5 Amazing Scenes That Were Unscripted

By: Keith Mitchell w/Chestpoundfilms

When it comes to movie scripts, dialogue can be a tough matter to work with. Bad dialogue is painfully obvious and it’s easy for something to sound unnatural or forced. Sometimes, the most memorable lines come from allowing the actors to completely immerse themselves in the scene- dubbing the lines with what they feel the character would personally say.

This week Chestpound’s film blog looks at five incredible scenes that were invented through the art of improvisation. 5 Amazing Scenes That Were Unscripted.

1. 50/50 (2011) Shaved Head

The 2011 film 50/50 is based loosely on the screenwriter, Will Reiser’s own experience with cancer. The film stars, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen and Anna Kendrick.

To kick things off, on the first day of shooting, Joseph lost all of his hair. According to Rogen, they had only one take to nail the scene since Joseph was literally shaving his head. Joseph describes the experience as being terrifying. But the actor has a serious poker face; the scene is just as natural as ever. All the dialogue was improvised. The scene actually became one of the most memorable moments for the movie.

2. Goodfellas (1990) You Think I'm Funny?

Following the rise and fall of Henry Hill and the rest of his mob family is Goodfellas (1990), directed by Martin Scorsese. During the filming, actors had free reign with most of their dialogue. Often they’d improvise and ad-lib during rehearsals, keeping transcripts of the sessions, which would later be included in the scripts.

Joe Pesci’s famous tension filled ‘You Think I’m Funny?’ scene came from an incident Pesci had with a real mobster.

3. Taxi Driver (1976) Mirror Monologue

Directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Paul Schrader, Taxi Driver (1976) is regularly cited as one of the greatest films of all time. The movie follows a mentally unstable veteran, played by Robert De Niro, working as a taxi driver during the nightshift, while trying to save a preadolescent prostitute.

If you were to read the script for Taxi Driver during De Niro’s unforgettable mirror scene, it would translate to “Travis looks in the mirror.” It took an actor like De Niro to transform a single action into the #8 entry in The Greatest Movie Lines by Premiere.

4. The Other Guys (2010) Tuna Vs. Lion

Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell had excellent chemistry on the set for the movie The Other Guys, released in 2010.

The movie was about two New York detectives, completely opposite of each other, forced to cooperate in solving a high profile investigation. While the core of the scenes was scripted, the cast would spend an additional three to four hours improvising. This resulted in the hilarious Tuna vs. Lion scene.

5. Training Day (2001) Rant

When the part in Training Day was offered to Denzel Washington back in 2001, it was the first time the Oscar winning actor would play the role of a bad guy-something he should do more often. The movie followed a corrupt narcotics officer training a rookie over a 24 hour period.

Denzel became so attached to the character and the freedom to say whatever he wanted- he stated Alonzo as being one of his favorite characters. During the filming, the director, Antoine Fuqua numerously encouraged Denzel to improvise- resulting in a very powerful scene where he’s screaming at real gang members.