
The best part about this improvised line is Ludacris’ genuine reaction as he spits his
drink out all over the place.
The Godfather The Godfather is one of the most loved films
of all time and Marlon Brando’s performance as Vito Corleone is truly iconic.
Brando does an amazing job of crafting a multi dimensional character that is so much more
than just a ruthless mob boss.
One of the most memorable scenes comes when Brando is delivering some brutal orders - all
while gently, albeit maniacally, stroking a cat.
The crazy thing about this is, the cat was never part of the original script.
The origin story of the cat is spotty, some reports say that the director plopped the
feline into Brando's lap just before filming began and other reports say Brando found the
famous feline roaming around the set and decided to use him.
Whatever the case may be, an unplanned cat definitely adds an interesting dynamic to
any film shoot.
The Empire Strikes Back The Star Wars films are known for a lot of
things, but they definitely aren’t what comes to mind first when you think of great
improvised lines.
That being said, Harrison Ford brought his special blend of charming and cocky to the
iconic role of Han Solo and he’s been a fan favorite ever since.
As it turns out, one of Ford’s most famous lines was actually improvised by the actor
on the spot.
In a scene where the script required him to show some compassion, Solo was supposed to
respond, “I love you too” to Princess Leia.
Ford didn’t like how the line felt, so George Lucas told him to just say whatever he felt
fit best and the actor decided to go with “I Know”, which is a probably the most
Han Solo answer to “I Love You” that we could imagine.
Trainwreck Trainwreck was one of the most hilarious movies
of 2015 and featured some great performances by Amy Schumer, Bill Hader and even John Cena.
One actor that was surprisingly funny in the film was NBA superstar, Lebron James.
A lot of the movie was improvised and it turns out that Hader and Schumer were trying to
trip Lebron up and making him laugh with their improvised responses.
In one scene, Lebron is trying to convince the couple to take a trip to Cleveland and
when Hader and Schumer start rapid firing improvised zingers at him, he has a hard time
handling them.
Lebron hangs on longer than we would have expected but ultimately breaks down laughing
when Schumer gets him to profess his genuine love for Cleveland.
It’s a scene that can only be seen in the extra features, but it’s totally worth it!
The Departed Martin Scorsese’s film, The Departed, is
a must see for anyone who considers themselves a fan of movies.
The story of Boston crime family was stuffed with incredible actors like Matt Damon, Jack
Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio and many more.
Scorsese did a great job directing this film, but there were some moments that even he couldn’t
take credit for.
In an intense scene opposite Leo about uncovering a rat in the group, Nicholson decided to take
things into his own hands.
Even though it wasn’t in the script, Nicholson pulls a gun out from under the table and this
move totally changed the tone of the scene.
DiCaprio is visibly rattled by the Nicholson power move and it only adds to the authenticity
of the moment.
Kudos to Leo for just rolling with Nicholson’s decision and delivering such a great scene.
Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 The Harry Potter movies have some of the most
devoted fans in the world and they will go to extreme lengths to defend every aspect
of the wizarding world.
That being said, there is one scene that makes even the biggest Potterhead cringe and that
is the moment when Voldermort and Malfoy share an incredibly awkward hug.
According to Tom Felton, this uncomfortable moment was totally improvised and caught the
cast totally off guard.
While they were filming the scene, Ralph Fiennes, who plays Voldermort in the series, decided
to hug Felton and the actor’s reaction of stopping dead in his tracks and looking very
confused is totally genuine.
So there you have it, there is our list of 10 improvised movie scenes that forced actors
to react on the spot.
Which one of these great moments was your favorite?
What other great unscripted reactions do you know about?
Sound off in the comments section below and be sure to subscribe to Screen Rant for more
fun videos – like this one!