Our favorite movies and TV shows are our favorites for a reason — usually, how talented the cast is has a lot to do with it, and an essential skill for an actor is being able to stay in character and think quickly, coming up with new material on the fly. That means that even the most iconic scenes in some of the biggest and most legendary movies weren't even in the original scripts, yet they've become what we remember and love most about them today.
There are a number of great TV and movie moments that weren't originally included in the scripts, and it includes a lot of surprising scenes that we definitely didn't predict weren't planned ahead of time. Some of them are as small as an improvised line or laugh that changed an entire scene, while others are last minute additions from directors that ended up being more important than they could have guessed at the time. Shows like The Office and Schitt's Creek have made the list right along with movies including Pretty Woman, and even The Godfather.
Read on for the most iconic scenes that almost didn't make it into these shows and movies. We can't imagine them not existing, but they might not have if not for these actors' and directors' talents for thinking on their feet.
'Pretty Woman'
In Pretty Woman, there's a scene where Richard Gere's character snaps a jewelry box shut just as Julia Roberts' character reaches for it, and she starts laughing. But according to what director Garry Marshall told the American Film Institute, that wasn't in the script — her laugh was totally authentic, so they decided to keep it in.
'How I Met Your Mother'
The scene where Marshall finds out his father has died on How I Met Your Mother is one of the most gut-wrenching scenes of all time, and it ended up being so heartbreaking because Jason Segel didn't read ahead in the script — so he had no idea what sad news his character would be getting in the episode, according to what showrunner Carter Bays told Entertainment Weekly.
'Parenthood'
After Mae Whitman's character, Amber, gets into a car accident that almost kills her, her grandfather, Zeke (Craig T. Nelson), gives her a speech about how her dying would have affected his life. According to what Mae told Entertainment Weekly, he improvised the whole thing, and it made her cry real tears.
"I went into that scene and didn't know what he was going to say … so all my reactions in that scene are totally surprised and genuine," she said.
'The Godfather'
In the opening monologue of The Godfather, Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) is petting a cat as he speaks — something that director Francis Ford Coppola has said was a totally last-minute decision, according to Time.
"The cat in Marlon's hands was not planned for. I saw the cat running around the studio, and took it and put it in his hands without a word," Coppola said.
'Schitt's Creek'
There are so many fun quirks that make Moira Rose who she is on Schitt's Creek, but one of them — the way she pronounces the word baby "bébé" — was all Catherine O'Hara herself, as the actress told Vulture.
"I said 'bébé' as a joke or a mistake the first time," O'Hara told the site. "Once I hit on 'bébé' and got a laugh from the crew, that was it."
'Clueless'
When Cher gives her debate speech in Clueless in front of the class, she mispronounces Haitians as Haiti-ans, and nobody told Alicia Silverstone to do that — that was all her.
"It wasn't written that way in the script, but that's how [she] said it," director Amy Heckerling told Vice. "Everybody started to run towards her to correct her and I had to kind of block them all, like 'Step away from the actress!' I didn't want her to act; I just wanted her to feel that confidence."
'New Girl'
Why is Schmidt so hilarious on New Girl? In part, that's due to actor Max Greenfield — and his many pronunciations and little quirks came from him. "Whenever I'm gonna do it, whenever I see a word that I think to myself, 'I'm going to lay into that one,' I always get excited, and I probably break in the first take. And no one else laughs," he told Entertainment Weekly.
'Parks & Recreation'
When Leslie (Amy Poehler) is complaining about her flu symptoms on Parks & Rec, Andy (Chris Pratt), tells her, "Leslie, I typed your symptoms into the thing up here and it says you could have network connectivity problems!" That line wasn't in the script, as showrunner Michael Schur told AV Club, Chris came up with that himself.
'Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets'
There's a scene in Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets where Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) says he's wearing his glasses because he was reading, and Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) snaps that he didn't know he could read. On Facebook Watch, Tom said that director Chris Columbus added that line in last-minute.
'Jaws'
The line "you're gonna need a bigger boat" is what we remember most from Jaws, but that wasn't in the original script, either. Screenwriter Carl Gottlieb told The Hollywood Reporter that it was actually something members of the crew were saying to each other on set, and it naturally ended up in the movie at just the right time.
'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory'
According to a letter that Gene Wilder wrote to director Mel Stuart via Letters of Note, he would only take the role of Willy Wonky if he got to make up Wonka's grand entrance in the movie. And that he did, pretending to be old and walk with a cane before showing he was actually very spry.
'Stranger Things'
When Eleven collapses into Mike's arms out of exhaustion in Stranger Things season three, that was totally real. According to what director Shawn Levy told TV Insider, they'd been shooting for four 10- to 12-hour days, and Millie Bobby Brown was actually that tired. Can't blame her!
'Bridesmaids'
The scene in Bridesmaids where everyone gets food poisoning while shopping for wedding dresses is pretty hilarious, but David Yeoman told HuffPost it was added to the script last-minute.
"They brought those pages in and said, 'This is what we're going to do,' and I remember at the time being a little horrified by the whole thing and thinking, 'Oh my gosh, how are we going to do this,'" Yeoman said. "That's not something that I personally was a big fan of, but a lot of people really love that scene."
'Crazy Stupid Love'
In Crazy Stupid Love, Ryan Gosling's character gives Emma Stone's character the famous lift from Dirty Dancing during a date, and even though that's definitely one of the most memorable moments from the movie, that wasn't in the script, either. As director John Requa told Entertainment Weekly, Ryan had actually admitted to using that move on women in real life, so they put it in.
'Grey's Anatomy'
There's a scene in Grey's Anatomy where Jo (Camilla Luddington) is so excited she kisses her husband, Alex (Justin Chambers) before kissing Arizona (Jessica Capshaw). As Camilla told fans on Twitter, she actually did that on the fly, because she thought it would be funny.
… and it was.
'The Office'
After finding out that Oscar (Oscar Nuñez) is gay on The Office, Michael (Steve Carell) kisses him on the lips in the episode "Gay Witch Hunt." That moment was improvised, as they were just supposed to hug, Oscar told AV Club.
"That particular take he came in really close, and I'm like, 'Where is he going with this?' And then I'm just thinking, 'Oh God, nobody laugh so we can use it.' And they didn't, and it worked perfectly. It was a lot of fun," he said.
'Riverdale'
There's a scene in Riverdale where Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch) was drowning in an icy lake, and Archie (KJ Apa) had to save her. He wasn't actually supposed to punch the ice, but he did, and as he told TVLine, he ended up breaking his hand in the process.
"I wasn't really punching the ice, I just got a little bit too excited, and I was punching a foam mat … sitting on the ice, but I was just kind of going for it, do you know what I mean? And it was cold, so I didn't really feel it," he said.
'Django Unchained'
When Leonardo DiCaprio slammed his hand down on the table in Django Unchained, he did it with such force that he ended up getting cut with glass, but filming wasn't over. He kept slamming his hand on that table, getting blood everywhere, which definitely wasn't planned. As producer Stacey Sher told Variety, he didn't break character once.
'Raiders of the Lost Ark'
According to what Harrison Ford wrote on Reddit, while he was filming Raiders of the Lost Ark, a fight scene had to be cut because he came down with dysentery and wasn't able to be away from his trailer for long — so last-minute changes had to be made.
"The poor guy was a wonderful British stuntman who had practiced his sword skills for months in order to do this job, and was quite surprised by the idea that we would dispatch him in five minutes," Ford said.
'The Haunting of Hill House'
To keep the scares authentic in The Haunting of Hill House, director Mike Flanagan told Victoria Pedretti to jump up and scare her co-stars sooner than expected.
"Elizabeth and Kate were just in the scene and they knew they had another half page of words to get through before Victoria would appear, and she just bolted up right in the middle of their lines, and so their reaction is completely genuine," Flanagan told Entertainment Weekly.
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