Bizarre Reasons Actors Ditched The Script

To put it simply: if you don't have a screenplay, you don't have a film. The writing process is an integral part of pre-production, laying a foundation for the finished film that can be referenced by all facets of production. For auteurs and writer-directors, the screenplay is their first opportunity to explore their own vision for the movie. For hired directors, though, scripts are often mere starting points for what will eventually be their version of the story. 

That being said, screenplays aren't bibles. It's often the case that scripts will go through vast changes up until the last minute, or even in the moment on set. Other times, directors will encourage their actors to improvise lines or go off-book in order to find some new and unexplored angles to the scene. Particularly for actors with comedic chops, having moments like these strengthen them as actors, and can often endear castmates to each other. 

Let's take a look at some times when going off-script for a moment changed the course of the film. In some of these examples, iconic moments were made out of last-minute improvisations. In others, actors flexed their grasp on their own character through ad-libs or suggestions to the director. The art of filmmaking is a collaborative one, and these movies show that sometimes the best results come from all the stars aligning on the right day at the right time. 

Robert De Niro has no need to prove himself these days; his career speaks for itself. The actor got his start in the 1970s, with films like "The Godfather Part II," "The Deer Hunter," and "Raging Bull." The latter film was one of his earliest collaborations with director Martin Scorsese, with whom he has since gone on to work with in films like "The King of Comedy," "Goodfellas," and most recently "The Irishman." The pair's extremely close working relationship, however, began in 1976 with the drama "Taxi Driver." 

De Niro stars in the now-iconic role of Travis Bickle, a Vietnam veteran whose PTSD sends him spiraling mentally. One scene that's become a particular fixture in pop culture finds Travis practicing pulling a gun in the mirror. Deranged and trying to look tough, he repeats the phrase "You talkin' to me?" to himself, coining one of the most enduring lines in cinema history. Surprisingly, this moment was not in the original script written by Paul Schrader. As Scorsese and De Niro revealed on "Today," the scene was shot during the last week of filming, with only the director and actor in the room as De Niro improvised it.

Though the scene was ad-libbed, De Niro's inspiration for the line came much earlier than the day of shooting. There have been several sources cited as the impetus of the line (e.g. Marlon Brando's performance in "Reflections in a Golden Eye,"), but it allegedly originated from Bruce Springsteen, who coined it on-stage in the 1970s (per Variety).  

A quick Google search will help movie fans find one particular viral video that's circulated on the Internet for years (per The Irish Times). The behind-the-scenes footage, shot on the set of Stanley Kubrick's seminal 1980 film "The Shining," depicts Jack Nicholson psyching himself up for the iconic moment where he tears down a door with an axe, pokes his head through, and declares, "Here's Johnny!" It's one of the most memorable scenes in cinematic history, and has been referenced in pop culture hundreds of times. 

However, it may surprise even diehard fans of "The Shining" that the line was in neither the script nor the original novel written by Stephen King, which Kubrick infamously adapted liberally into his horror classic. "The Shining" had a tumultuous production, to say the least, even setting the record for most amount of takes for a single scene (127, to be exact, for the scene where Nicholson intimidates Shelley Duvall on a staircase). The "Here's Johnny" scene in particular was shot over 60 times, meaning Nicholson tore through at least 60 doors in the process.

The iconic line, which was improvised by Nicholson on the spot, is a reference to Johnny Carson's introduction on "The Tonight Show" by Ed McMahon. Kubrick was oblivious to the reference, nearly leaving it on the cutting room floor, but ultimately it made the final cut. It's a mystery what other references Nicholson may have improvised for the other 59 takes. 

Jim Carrey was the king of studio comedies throughout the 1990s. His breakout role came with 1994's "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective," which he quickly followed up with "Liar Liar," "The Mask," and "Batman Forever" all within a few years. '94 also found him starring in "Dumb and Dumber," a Peter Farrelly movie where he co-starred with Jeff Daniels as one of two dimwitted friends. Coming hot on the heels of "Ace Ventura," the film was a career-maker for Carrey, and also helped establish a comedic career for Jeff Daniels, who at that point was known for his dramatic work.

Naturally, a film about two not-very-smart people is ripe with comedic potential. Carrey and Daniels star as Lloyd and Harry, who embark on a cross-country road trip to return a briefcase filled with ransom money to a woman who had left it for her husband's kidnappers. What ensues is a barrage of slapstick moments, including one scene where Lloyd and Harry naively pick up a hitchhiker who is actually one of the kidnappers himself. The antics that ensue throughout the scene are all the work of Carrey and Daniels improvising.

At one point, Carrey asks the kidnapper, played by Mike Starr, if he wants to hear "the most annoying sound in the world," and then proceeds to make a horrid screeching noise. As Jeff Daniels revealed to GQ, the off-script moment even visibly made him break character right before the scene cuts. 

"The Wolf of Wall Street" is one of Martin Scorsese's more unique films. Released in 2013, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jordan Belfort, a real-life New York City stockbroker whose business practices led to an FBI investigation. It features a star-studded cast, including Jonah Hill, Cristin Milioti, and Kyle Chandler, as well as a breakout performance from Margot Robbie. One of the film's most surprising scene-stealers, however, is Matthew McConaughey, who appears briefly in the film as Mark Hanna. 

During a lunch scene in which Belfort is recruited into Hanna's firm, the future law-breaker gets his first taste of the world of stockbroking. Belfort is particularly entranced by a meditative chest-thumping that Hanna does during the start of their meeting, which he's later taught. Memorable as it is, the chest-thumping wasn't in the original script; in fact, the method is actually utilized by Matthew McConaughey on movie sets to concentrate and find his voice, using a different melody for each character he plays (via The Independent).

After seeing McConaughey do it on set, DiCaprio suggested they add it into the scene, even after they had all the shots they needed. Luckily, DiCaprio's suggestion paid off, as they ended up using it in the final film. The technique ended up catching on among the film's many fans, as McConaughey has cited it as one of the things people commonly do to him on the street (via LAD Bible).

"When Harry Met Sally..." was a defining film for the romantic comedy genre. It stars Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan as the titular characters, two strangers to agree to be friends in an attempt to prove that sex always gets in the way of male-female friendships (spoiler alert: it does, but they live happily ever after anyway). Given the film's subject matter, it naturally follows that there are plenty of scenes that examine the differences between how men and women approach relationships.

One of these scenes, which takes place at Katz's Delicatessen in New York City (via Wide Open Eats), finds Harry and Sally arguing over whether or not Harry can tell the difference between a real orgasm and a fake one. In a moment that's incredibly out-of-character, Sally loudly fakes an orgasm in the middle of the deli, drawing the attention of patrons and humiliating Harry. Once it's over and Sally resumes eating her sandwich, an old woman nearby sarcastically tells a waiter, "I'll have what she's having."

The scene has become an iconic moment in cinematic history, but it was born out of improvisation between the actors (via Entertainment Weekly). Meg Ryan was the one who suggested she fake an orgasm during the writing stage, while Crystal came up with the final button on set. The old woman who says the line, in fact, is director Rob Reiner's mother. 

A "Saturday Night Live" veteran who got his start on the second season of NBC's late-night sketch series, Bill Murray went on to become one of the biggest comedy movie stars on the '80s and '90s, earning icon status with "Ghostbusters," "Caddyshack," "Groundhog Day," and "Scrooged." But he began shifting from blockbuster laugh riots to offbeat dramedies with projects like Tim Burton's "Ed Wood" and Wes Anderson's "Rushmore," and by the new millennium his career was in a new phase. In 2003, Murray starred in "Lost in Translation" from writer-director Sophia Coppola, who won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for the film. Murray earned an Oscar nomination for Best Actor for his performance, which went on to become one of his most acclaimed.

Murray stars in the film alongside Scarlett Johansson in one of her earliest roles, as a young woman who Murray's character befriends during a work trip to Tokyo. The two spend the whole movie orbiting around each other, bonding over the difficulties in their respective marriages without ever crossing the line into a physical relationship, save for a kiss they share at the end. The finale became a huge talking point in discussions about the film, particularly due to a moment where Murray's character whispers something in Johansson's ear that the audience doesn't get to hear.

According to Coppola (via Creative Screenwriting), the whisper was an unscripted improvisation by Bill Murray, who came up with it after the writer-director expressed dissatisfaction with her own dialogue. Just what his character is whispering has, since the film's release, become the subject of speculation and theories, but the actors and filmmakers agree it's best left as a secret between the two characters (per Vulture).