There are some filmmaking blunders that make the film much better thanks to improvisations by professional actors, and the viewer has no idea that the scene was not originally planned that way. Here are 15 of them, from films that everyone knows.
1. The Godfather (1972)
The following iconic scene was not originally intended to feature a cat. But he walked up to the shot and jumped onto the lap of Marlon Brando, who didn’t fall out of character and ended up doing so well that they kept him.
2. 40-year-old virgin (2005)
Steve Carell had the choice of either doing the waxing scene with a mask, possibly with special effects, or actually waxing it. He chose the latter, and his facial expression is as sincere as possible.
3. Rocky (1976)
Because there was very little money available to make the film, many scenes were shot on the street, not with extras, but with real people who didn’t really know what was happening. The scene where they throw an orange at Stallone was also not planned.
4. The Dark Knight (2008)
Heath Ledger’s famous Joker stunt was also an improvisation, but Christopher Nolan liked it so much he kept it.
5. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
In the scene where Éowyn looks into the distance, it wasn’t originally planned for the flag to come down. But it’s such a tease that it was eventually left in.
Mrs. Doubtfire – Daddy’s Only One (1993)
In the scene where the ice cream drips off Robin Williams’ face and straight into Mrs. Sellner’s tea, Robin improvised the line, “Oh, now the sugar and cream are in, ready for a tea cappuccino!”
7. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Peter (Chris Pratt) accidentally dropped and then caught the orb, but he did it so well that he didn’t fall out of character, so they kept the scene.
8. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
The famous scene was originally planned to have Indiana Jones fight the warrior in black, but Harrison Ford had indigestion and improvised to cut the scene short. The director thought it was genius and so the scene was not reshot.
Thor: Dark World (2013)
Originally Chris Hemsworth was only joking when he hung his hammer on his coat hanger, but the crew liked it and left it in the film.
10. Forrest Gump (1994)
When Forrest first meets B.B. on the bus, Tom Hanks accidentally says the second half of the following sentence, “My name is Forrest Gump. They call me Forrest Gump.”
Avengers (2012)
During filming, Robert Downey Jr. refused to stop snacking, so the director had to take that into account when doing these scenes.
12. Django on the loose (2012)
During the making of this film, Leonardo DiCaprio actually cut his hand, which was not planned, but since no one was out of character, they kept the scene.
13 Common Criminals (1995)
The scene in the film where they laugh during identification was also not planned. In fact, they started laughing because one of them couldn’t stop farting.
14. A woman’s scent (1992)
In the scene below, Al Pacino fell completely by accident, but the actor was so professional that he kept his part even while doing it.
15 The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
The famous chest thumping was actually Matthew McConaughey calming himself down on set and was DiCaprio’s idea to put in the film.
