Iconic Movie Moments You Will Not Believe Were Improvised

Planning is everything. Scripts are almost scientific in their creation. They are written in a very specific way that is designed to steers the audience’ journey through the narrative and through the varying desired emotional states.

But with so many lines to remember, it’s no wonder that occasionally an actor will be forced to improvise. Much to the dismay of screenwriters, and Directors, alike, actors will often ad-lib and improvise during their scenes.

Occasionally these moments of impromptu improv become immortalised as some of the most memorable and iconic moments in cinematic history.

You may be astounded to see just how many of cinemas most iconic moments were improvised.

6. RoboCop (1987)

The blood spit.

In the scene where Clarence Boddicker (Kurtwood Smith) is hauled into the police station after losing his one-on-one with Robocop. He is manhandled to the front desk and presented to the Desk Sergeant. Boddicker, then spits blood onto the paperwork on the desk and says, "Just give me my f*ckin' phone call!"

This was mostly unscripted. Smith and Verhoeven had discussed doing something to liven up the scene but nothing was ever finalized. So, Smith decided that he would improvise.

You can tell this was improvised by the utterly shocked and bewildered look on all the faces of the extras in the scene. Take a look at the scene, again, it’s classic.

5. Saving Private Ryan (1998)

Ryan’s Brothers.

In the scene with Captain Miller (Tom Hanks) and Private Ryan (Matt Damon) where the two are sat swapping stories about home. Damon proceeds to tell Hanks a very long and detailed story about his brothers, family and the old barn.

This story was completely made up by Damon at the time and Spielberg liked it so much that they kept the take and used it in the movie.

4. Jaws (1975)

Bigger boat.

In the scene where Police Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) sees that monstrous shark for the first time, he stands up looking terrified and completely astonished and says, "You're going to need a bigger boat.”

This is probably one of cinemas most parodied lines and it was totally off-the-cuff. And, he wasn’t wrong!

3. Taxi driver (1976)

You talkin’ to me?

In this scene, we see Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) talking to himself in the mirror. This scene has no official script, at all. Paul Schrader (Screenwriter), simply wrote, "Travis talks to himself in the mirror".

De Niro totally improvised the whole scene where he talks to his deranged self in the mirror.

Outside of the above, Jaws, example, “You talkin’ to me?” is one of the most iconic lines ever delivered in the movies. It was instrumental in rocketing the young De Nero to the stratospheric heights of Hollywood stardom.

2. The Shinning (1980)

Here's Johnny!

In the scene where Wendy Torrance (Shelley Duval) hides in the bathroom from the deranged and insane former-novelist Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson). Nicholson uses an axe to break through the door. After several attempts at getting through, he is able to smash a small hole through the centre of the door.

The door was supposed to break up easier than it did in the movie but Nicholson saw an opportunity in this and decided to stop breaking through and stick just his head through to imply an even more unhinged approach to the scene.

Nicholson then goes on to say, "Here's Johnny!" – a catchphrase made popular by Ed McMahon of The Tonight Show which starred Johnny Carson.

The line was totally improvised and not in any way scripted. It was all Nicholson’s incredible character acting.

1.The Dark Knight (2008)

Slow clap.

In this scene, the incredibly talented Heath Ledger, is sat in prison as The Joker. While he waits in his cell, Mayor Garcia (Nestor Carbonell) decides that he is going to promote Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) to the more familiar position of, Commissioner.

This is then celebrated by all the officers in the room. While they all applaud, Ledger decided that he would, too, clap slowy. This scene is brilliantly unnerving – the Joker never changes his expression and even with no emotion or emotive expression portrayed, you feel uneasy and a afraid for Gordon.

This is a simply but brilliant example of improvisation – what a star!