Five improvised movie scenes better than anything a writer could come up with
Have you ever been watching a movie and, mid-scene, heard a line so bizarrely specific that you think, “That couldn’t have been in the script, could it?” Chances are, you’re right—the line was ad-libbed by the actor on the day. While these improvised moments are often absurdly funny, they aren’t always played for laughs. In fact, some of the greatest improvisations in movie history have been deeply serious, adding unexpected depth to the scene.
Making movies is an extremely exacting process, and this means that scripts can often go through so many rewrites that it makes the writer’s head spin. Then, when it comes time to shoot the heavily revised screenplay, changes and alterations will crop up every day as actors, directors, and producers come up with new ideas or lines of dialogue. It is within this beautiful organised chaos that improv magic can often be found.
Maybe it happens in the form of an actor adding an iconic flourish to a line, such as when Anthony Hopkins hissed after monologuing about eating the liver of a census taker who tried to test him. Sometimes, it comes when an actor hurts themselves in the middle of a scene but continues anyway, such as when Leonardo DiCaprio cut his hand in the middle of an intense Django Unchained scene.
The five improvised scenes in this list range from lines that have entered the cultural lexicon to rambling, shaggy dog tales that couldn’t possibly have been scripted in advance. They even include speeches that manage to be both lowbrow and profoundly poignant at the same time. Here are five improvised moments that outshine anything a writer could have dreamed up.
Five improvised movie scenes better than any script:
“You talkin’ to me?” – Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
Sometimes, an ad-libbed moment by an actor becomes one of the best lines in a movie – and sometimes, it becomes an iconic line that firmly lodges itself in the public consciousness. During the last week of shooting Taxi Driver, Martin Scorsese’s seminal 1976 masterpiece, it came time to shoot the scene in which Travis Bickle looks at himself in the mirror and rehearses picking a fight with his concealed gun. The production was in a rush, and the scene included no dialogue, but Scorsese knew he wanted Bickle to speak – so he asked Robert De Niro to make something up.
After Scorsese locked the door to allow him and De Niro to work through the scene together, he revealed, “He kept saying, ‘You talkin’ to me?’ He just kept repeating it, kept repeating it.” An assistant reportedly banged on the door to hurry them because they had to leave the location, but Scorsese begged, “No, this is good, this is good. Give me another minute”.
He smiled, “It was like a jazz riff. Just like a solo.”
Amusingly, though, De Niro has always been much less forthcoming than Scorsese when talking about the improv that still follows him around nearly 50 years later. When asked by Today if it felt special to him when he uttered it, the monosyllabic actor deadpanned, “You never know with any of that stuff. You just did it”. He then refused to repeat the line throughout the interview, despite repeated attempts from host Matt Lauer to encourage him to say it.
“I’m ready to party” – Bridesmaids (Paul Feig, 2011)
In Bridesmaids, improv master Kristen Wiig truly outdid herself during the film’s hysterical aeroplane sequence. As her character Annie experiences what can only be described as a drug-induced meltdown in front of the passengers, Wiig was given free rein to draw on her Groundlings improv background. The now-iconic delivery of “I’m ready to party!” stands as the crowning achievement of the scene—funnier than anything that could have been scripted.
Interestingly, co-star Mitch Silpa, who played the distinctly unamused flight attendant Steve – or ‘Stove’, as Annie mistakenly dubs him – once revealed that they shot the first version of the scene while sticking firmly to the script. Then, for each subsequent take, Wiig was allowed to go off-piste, and it meant every single take would include a new gem that she hadn’t said before.
Silpa told Yaho: “There was one take I was like, ‘I can’t believe no one is calling ‘cut.’ I remember picking up Kristen at one point, and putting her over my shoulder and bringing her back to her seat. It was insane, but it was that fun.”
Wiig originals that particularly tickled him included Annie stating, “This should be open because it’s civil rights” and when she asked a perplexed Steve, “Are you an appliance?”
“She used to fart in her sleep” – Good Will Hunting (Gus Van Sant, 1997)
Robin Williams’ performance as Dr Sean Maguire in Good Will Hunting is easily one of the legendary comedian’s best and most affecting roles. Fittingly, he won the Academy Award for ‘Best Supporting Actor’ for his role as troubled genius Will Hunting’s therapist – and it’s possible one of the scenes that sealed the deal for the Academy included a swathe of material that wasn’t in Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s Oscar-winning script.
In one of the film’s most pivotal scenes, Maguire talks to Hunting about his late wife in the middle of a session, so the guarded young man begins to ask him about her. Instead of following what was in the script, though, Williams goes into an extended bit about how what he remembers most about his wife are the little things – such as how she used to fart in her sleep. As soon as he says this, both Williams and Damon can’t help laughing, and it’s 100 per cent genuine.
Sensing the reaction he’s getting, Williams continues his silly yet heartwarming tale. By the time he shares that his wife once farted so loudly she woke the dog—but he didn’t have the heart to tell her—Matt Damon is laughing so hard he leans forward, momentarily out of focus. Even the camera lightly shakes, as the operator couldn’t stifle their giggles. Amazingly, though, Williams ties the scene together with a poignant finish, proving that even while improvising, he never lost sight of his character.
“I’m walkin’ here” – Midnight Cowboy (John Schlesinger, 1969)
If you’re ever strolling down a busy street and you hear someone say, “I’m walkin’ here!” in a cartoonishly exaggerated New York accent, you have an iconic Dustin Hoffman improvisation to thank. The line, which has been referenced in several movies and television shows, came about when Hoffman and Jon Voight were shooting a pivotal walk-and-talk scene in John Schlesinger’s Midnight Cowboy. As Voight’s Joe Buck and Hoffman’s Ratso Rizzo come to a busy New York intersection, a yellow taxicab comes screeching into frame and almost wipes them out. In response, Rizzo angrily bangs on the bonnet and yells, “Hey! I’m walkin’ here!”
According to Hoffman, his reaction was completely improvised – although he made sure to stay in character as he said it. In 2012, he told the National Post that the film had such a low budget that it couldn’t afford to close down Sixth Avenue and fill the streets with extras. Consequently, Schlesinger, the actors, and the crew were forced to shoot the scene with real New Yorkers going about their day all around them. Amazingly, the taxi nearly hitting the two stars was entirely real, and it happened on take one.
Hoffman was startled by how close he and Voight had come to being struck, so what he really wanted to yell at the cabbie was, “Hey, we’re makin’ a movie here! And you just fucked this shot up!” However, in the moment he was savvy enough to stay in character as Rizzo. A panicked Schlesinger quickly ran up to the actors and said, “What happened?” When Hoffman told him, he thought it sounded so funny that he shot the scene again, this time with an extra driving a taxi, and that’s the shot that’s in the movie.
“It’s not the end of the world” – Shaun of the Dead (Edgar Wright, 2004)
Sometimes, you feel an existential malaise that can only be cured by your best pal making up some funny nonsense on the spot to take your mind off things. This is why the hilarious “It’s not the end of the world” scene in Edgar Wright’s rom-zom-com Shaun of the Dead is so brilliant. You see, it’s not just an incredible piece of extended improvisation by Nick Frost; it’s the kind of scene that feels more real than if it contained the most finely honed scripted jokes.
The setup for the scene is perfect. Shaun, played by Simon Pegg, has just been dumped by his girlfriend, who says he lacks ambition. So, he heads to the same pub he drinks at every night and commiserates with Ed, played by Nick Frost in his big-screen debut. Both are blissfully unaware of the impending zombie apocalypse that’s about to throw their quiet lives into disarray, which means Ed’s assertion, “It’s not the end of the world”, will never fail to raise a smile.
However, when Ed begins cheering up his despondent friend by inventing bizarre, absurd backstories for the regulars of their familiar pub, the scene firmly earns its place in the improv Hall of Fame. The script merely required the pair to meet in the pub, but the substance of their conversation was left entirely to Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. This spontaneity explains Pegg’s uncontrollable laughter, like a mischievous schoolboy hearing dirty jokes in class—because he genuinely had no idea what Frost would come up with next. Pure magic.
