In today's day and age where hundreds of millions of dollars are spent on movies, movies that
oftentimes all are part of a larger cinematic universe, it may surprise you to hear just
how much of (at least some) of these films are actually improvised by the actors.
While it's not a huge shock to hear that comedies have large swatches of unscripted content,
it certainly isn’t expected of films like the new Star Wars to end up having large unscripted
scenes.
So, we wanted to go ahead and find some of the most surprising and hilarious unscripted
moments from film to share with you to hopefully both surprise and amuse you!
40-Year-Old Virgin: "AHH, Kelly Clarkson!"
While Steve Carell was relatively well known before the filming of 40-Year-Old Virgin thanks
to his work on The Daily Show, he had yet to land the role that turned him into a household
name as Michael Scott on the Office.
This film definitely made Carell a star, and while the movie was hilarious from start to
finish, there still is one scene that people either took away or remember more than any
other, and that was the scene in which the naturally furry Carell had his chest waxed.
To make the scene as authentic as possible Carell wanted to have his chest actually waxed,
something he had never done before, but he figured it couldn't be too bad as it was his
chest and people get much more intimate and sensitive areas waxed all the time.
So, the reactions you see on screen were natural and real, as was the blood that began pooling
on his chest from the ripped up hair follicles.
What's amazing, though, was that Carell was able to be funny and witty during that time,
coming up with lines that can't be repeated here outside of the Kelly Clarkson line.
Talk about commitment and talent.
Speaking of commitment, take the plunge with us and hit that subscribe button and click
that notification bell.
Pretty Woman: The Laugh
If there's any single film that's responsible for turning Julia Roberts into a legend it's
Pretty Woman, the film about the prostitute with a heart of gold that is saved by Richard
Gere.
It's a love story for the ages, and one of the most famous scenes in the film is when
Roberts' character receives a gift from Gere.
It’s a fancy necklace that's inside one of those large jewelry cases.
While she's rubbing her finger over the necklace, Gere snaps the case shut and Roberts gives
out a loud and genuine laugh.
It's a moment that seemed really honest and adorable and because of that it made Julia
Roberts an A-list star that endeared her in the hearts of millions of people around the
world.
The story behind it is equally endearing as Julia
Roberts was 21 years old during the filming of Pretty Woman and because of that she was
actually quite tired and hungover at the time.
On the day they filmed that now iconic scene, Roberts asked Gere if he could lightly close
the jewelry box on her finger to wake her up a bit.
Instead of doing so, Gere snapped it shut on her hand, to which Roberts reacted shocked,
surprised - and in a now famous moment - let out a genuine belly laugh that made her into
the biggest actress of the 90s.
Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark: Gun beats Everything
During the first Indiana Jones film, Raiders of the Lost Ark, there was a scene that was
written as a decent action set piece that would've had the titular hero facing off against
a swordsman, showing that not only was "Indy" a brilliant archaeologist, tomb raider, whip
master, and a man with great taste in hats, but that he was also pretty good at utilizing
all weapons.
However, as the film shows, Jones ended up just shooting the swordsman instead of wasting
time, which was one of the biggest laughs that the film had.
That scene wasn't actually scripted that way and while it's hard to improvise something
like that, considering all the stuff that goes into stunts, this came about as close
to that is as possible, given the context.
In a recent 'Ask Me Anything' with Harrison Ford on Reddit.com, he stated that the script
called for a relatively lengthy sword fight but because he had been suffering from dysentery
at the time, he could really only film scenes that were 10 minutes and under.
So, while doing that and trying to figure out how the hell he was going to film this
extensive scene, it occurred to him that the more Indiana Jones-ish move would've been
for Indy to actually shoot the swordsman and walk away.
Sort of like Han Solo, cause as we all know...
Han Shot First
The Dark Night: The Joker's Clap
Heath Ledger was improvising a lot on the set of the Dark Knight and because of that
he was basically creeping the F out of some of his co-workers.
A great example of this was the genuine reaction that Bruce Wayne's butler Alfred (played by
Michael Caine) gave when he opened the elevator during the fundraiser for Harvey Dent, and
saw the Joker with his sawed off shotgun.
That was actually the first time that Caine saw Ledger as the Joker at all, on or off
camera, and so his reaction of fear and surprise was genuine, but that was something that Ledger
and Nolan cooked up together.
A better example of Ledger's improvisation brilliance was when Lieutenant Gordon came
back from "the dead" and was promoted to Commissioner Gordon.
After the room full of police officers stopped applauding the promotion, the camera pans
over to Ledger's Joker who was still feverishly applauding the new commissioner.
That wasn't in the script and was something that Ledger thought up on the spot, bringing
one of the few laughs to the otherwise dark film and showing people that he played the
best Joker that there ever was and really ever will be.
Good Will Hunting: Good Will Farting
It's probably not a huge surprise to hear that the late, great Robin Williams was an
improv master and while Good Will Hunting, the film that won him the Oscar for Best Supporting
Actor, is a drama, there is one scene that is so heartfelt and funny that upon hearing
that it was entirely improvised and thus extra genuine you'll probably exclaim "I KNEW IT!".
The scene in question revolves around Robin Williams discussing his dead wife and how
she'd wake herself up by farting, and even though Matt Damon is one of the best actors
of his generation you can tell that those weren't acted laughs but genuine, nostril
flaring all-out gut busting laughs - because that's exactly what they were.
The scene in the movie was completely improvised; Williams was playing Damon’s psychiatrist,
who was discussing that he loved his wife so much that when she'd awake herself by passing
gas super loudly, he didn't have the heart to tell her that she did it, so he always
took the blame.
Because his wife in the film had passed away and because of how genuine it felt on screen,
there was a layer of sadness behind it that made the scene that much more special, which
probably went a lot of the way towards landing Robin Williams his first Oscar after being
nominated three times previously.
How do you like them apples, indeed?
Amazing Spider-Man 2: “Peter!”
Say what you will about Amazing Spider-Man 2, but one things most people can agree upon
is that the relationship between Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy was really well done in those
films.
Perhaps that's because the actors, Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, were actually in
a long term relationship with one another.
So when it came to the death scene, regardless of what you thought of the movie, it was a
gut punch that was extremely well done, with Garfield giving the performance of a lifetime
as he pleaded with his love to not be dead.
Before that happened, though, Spidey had needed Gwen's help to magnetize his web-shooters
so they wouldn't become overloaded by Electro's powers, and after that he webbed Gwen's hand
to the hood of a squad car so she wouldn't follow him to the power plant to confront
Electro.
Once she realized that she had been webbed, she screams out "PETER!" and quickly covers
her mouth as she clearly had just blurted out the alias of Spider-Man, something that
no one knew.
However there's more to that scene than that, as the script called for Stone to actually
blurt out something more neutral like "Stop" or "Wait!", but after a take or two Stone,
being the professional that she is, went with the Peter line, followed by the immediate
horror that overcame her face, and that's the take that Director Marc Webb ended up
using.
Guardians of the Galaxy: Dropping the Power Stone
In terms of the Infinity Stones in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the most powerful of the
Infinity Stones is the Power Stone, an item that is so powerful that it's capable of destroying
most anything that it touches up to and including planets.
That's perhaps why Thanos decides to go for it first, as it would make his job a lot easier
since it has the capability of increasing how powerful the other stones in the Infinity
Gauntlet are as well.
The plot of the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie is that Thanos has tasked Ronan the
Accuser with retrieving the stone for him - the only problem comes from the fact that
a Ravager named Star-Lord (Who?) ended up finding the Infinity Stone first, which starts
the plot of the movie.
But considering how powerful the stone is, you'd think that the characters in the movie
would've treated it with kid gloves.
However, there's a scene where Star-Lord almost dropped the Orb (that contained the purple
Power Stone) before presenting it to the Collector.
It turns out that Chris Pratt actually accidentally almost dropped the orb, but because he caught
it out of frame and before it hit the ground and also because it was hilarious, Director/Writer
James Gunn kept it in the film.
Thor: The Dark World - Hanging a Hammer
In Avengers: Age of Ultron there are all sorts of debates between the human Avengers as to
whether or not inanimate objects need to be worthy to lift Thor's enchanted hammer Mjolnir.
They could've also wondered whether or not a coat rack is worthy as in the much maligned
(at least in terms of MCU properties) Thor - The Dark World did, since Thor hangs Mjolnir
on a coat rack at Jane Fosters apartment in London, England.
Considering the fact that Mjolnir was forged in the heart of a dying star, you'd think
that Mjolnir would be extremely dense and thus extremely heavy.
The scene was hilarious and actually improvised by Hemsworth himself, something that there
definitely wasn't enough of in the first two Thor films.
It was actually scenes like this that lead the Director of the third Thor Film Taika
Waititi to give Hemsworth more freedom in front of the camera, as he said that Hemsworth
was not only incredibly good looking but charming and hilarious as well.
That lead to upwards of 80% of the third film, Ragnarok, being improvised and the audience
was all the happier for it.
So, it's that coat rack scene that you have to thank for the genius that was Ragnarok.
Bridesmaids: Melissa McCarthy
Melissa McCarthy very well could be the biggest comedic star on the planet right now, and
2011 was her breakout year as she was cast in Mike and Molly and she co-starred in the
smash hit Bridesmaids.
In that movie she was so hilarious in this semi-raunchy comedy that she was actually
nominated for an Oscar.
Think about that, she was nominated for an Oscar in a film where she pooped in a sink
and screamed that it was like lava.
The truth is that she actually improvised most of her dialogue in that film with the
best example coming from the scene on the airplane where she identifies the air marshall
and attempts to seduce him while he denies being an air marshall and seems relatively
disinterested.
The apex of the scene comes when McCarthy shows her physical talents by putting her
leg well above her head to showcase the "heat" coming from her nether regions.
She does end up landing the man in the end, who happened to be her real life husband.
Anchorman: Milk was a bad choice
There wouldn't be a top list of improvised moments from movies without Anchorman.
Anchorman is probably the most iconic and beloved comedy of the 00's and there's a good
reason (or 100 good reasons) for that, as it's hilarious from top to bottom, mainly
because its Will Ferrell firing on all cylinders while surrounded by some of the top comedic
minds of the time.
While it's really hard to find one moment that tops them all (and even harder to comprehend
how they ever got this film completed, as the blooper real is hysterical), it really
just boils down to personal taste and what tickles your funny bone the most.
We think it has to be the moment where Ron, in the middle of 100 degree weather, was chugging
milk with a full beard in what was basically a way by co-writer and director Adam McKay
to show that Ron had hit rock bottom (and because it just looks gross).
The improv came on the last take when Ron added to the scene "It's so damn hot...
Milk was a bad choice..."
Before you go sign up for your own improv classes, hit that subscribe button and click
that notification bell.
And since you’re here, don’t go anywhere and check out some of our other videos.