With the exception of the “The gene, Ebbet’s Field, and my Mickey Mantle model Louisville Slugger” speech, all of Denis Leary’s lines in Suicide Kings were improved.
CMC fnord!
He he, I trade ya my busket for a pair of fish boots.
See Miller’s post, above.
**tng pss*, pprntl.
According to this, the script by David Peoples included:
‘I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe.
Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.
I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.’
and Hauer just ad-libbed:
'All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.
Time to die."
The enduring mystery for me remains who was it that Roy Batty was fighting in those epic battles?
He was just watching.
Semprini?
The Blair Witch Project begins with interviews with the locals ostensibly recorded by the film student protagonists for their documentary on the Blair Witch legend. These were largely improvised with area residents recruited by the filmmakers. One woman begins with the line “So, what do I know about the Blair Witch?”, whereupon her toddler daughter reaches up to cover her mouth, protesting “Mommy, No!”
The mother and actors are obviously startled, and chuckle uneasily, before the mother continues with her lines. It’s an effectively creepy moment that was apparently completely unplanned, and effectively ad-libbed by a little girl sincerely upset by the mention of a witch. Good job by the other participants too, in rolling with the unexpected line so that it could be used.
Dreyfuss may have come up with the line- I don’t know, I’ll take your word for it- but it’s spoken by Chief Brody (Roy Scheider). He says it after backing into the cabin in a daze after the shark surfaced while he was chumming.
In Good Will Hunting, Sean Maguire’s (Robin Williams) story to Matt Damon’s character about Maguire’s wife’s farts was completely ad-libbed, and Damon’s hysterics are real.
Couple of minor nitpicks:
The guy had a big ol’ honkin’ sword, not a whip.
Aaaaand I see the second one was already covered by corkboard, so never mind.
Remember when Billy Crystal used to host the Oscars? I remember the below incident quite well.
“To top it off, Crystal brought the house down with a genuine ad-lib when 100-year-old Hal Roach, who was supposed to stand and bow but not speak, suddenly launched into an unmiked, inaudible speech. “I think that’s fitting,” he said, “because Mr. Roach started in silent films.””
The Master speaks:
Also in Raiders … I remember reading years ago that Ford ad-libbed “It’s not the years, honey, it’s the mileage.”
Contrapuntal said:
I believe he went on to mediocre success in the industry. The diarrhea did not hold him back.
Speaking of which (the actor, not the diarrhea)
Star Wars, the scene in the jail where Han speaks into the console to try to keep security from coming while Luke is rescuing Leia, that was improved.
The Usual Suspects, there’s a lineup scene with all the con men. Some of those clips are ad-libbed. You can tell from the pacing of the scene and the way they cut out, the actors were goofing around.
Blgim.
I don’t know that this is true, but I had read that a lot of the dialogue from the dancers in “Dancing at the Blue Iguana” was unscripted. If that’s the case, I’d say that Jennifer Tilly and Sandra Oh did pretty good jobs. Daryl Hanna, not so much.
So, only the ending was ad-libbed? Good enough for me. It’s a good ending.
In Cape Fear, the whole scene with DeNiro and Juliette Lewis in the auditorium was ad-libbed, including when DeNiro kissed her. Her surprised reaction was completely natural.
DeNiro also famously ad-libbed the entire “You talkin’ to me” scene in Taxi Driver.
Jack Nicholson ad-libbed the “Heeere’s Johnny!” line from The Shining.
In Bull Durham, when the little kid tells Crash “Get a hit, Crash!” Kevin Costner ad-libbed the reply “Shut up!” which made the kid start crying. Then Costner retired from acting on that career high point and was never heard from again.
Shouldn’t this be in the “If The Universe Were Ruled By A Benevolent God” thread?
I thought she was great at being a completely clueless person. I’ve never watched her doing anything outside of movies, so I don’t know what kind of person she is IRL. Maybe she really is that way. But her character came across to me as totally natural.