15 Movie Moments You Didn't Know Were Unscripted

Sometimes the best movie moments are the result of talented actors reciting perfect scripts exactly as they're written. Other times, movie magic happens when the stars are let off their leashes and given the freedom to add their own flavor to the scene! The following movie scenes are pretty iconic, and we bet you had no idea that they actually weren't even in the script to begin with! Some of them ended up happening because the actors actually forgot their lines, and were forced to come up with something better on the spot. Others took place because the stars were too deeply rooted in the characters they played to merely follow a script! While some of the improvisations are just lines (famous lines, mind you), some ad-libs take up the whole scene, and in rare cases, the whole movie. Here are 15 moments you totally didn't realize weren't really scripted to begin with.

15 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

The second Pirates of the Caribbean movie was released in 2006, and the franchise had built up quite a following since audiences got to know Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow in the first film. There are some pretty cool characters in these movies, but we all know that Captain Jack draws in the crowds and makes the magic! One of the funnier scenes in the second movie, where Captain Jack manages to get his claws on Davy Jones' heart (contained within a jar of dirt), was totally improvised! Depp had gotten permission from director Gore Verbinski to do his own thing before filming, although the rest of the cast had no idea what was going to happen. In the scene, Sparrow taunts Davy Jones by dancing around and singing about the jar of dirt he has (housing the man's heart). You can tell that the cast were genuinely surprised to see Depp prancing!

14 Mrs. Doubtfire

Realistically, this film starred Robin Williams, so did anybody expect it to be totally free of improvisation? It's safe to say that a lot of Robin's work was made up on the spot with his brilliant mind, but there's one scene in Mrs. Doubtfire in particular that was confirmed to be one big ad-lib! On the first night Daniel Hillard is pretending to be Mrs. Doubtfire in order to be closer to his kids, he tries and fails to cook dinner. He's clearly never cooked before, and he basically ends up dropping boiling water all over the floor, setting his bodysuit on fire and wasting a whole container of basil. Apparently, though, none of that was scripted! The scene is filled with hilarious quirks, including Hillard burning his food, talking to his hollandaise sauce, screaming at the top of his lungs, and putting out the fire with cooking utensils and saucepan lids.

13 Stepbrothers

Anything starring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly was bound to be funny! Stepbrothers is one of the more hilarious movies of our generation, and considering it stars two comedic geniuses, it's only natural that some of the scenes were improvised. One of the improvised scenes happens to be one of the funniest in the film: the scene where both Dale and Brennan sleepwalk in the middle of the night. Still living with their parents in their 40s, the stepbrothers both have trouble with sleep, and cause a huge ruckus in the kitchen while they're sleepwalking. They do everything from sliding couch pillows into the oven to shattering glassware and china, spilling food all over the floor and putting Brennan's mom's purse in the freezer. There are even a few tears when Brennan's mom discovers the mess. It's hard to say which of the two stepbrothers is funnier, and they have such great chemistry!

12 Bridesmaids

A few scenes in the comedy blockbuster Bridesmaids were improvised, and it's hardly surprising when you consider who was involved in this movie. This was the break that gave superstars like Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig their international platforms! McCarthy's character Megan was largely improvised, and even though not every single line was ad-libbed, McCarthy made sure to make the character her own. One of the funnier scenes that she improvised is when the ladies are on their way to Vegas and Megan is seated beside an Air Marshall. She basically suspects him of being an Air Marshal as soon as she meets him, and not only offers him help doing his job, but also flirts aggressively with him. Ben Falcone, who plays Air Marshal John (and also happens to be McCarthy's real-life husband!), said he could barely contain his laughter as she spat out one ridiculous line after another during filming.

11 The Silence of the Lambs

Is everybody else still haunted by the hissing sound Hannibal Lecter makes in The Silence of the Lambs? We know we are! As it turns out, that animal-like noise was actually a last-minute idea of Anthony Hopkins, who played Lecter. In the scene, Lecter gives a very famous speech about enjoying human liver with fava beans and Chianti, and follows it up with that memorable and incredibly disturbing sound. The whole scene ended up being so iconic that even those who haven't seen the movie can imitate it, and it's been spoofed in various parodies and other movies. The story goes that Hopkins came up with the sound during a rehearsal, and director Jonathan Demme enjoyed it so much that he kept it in. Even though it's given us nightmares, that was probably a smart idea! Not just anybody would have pulled it off, but Hopkins nailed it-which probably helped him earn the Academy Award that year.

10 Dumb & Dumber

When you've got a Farrelly Brothers script and stars like Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels, you know that you're in for a few laughs! While we're sure Dumb & Dumber would still have been hilarious without any ad-libbing, it is now blessed with side-splitting improvs that could only have come from true comedic icons. One of the improvised scenes takes place on the road to Aspen, where Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne have just picked up a hitchhiker, who is secretly trying to kill them. You end up feeling sorry for the hitman, though, because he ends up stuck between Lloyd and Harry as they argue. Eventually, he loses his temper and screams at them, but Lloyd only responds with asking, “Hey, wanna hear the most annoying sound in the world?" before yelling in his ear. The scene where Lloyd is excited over the fact that they've “landed on the moon” was also improvised by Carrey!

9 Zoolander

Derek Zoolander is an icon for Millennials, and probably the only male model whom we could actually name! For those who haven't seen it (if you exist), Zoolander, played by Ben Stiller, is a male model who is less than smart and is in the process of uncovering a secret plot to brainwash him in order to turn him into a hitman. While Zoolander is discussing male models with former hand model J.P, Prewitt, played by David Duchovny, he asks, “Why male models?” Prewitt explains his answer in depth, after which Zoolander repeats, “Why male models?” This totally fits in with Zoolander's thick character, but in actual fact, Stiller wasn't supposed to ask again. He forgot his line! So this is an example of somebody messing up, and actually making things even better! This scene just supports the concept of male models being beautiful and stupid, which is a huge part of the narrative.

8 The Shining

Many improvisations naturally fold out in comedies, however a few classic horror scenes have also been the results of witty actors knowing their characters well enough to let them loose on camera. The Shining is a horror film that was adapted from the Stephen King novel, and follows the story of writer Jack Torrance who loses his mind and then tries to kill his family. Played by Jack Nicholson, Torrance has a number of legendary lines in the film, however the most memorable is arguably when he snarls, “Heeeeere's Johnny!” after smashing through the door. This line wasn't in the script to begin with, but was actually Nicholson's take on a popular catchphrase from The Johnny Carson Show, which was very well-known at the time. The line was a little humorous, but given the context, it also added to the creepiness of the overall film. It's also probably one of the most quotable lines ever!

7 Titanic

If you ask anyone to give you a line from Titanic, nine times out of ten they'll yell at you, “I'm the king of the world!” This is what Jack Dawson (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) says as he's standing on the ship's bow and the ocean breeze is flying through his hair. Interestingly enough, this wasn't actually in the script, but was all the doing of DiCaprio himself! Considering the scene went on to become one of the most notable in the movie (and let's face it, the whole movie was basically a string of notable scenes), DiCaprio must be pretty proud of himself! Another scene in the movie that was improvised is when Dawson is teaching Rose (played by Kate Winslet) how to spit. Also, in the infamous naked drawing scene, he asks her to pose on the bed before correcting it to the couch. This was a real mistake made by DiCaprio!

6 The Devil Wears Prada

Meryl Streep is widely considered to be one of the most talented and versatile actresses of our time, so it's no surprise that she's no stranger to a little improvisation. In The Devil Wears Prada, Streep plays evil Runway editor Miranda Priestly, who struts about with an icy demeanor to hide the emptiness growing inside of her. One of the more unforgettable lines of the film takes place right at the end, after Andy (played by Anne Hathaway) has stood up to Priestly and insinuated that the whole glorious life of fame and success she's been chasing is actually not for her. Priestly devilishly responds with, “Oh, don't be ridiculous, Andrea. Everybody wants this. Everybody wants to be us." This is iconic because it reinforces how Streep's character is stuck in her ways and is doomed to live a life of silent unhappiness, and guess what? It was totally unscripted! Well played, Meryl.

5 Borat

When it was first released, many thought that Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat was a completely unscripted documentary. It has since been revealed that the documentation of one Kazakhstani man's journey to find Pamela Anderson and bring her home with him actually had its own screenplay! However, there were certain scenes that did just consist of Cohen letting lose and going with the flow of his character. One of these is when Borat has scheduled a meeting with a group of American feminists and is trying to explain to them that female brains have scientifically been proven to be smaller than male brains. About the size of a squirrel's, we believe he says. The women abandon the meeting soon after, obviously fed up with his BS. There are plenty of awkward and cringe-worthy scenes like this in Borat, and indeed, some of them were thought up by Cohen at the last minute!

4 The Hangover

The hilarity that ensues in The Hangover has gone on to find a place in the hearts of many Millennials. The characters of Alan, Phil, and Stu get themselves into a lot of trouble while they're looking throughout Las Vegas for their friend Doug, and make us laugh so much that you can barely get through a whole social gathering nowadays without at least hearing one reference to either wolf packs or satchels. Similarly, the words “Not at the table, Carlos” instantly bring up images of a baby being forced to be wildly inappropriate. This classic baby scene that went on to be one of the funniest in the whole movie was actually not in the script, but was improvised by Zach Galifianakis, who played Alan. Also, Stu's song about Mike Tyson's tiger kind of seemed out of place in the movie, and that's because it was improvised by Ed Helms!

3 Pretty Woman

Julia Roberts' laugh in Pretty Woman really helped to establish her as America's Sweetheart in the 1990s. We all remember that scene, don't we? Edward Lewis (played by Richard Gere) is taking working woman Vivian Ward (Roberts) to the opera, and presents her with an insanely OTT diamond necklace. As she reaches out to touch the jewels-probably to see if she's dreaming or not-Lewis snaps the box shut on her fingers, leading her to laugh. While this seemed like a scripted, cute moment between the two that perfectly captured their chemistry as they were falling in love, it turns out that this was just Gere being funny! Looking back on the scene, her surprised laugh in response is so honest, and his red-faced, cheeky grin is so genuine, that we can't believe we didn't pick up on this one earlier! Thankfully, the director decided to leave this joke in the film.

2 Aladdin

The Genie in Disney's Aladdin arguably made it the success that it was. Played by Robin Williams, Genie is hilarious, constantly delivering quick lines of impersonations and spoofs, sarcasm and just about every other kind of humor you'd expect of a legend like Williams. Genie's dialogue is so remarkable and hysterical that it's really hard to believe that Williams improvised nearly all of it! It's been said that the late actor recorded hours of material that was never used, and the film was even denied a Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award nomination that year because so many of Genie's lines were improvised, so they didn't really count as screenplay! Genie manages to sing, slip in sneaky impersonations of famous faces that would have gone way over the heads of the children watching, tell jokes, and still be one of the warmest, most loyal characters of all time, which was a true testament to Williams's talent!

1 The Godfather

The top unscripted movie moment on our list has earned its spot for belonging to one of the greatest movies of all time (for many people). The Godfather might not be everybody's favorite flick, but there's no denying that the film is something of a cinematic masterpiece! The unscripted moment takes place when Don Corleone is seen playing with a kitten on his lap. There was nothing in the script about having a cat in the scene though-the most common story is that the director placed it on Marlon Brando's lap just before the camera started rolling. Other sources say that Brando discovered the kitten wondering around the set and decided to bring it into the scene with him at the last minute. Having a soft spot for animals makes any character more likeable, so it turned out that having a kitty on the mob boss's lap was a good thing!