It is often said that a great script doesn’t always make a great movie. Some scripts may be brilliant works of arts but the end result doesn’t live up to the literature. On the other hand, a simple script can often turn into a brilliant movie.
One one more side of the spectrum, straying away from the source material can be just as brilliant too. Many of the world’s most famous movies have parts that were not even in the original script. So, here’s 6 improvised movie scenes that became iconic.
6. The 40-Year-Old Virgin – The Waxing Scene
In order to appeal more to the ladies, Steve Carell‘s character Andy goes to have his chest waxed. What you see on the screen in this hilarious scene is completely real. Although this scene was written in the script, the majority of the dialogue was improvised, and most of that made it’s way into the final movie. When speaking about the highlights of his career with GQ, Seth Rogen explained how as part of his co-producer role on The 40-Year-Old Virgin, he was given writing assignments by director Judd Apatow. On the day of filming this scene, Rogen was tasked with writing a list of clean and dirty things for Carell to shout out while he was having his chest waxed. Out of that list, the famous “Kelly Clarkson” line made its way to the final cut and became iconic.
5. Django Unchained – The Dinner Table Injury
One of the most famous improvised movie scenes comes from Quentin Tarantino‘s Oscar-winning Western movie, Django Unchained. Tarantino is known for being incredibly meticulous with his material and typically does not let actors ad-lib or improvise. However, in a scene where the twisted Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio) slams his hand down on the table in rage, DiCaprio cut himself on a glass but kept going with the scene. As a result, his co-star Kerry Washington was covered in his blood in one of the movie’s most memorable and shocking scenes.
4. The Wolf of Wall Street – The Chest Beat Scene
Oscar-winner Matthew McConaughey has a very unique way of warming up for a scene, pounding his chest and humming a song. While filming a scene in the 2013 crime drama The Wolf of Wall Street, director Martin Scorsese was happy with the take and ready to move on. However, co-star Leonardo DiCaprio asked McConaughey about his technique and suggested adding it into the scene. When featuring on Independents podcast Kernels, McConaughey shed some light on the scene, saying: “I explained what I just explained to you and he goes “Well you wanna try that in the scene?” and I said “sure.” So the next take I just did it at the beginning of the scene, but I remember thinking, ‘well, now do it at the end of the conversation to see if the young turk – who you just taught what Wall Street is all about – see if he’s on the same frequency, see if he gets it,’ and so we ended up bookending the scene with it and that was the take we used.”
3. Taxi Driver – “You talkin’ to me?”
Taxi Driver is one of the most iconic movies ever made. The story follows Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro), a mentally unstable war veteran who works nights as a taxi driver in New York City. As the decadence and sleaze of the city begins to take its toll on him, he slowly descends into madness, leading to a violent showdown as he attempts to clean up the streets.
In the movie, the scene where Bickle talks to himself in the mirror is a key moment that shows just how low he has sunk into mental health deterioration. However, this segment belongs into the improvised movie scenes repertoire as it was not originally scripted. Martin Scorsese actually instructed De Niro to make something up on the spot while looking into the mirror. From this, the iconic line “You talkin’ to me?” was born, and has since become one of the most quoted lines in cinema history.
2. Midnight Cowboy – “Hey, I’m walkin’ here!”
Midnight Cowboy is a gritty yet poignant film that follows the unlikely friendship between Joe Buck, a naive Texan played by Jon Voight, and Ratso Rizzo, a street-smart hustler portrayed by Dustin Hoffman, as they navigate the seedy underbelly of New York City. Midnight Cowboy was nominated for seven Oscars and took home three, including the coveted Best Picture. It has since become a classic, captivating audiences and inspiring countless filmmakers. However, it’s most iconic feature is undoubtedly the famous like “Hey, I’m walkin’ here.”
This legendary line has not only become one of the most iconic quotes in cinema history, it has also worked its way into everyday pop culture, meaning many might not even know where the commonly used phrase originally came from. According to Hoffman, this line was totally improvised when a real-life taxi nearly hit him while crossing the street in the scene. The movie had a modest budget of $3.6 million, which wasn’t small but wasn’t as big as other movies of that era. For that reason, scenes were filmed with limited extras, meaning real-life people often got in the way of filming, supposedly including the cab driver.
1. Goodfellas – “Funny how?”
Martin Scorsese’s gangster classic Goodfellas saw Joe Pesci take home an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. It’s fair to say that one scene in particular led to this glory. In one of the most iconic improvised movie scenes of all time, Pesci’s Tommy DeVito goes on a frenetic rant when his friend Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) calls him funny. The tension escalates as everyone in the room goes silent as Tommy’s menace bubbles. Eventually, he lets out an evil laugh that could rival The Joker and the tension is cut. However, the menace lingers. This scene was not originally scripted and is actually based on a real-life encounter Pesci had when he was younger and working as a waiter. After relaying the anecdote to Scorsese, he decided to add it into the movie.
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