Life doesn’t always go to plan and neither do the movies, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Sometimes the best moments come from quick thinking, so to celebrate Virgin Media’s super fast 360Mb broadband, we have decided to put together a list of our favourite improvised scenes from movie history.
The Shining – Here’s Johnny
Jack Nicholson’s character in The Shining was falling into a pit of madness. Nicholson helped complete that descent with this improvised line.
‘Here’s Johnny’ was made famous on the Tonight with Johnny Carson series. It was made terrifying in this scene.
Zoolander – ‘Why male models’
Derek Zoolander is an idiot. Ben Stiller clearly isn’t.
In the now infamous scene, Stiller asks David Duchovny’s character why male models become assasins. Duchovny comes back with a long-winded elaborate explanation which should put the matter to bed.
However Stiller forgot his next line. Instead of just corpsing, he hilariously reasks the same question ‘but why male models?’ This is not only funny, but also reinstates Zoolander as one of the biggest idiots ever to appear in a movie.
Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark – A gun in a knife fight
This scene should have seen Harrison Ford perform a lengthy sword fight, however Ford was struck down the night before with food poison so he didn’t have the energy to go ahead with it.
Instead he agreed this script adjustment and created one of the most infamous moments in the whole franchise.
Taxi Driver – Are you talking to me
The most famous line of Robert DeNiro’s entire career was improvised. The original script just told DeNiro to talk to himself.
The rest came directly from the actor’s feel for the character. Incredibly impressive.
The Usual Suspects – The lineup
Each actor was given just one line of dialogue. The rest came from giddiness and an eagerness to outdo one another. The result was the best scene from the film.
Star Wars – The Empire Strikes Back – I Know
When Princess Leia said ‘I love you’, Han Solo was supposed to return the sentiment but Harrison Ford felt the line didn’t suit his character so casually said ‘I know.’ Star Wars fans absolutely loved it, but we think it was a little bit of a dick move.
The Dark Knight – The Joker’s clap
Heath Ledger became this character, so it is little wonder he was able to channel the menace so well in this scene.
The Joker wasn’t actually supposed to have any interaction with this scene at all, but Ledger had different ideas.
Ireland’s best broadband just got faster! We’re talkin’ 360Mb baby! Virgin Media are now offering 360Mb broadband from €30 a month for 4 months . Now that’s super quick! See www.virginmedia.ie/broadband/ for full details.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ podcast – listen to the latest episode now!
