It’s not just the scriptwriters that come up with the best dialogue. When they’re in the zone and on set, sometimes it’s the actors who go off script and deliver what turns out to be a movie’s most memorable line.
An unbelievable amount of effort goes into every moment of a major film production. But the power of a well-timed quote cannot be ovrlooked.
From Casablanca to Jaws and Barbie, The Independent looks at 13 of the best examples of improvised dialogue from through the years.
"Here’s looking at you, kid" (Casablanca 1942)
Humphrey Bogart improvised this line while playing Rick Blaine in Casablanca. The story goes that Bogart had begun to use the phrase while teaching Ingrid Bergman, who played Ilsa Lund, how to play poker offset. Then, during the spur of the moment, he slipped it into a reel.
The film’s harried writers, who were still working on the script as scenes were being filmed, liked it so much that they had Bogart say it multiple times throughout. The line has since become a pop culture staple and Blaine’s de facto catchphrase.
Bogart’s improvisation is a testament to his skills as a performer – however, what is often omitted from this story is that he used the same line eight years earlier in the 1934 movie Midnight.
"You’re gonna need a bigger boat" (Jaws 1975)
This iconic line was delivered by Roy Scheider, playing Martin Brody, when he first sees the huge shark terrorising residents of Amity Island. The line started as an in-joke behind the camera that Scheider tried to include it at multiple points throughout filming. Eventually, it made the cut during this scene.
Carl Gottlieb, who worked closely with Steven Spielberg on the movie’s script, shared behind-the-scenes revelations in an interview with Hollywood Reporter: “It was an overlap of a real-life problem combined with the dilemma of the characters on screen.”
The real-life problem was a barge – affectionately dubbed “SS Garbage Sale” – that was used as a rig for lights and cameras. The boat would move around too much during filming so the team employed the help of a small support vessel to steady it. The boat was, it seems, too small for the job, leading crew members to spout the now-iconic line whenever they saw it.
"Like tears in rain" (Blade Runner 1982)
Rutger Hauer, playing the dying replicant Roy Batty, added this line to the script only hours before getting in front of the camera. The speech was particularly tricky for the team to get right and went through revisions all the way up to filming. In an interview, Hauer described the original script as featuring “opera talk” and “high-tech speech”.
While there’s plenty of operatic tech talk in the final cut, Hauer “put a knife in it” the night before and cut the speech down to a leaner version (without the permission or knowledge of the film’s writers). His revised version included “like tears in the rain” as its final phrase.
After filming Hauer’s altered version, members of the cast and crew are said to have applauded.
"You can’t handle the truth" (A Few Good Men 1992)
Playing the stiff-lipped Colonel Nathan R Jessup, Jack Nicholson came up with this line on the spot during the filming of A Few Good Men. This was a daring move considering Aaron Sorkin, who first conceived the film as a 1989 play, is known for being protective of his dialogue.
In the screenplay, Nicholson was supposed to say: "You already have the truth" before he revised the line to its more fiery iteration. The signature outburst has become one of the most well-known lines in movie history.
"I’m walkin’ here!" (Midnight Cowboy 1969)
Dustin Hoffman delivered this ad-lib in Midnight Cowboy, while playing the part of street hustler Ratso Rizzo. The scene gives the appearance of a perfectly choreographed stunt: a taxi almost hits Hoffman and he slams his hand on the hood while delivering the oft-quoted line. This was, though, his honest reaction to almost being run over.
“They didn’t have the money to close down a New York street,” Hoffman told Vanity Fair, “so they were going to steal it.” In other words, they were going to shoot the scene without permits. This meant the cameraman was camped out in a van across the street while Hoffman and his co-star Jon Voight dealt with traffic and crowds of pedestrians.
While the actor was initially annoyed at the taxi driver for ruining the shot, the director John Schlesinger loved it. According to Hoffman, he clapped and said: “‘We must have that, we must have that,” and “re-did it two or three times because he loved it”.
“You talking to me?” (Taxi Driver 1976)
Robert De Niro improvised this line of dialogue during the filming Martin Scorsese’sTaxi Driver in a vintage scene that sees his character, Travis Bickle, fantasise about scenarios where he might draw his gun while looking in the mirror.
Apparently, the script simply stated: “Travis talks to mirror”, meaning De Niro concocted the entire scene while the cameras were rolling. In fact, during a Today interview, the actor mentioned that the assistant director was trying to rush them all out of the room as the scene was being shot.
Paul Schrader, the film’s writer, later said: "To me, it's the best thing in the movie. And I didn't write it."
“Here’s Johnny!” (The Shining 1980)
Jack Nicholson’s performance in The Shining was infamously Method. During the scene where his character Jack Torrance uses an axe to break through a bathroom door, he ad-libbed the now-famous line.
Nicholson lived in an asylum for several months in order to get in character. The influence comes through, not only in his delivery but thanks to the off-kilter pop culture reference the line draws from. He is referencing Johnny Carson who, when hosting The Tonight Show, would announce his entrance with the same line.
“I love you.” – “I know.” (Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back 1980)
As he is about to be lowered into a carbonite mold and frozen alive, Harrison Ford, as Han Solo, delivers this characteristically roguish line in response to Carrie Fisher’s Leia professing her love for him.
Perhaps expectedly, Ford was supposed to respond with a simple “I love you too”. Yet, after conferring with director Irvin Kershner, Ford felt that Han Solo wouldn’t be so sentimental and took the initiative to deviate from the script.
“Hu-thuth-thuth-thuth-thuth” (The Silence of The Lambs 1991)
The original screenplay for The Silence of The Lambs made no mention of the moment, which manifests in the form of a sound Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) makes after first meeting Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster). It has since become ubiquitous with the movie.
Between takes, Hopkins had been making the noise as part of a joke with Foster and, when the cameras were rolling, the actor decided to include it as a last minute addition after revealing he once ate a man’s liver “with some fava beans and a nice chianti”. The moment took on terrifying life in the finished film and packed a punch with audiences.
“Son of a bitch. He stole my line.” (Good Will Hunting 1997)
Robin Williams delivered this line of dialogue during his Oscar-winning performance alongside Matt Damon. It closes out the film after his character reads a touching final note from the now-absent Damon.
According to Damon, this line was Williams’s “best addition” to the film. He said: “There was nothing scripted there. Every time he came out for a new take I would read the letter to him because it’s a voiceover. He came out saying different lines every single time. When he said, ‘Son of a bitch – he stole my line,’ I grabbed Gus [Van Sant, director] It was like a bolt.”
“You punched me in the ear!!” (Fight Club 1999)
This entry may be the funniest on the list due to the reactionary element. Believe it or not, it was uttered after Brad Pitt got punched in the ear while filming Fight Club.
In fact, the line wasn’t the only thing improvised; the punch was, too. During a day of filming, Pitt’s co-star Edward Norton was scripted to punch Pitt in the shoulder. However, director David Fincher is said to have approached Norton moments before the take, and whispered: "Hit him in the ear."
While initially resistant to the idea of punching an A-list celebrity in the head, Norton eventually came around. The subsequent take was included in the film, complete with Pitt’s very real reaction.
"I didn’t know you could read." (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets 2002)
Tom Felton delivered this line while playing Slytherin student Draco Malfoy. In the scene, his friends Crabbe and Goyle are, unbeknownst to him, really Ron Weasley and Harry Potter thanks to a dose of Polyjuice Potion. When he asked Goyle why he was “wearing glasses”, Potter – as Goyle – says: “Reading,” which led to Felton’s impressive ad-lib: “I didn’t know you could read.”
Hermione actor Emma Watson’s “emotional range of a teaspoon” line In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was also improvised, but Felton takes the cake for his wit because he was just 13 at the time.
“SUBLIME!” (Barbie 2023)
Looking back on the summer of Barbenheimer, credit must be given to Ken actor Ryan Gosling’s improvisation after Barbie accepts his offer to become his “long-term, long-distance, low commitment casual girlfriend”.
Despite being among the film’s best moments, Margot Robbie, who starred alongside Gosling as Barbie, revealed that the line was not in the script. She added: "There are a lot of things that Ryan did that were like spur of the moment. He made people cry with laughter multiple times in this film." For example, Gosling also improvised the moment where Ken wears two pairs of glasses at once.
