50 Times Actors Went Totally Off Script And Wound Up Making Movie Magic
Here’s a movie quiz question. Marlon Brando, Gregory Peck, John Malkovich, John Belushi. What does that highly unlikely gang have in common? Answer: They’re all actors who have improved a film with some crackerjack off-the-cuff improvisation. Read on to find out about the top times that kind of movie magic has happened.
50. Roy Scheider, Jaws
In rogue-shark classic Jaws, Roy Scheider’s character Brody sees the massive fish for the first time while aboard the boat hunting for the beast. He tells the skipper, “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.” Apparently, the line originated as a crew in-joke because the support boat on the movie wasn’t big enough. But Scheider ad-libbed it to exemplary dramatic effect at just the right time.
49. Leonardo DiCaprio, Django Unchained
It was an action by Leonardo DiCaprio rather than a line that stole one particular scene in Django Unchained, despite not being scripted. Playing Calvin Candie, DiCaprio angrily confronts Django, played by Jamie Foxx. Slamming his hand into a table, DiCaprio actually sliced his mitt on broken glass, and the bleeding seen on screen is real. But the imperturbable actor carried on with the scene, which was included in the film.
48. Bill Murray, Caddyshack
You’ll remember the scene from Caddyshack, known as the Cinderella Story, when Bill Murray destroys a row of flowers with a golf club. Actually, according to the script, Murray was meant to decapitate the flowers with a grass whip. But he grabbed a golf club instead, making it just much funnier. Murray actually ad-libbed much of his part in the movie, including the Cinderella segment, giving us one of the comic actor’s most accomplished performances.
47. Tom Hanks, Forrest Gump
If ever two sentences summed up a title character and even the whole ethos of a movie they have to be, “My name’s Forrest Gump. People call me Forrest Gump.” Bubba Blue, played by Mykelti Williamson, introduces himself to Gump. The latter responds with his famous lines. And those words weren’t from the script — Tom Hanks improvised them on the spot.
