Some famous movie moments were improvised; few are accurately described as “completely improvised.” The distinction matters: a performer might invent one line inside a scripted scene, respond to an accident, or improvise dialogue while following a planned route and ending. The 20 examples below come from Backstage’s selection, last updated July 27, 2026. They are reported anecdotes, not a definitive ranking, and their sourcing is not equally strong.
What “improvised” means in a movie
Improvisation can refer to dialogue, a gesture, a physical gag, or a performance choice. It can also describe dialogue created within a scene whose setup and outcome were already planned. That is different from a film made largely without a script.
Director Rob Reiner described This Is Spinal Tap as improvised except for Patrick Macnee’s “Tap into America” speech, while noting that set pieces such as Stonehenge and the amplifier that goes to 11 were planned. Adam McKay estimated that “probably about 25 percent” of the footage that made it into Anchorman was improvised. Neither account means every part of either film was made up on the spot. Reiner’s BFI interview; McKay on Fresh Air.
Backstage’s list is useful as a guide to memorable examples, but a direct interview was not located for every anecdote. The descriptions below identify the reported spontaneous element and avoid treating every story as equally verified.
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20 reported improvised movie moments
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Casablanca (1942): “Here’s looking at you, kid”
Backstage reports that Humphrey Bogart used the toast while teaching Ingrid Bergman poker and brought it into the film. The anecdote describes a line carried from an off-camera interaction into a scripted movie, not an improvised scene.
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Midnight Cowboy (1969): “I’m walkin’ here!”
The familiar account says Dustin Hoffman’s line was a reaction to a real taxi running a red light during a street shot. If so, the spontaneous element was the character’s response to an unexpected event, within a planned production.
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A Clockwork Orange (1971): Alex dances to “Singin’ in the Rain”
Backstage reports that Malcolm McDowell began dancing after director Stanley Kubrick asked whether he could dance. The movement was an improvised performance choice; the account does not establish that the surrounding scene was unscripted.
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The Godfather (1972): Vito Corleone and the cat
According to Backstage, the cat was found on the studio lot and placed in Marlon Brando’s lap shortly before filming. Its presence and Brando’s interaction with it were therefore an unplanned physical element. The list also credits Richard Castellano with adding “Take the cannoli” to his line, another reported dialogue change.
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Jaws (1975): “You’re gonna need a bigger boat”
Backstage describes the line as a crew joke that Roy Scheider repeated in takes until it remained in the film. That makes it a repeated ad-lib, rather than evidence that the whole shark-attack scene was improvised.
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Taxi Driver (1976): Travis talks to the mirror
The reported account says the script called for Travis to talk to himself but did not provide the words. Robert De Niro’s mirror monologue is thus presented as improvised dialogue within a scripted situation.
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Annie Hall (1977): the sneeze into the cocaine
Backstage characterizes Woody Allen’s sneeze as accidental and retained in the finished film. It is best understood as an on-set accident captured on camera, not a deliberate actor invention.
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The Shining (1980): “Here’s Johnny!”
Backstage reports that Jack Nicholson added the line at the broken door. The anecdote concerns a spontaneous line in a scene whose action—the door being broken through—was part of the film’s planned sequence.
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The Empire Strikes Back (1980): Han Solo’s “I know”
According to Backstage, Harrison Ford replaced the scripted “I love you, too” with “I know” in response to Leia’s declaration. The reported improvisation is one line, not the entire exchange or scene.
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Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981): Indy shoots the swordsman
Backstage presents this famous beat as a production-time shortcut: Harrison Ford was ill in the heat, and the scene was changed from a more elaborate fight. This is a practical alteration to planned action, not simply an actor inventing a gag.
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The Breakfast Club (1985): the detention-circle confessions
The reported account says John Hughes gave the actors broad direction and they supplied personal details for the characters’ confessions. The scene had a clear dramatic purpose, while some of its specifics came from the performers.
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Goodfellas (1990): Tommy’s “Funny how?” exchange
Backstage says Joe Pesci and Ray Liotta developed the exchange in rehearsal and it was omitted from the shooting script. That points to dialogue shaped collaboratively before filming, rather than a line invented in the middle of a take.
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Pretty Woman (1990): the snapping jewelry box
The jewelry-box closing on Julia Roberts’s fingers is reported as an intended prank that elicited her genuine reaction. The unplanned element was her response to the gag; the scene itself was staged.
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The Fugitive (1993): “I don’t care!”
Backstage reports that Tommy Lee Jones reduced pages of dialogue to the short line during shooting. The change is described as a substantial condensation of scripted dialogue, not an improvised scene from beginning to end.
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Lost in Translation (2003): Bob’s whispered farewell
The account says the farewell whisper was unscripted and kept after planned replacement dialogue did not work. The film leaves the words inaudible to viewers; the reported improvisation is the choice to whisper, not a publicly established transcript of what was said.
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The Dark Knight (2008): the Joker’s slow clap
Backstage describes Heath Ledger’s slow clap in the holding cell as an unscripted gesture. It is a performance beat within a written scene, rather than improvised dialogue.
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Get Out (2017): Rod’s riffs
Lil Rel Howery’s TSA jokes and police-station rant are reported as improvised within a script that left room for riffing. The important qualification is that the film provided a scripted framework; the material was not necessarily invented without prompts or boundaries.
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Thor: Ragnarok (2017): “He’s a friend from work!”
Backstage reports that a child visiting the set suggested Chris Hemsworth’s line. It is a prompted line, not wholly actor-originated improvisation. The list also reports an estimate that roughly 80% of the film was improvised, but the original interview for that figure was not located, so it should not be treated as established here.
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Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019): Rick Dalton’s trailer meltdown
Leonardo DiCaprio’s rant is reported as improvised from topics Quentin Tarantino supplied. This is a useful example of bounded improvisation: the actor riffed, but within prompts from the director.
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Sinners (2025): Delta Slim’s shift into song
Backstage reports that Delroy Lindo spontaneously moved from speech into song, a choice director Ryan Coogler credited with affecting the scene. The reported moment is a performance choice, not a claim that the film or full sequence was improvised.
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How planned scenes leave room for improvisation
A route or endpoint can be fixed while dialogue stays open
For the truck sequence in Licorice Pizza, Alana Haim told TIME, “Everything I said in that scene was improvised, but I could only come up with the truth.” Director Paul Thomas Anderson said they established a starting point, an ending point, and a route without telling the actors exactly what would happen. This is a clear case of improvised dialogue inside a bounded sequence, not a scene without structure. Haim and Anderson in TIME, November 23, 2021.
Loose performance does not mean a whole production was unscripted
Tim Matheson told the Library of Congress that “Most of the time we followed the script” on Animal House. He recalled that his scene with the dean’s wife was not really blocked out and that small mishaps happened as filming continued. That account supports a narrower point: a scene may accommodate spontaneity without the film as a whole being improvised. Matheson’s Library of Congress interview, August 2021.
Encouragement to improvise can be limited to a particular scene
Discussing Oppenheimer, Emily Blunt told the BFI, “I don’t think there was any need to rewrite or improv anything.” Cillian Murphy, however, recalled that the roundtable scene with Robert Downey Jr. was deliberately loose and the actors were encouraged to improvise while talking over one another. Those statements can coexist: one describes Blunt’s experience of the film’s writing, the other a specific scene’s performance approach. BFI interview, December 11, 2023.
Quick Recap
How to judge an “improvised scene” claim
- Identify the improvised element: Was it a line, gesture, movement, reaction, or a larger stretch of dialogue?
- Separate the setup from the performance: A scene may have a written objective, blocking, route, or endpoint even when performers invent what they say.
- Ask who initiated it: The change may come from an actor, director, another performer, a prompt from someone on set, or an accident.
- Look for the attribution: A direct interview with a participant provides firmer support than a repeated anecdote without a primary account. Backstage is the source for the 20 examples here, but the individual stories are not all independently corroborated.
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