16 Unscripted Moments In Romantic Comedies That Actors Improvised, Suggested, Or Made Happen By Accident

    Noah Centineo improvised that perfect lil' pocket spin in To All the Boys I've Loved Before.

    1. Donald Faison, who played Murray in Clueless, told Vulture that he came up with his character's "keeping it real" defense when he got his head shaved during a party. Faison said, "Some kid in my neighborhood said, 'Just keep it real. Just make sure you keep it real.' And I was like, 'Oh. That’s what the kids are saying now?' And so I put that in there myself: 'I’m keepin’ it real. Because I’m keepin’ it real.'"

    Dionne is infuriated when Murray shaves his head, but Murray retorts that he's just keeping it real

    2. Constance Wu revealed in a BUILD series interview that she improvised the "bok, bok, bitch" line in Crazy Rich Asians, which was featured in the movie's trailer. Wu said, "Jon [Chu, the director] wasn’t sure about it, but I was like, ‘Let’s just film, let’s just put it in! Gotta make a strong choice.'"

    Rachel compares her relationship with Nick's mother to a game of chicken

    3. At the end of 10 Things I Hate About You, Kat Stratford (Julia Stiles) starts to cry while reading her poem about Patrick (Heath Ledger) to the class (and also, you know, Patrick). Stiles told Cosmopolitan that those tears were "not intentional." She said, "On some level I knew that I was supposed to be somewhat emotional, because when we did the table read I remember I just said the poem, and I could have been reciting the phone book."

    Kat starts to cry while reading the end of the poem: But mostly I hate the way I don't hate you, not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all.

    4. The Crazy, Stupid, Love montage where Jacob (Ryan Gosling) and Hannah (Emma Stone) joke around and get to know each other in bed was "all improvised," according to a tweet written by Dan Fogelman, the film's screenwriter.

    Hannah asks Jacob about his mother, who he describes as beautiful, smart, and cold, and his father, who he says died a long time ago and was probably too sweet

    5. To All the Boys I've Loved Before director Susan Johnson told Entertainment Tonight that the flirtatious lil' pocket spin Peter (Noah Centineo) does to Lara Jean (Lana Condor) was improvised by Centineo.

    Peter spins Lara around by her back pocket t face him

    6. According to Cary Elwes's memoir As You Wish, he came up with Westley's headfirst leap into the Fire Swamp's quicksand to save Buttercup in The Princess Bride. Originally, Westley was supposed to hold his nose and cannonball in, but Elwes wrote, "There was something rather unheroic about jumping into quicksand feet-first." So he pitched the dive, and once it was tested by a stuntman, he was allowed to do it himself.

    Westley dives in after Buttercup to save her from the quicksand

    7. Director Rob Reiner told Entertainment Weekly that Billy Crystal came up with some of the lines from Harry's declaration of love to Sally in When Harry Met Sally... Specifically, Crystal is responsible for the bit about Sally's nose crinkle, and "When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with someone, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible," which Reiner called a "great line."

    Crystal tells Sally all the things he loves about her, then finishes: I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with someone, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.

    8. Hank Azaria, who played Agador Spartacus in The Birdcage, told the AV Club that Armand (Robin Williams) slipping in the kitchen during the disastrous family dinner was an accident that the cast decided to keep acting through.

    Robin Williams slips and then recovers

    9. Kumail Nanjiani told Rolling Stone that the moment in The Big Sick where Emily (Zoe Kazan) and Kumail admit that they are "completely overwhelmed" by each other was the result of an improv session between the two actors. Nanjiani said, "We did a lot of emotional improv, and that scene came out of something Zoe and I did together. She said, 'I am overwhelmed by you,' and I was like, 'I don’t know what to say,' so I just repeated it back to her. We knew the scene was about one person opening up and the other person not being able to reciprocate."

    Emily says it's weird when Kumail repeats the completely overwhelmed line back to her

    10. The moment in Palm Springs where lovers Nyles (Andy Samberg) and Sarah (Cristin Milioti) tattoo dicks onto each other's backs (as one does, when you're in a consequence-free eternal time loop) was improvised by the stars, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

    11. Ali Wong told Rolling Stone that Keanu Reeves improvised several of his own bits for his appearance in Always Be My Maybe, including a part where he starts listing Chinese dignitaries to one-up Marcus (Randall Park).

    Keanu starts listing Chinese dignitaries

    12. In 50/50, the sequence where Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) shaves his head after he begins to experience the aftereffects of chemotherapy, with best friend Kyle (Seth Rogen) present for emotional support, was entirely improvised by the duo. What makes that even more impressive is the fact that they only had one take to get it right, since Gordon-Levitt actually shaved his head. Rogen told MTV News, "We only had one shot at it. It was the first day of filming, and we improvised the whole thing, which is not wise when it's something you have one take for, but it turned out funny. It went exactly how you see it in the movie, which was pretty good, I think."

    Kyle, freaked out, watches and makes jokes as Adam shaves his head

    13. In an interview for the American Film Institute, Pretty Woman director Garry Marshall revealed that he filmed the moment where Edward (Richard Gere) closes the jewelry box on Vivian (Julia Roberts) for the "gag reel." Roberts didn't know Gere was going to do it, and Marshall said that she "laughed so honestly that we left it in the picture."

    Julia Roberts laughs during the prank

    14. Richard Curtis, who wrote and directed Love Actually, told Elle that the scene where Karen (Emma Thompson) realizes that her husband is cheating on her and excuses herself to go upstairs and cry was for the most unscripted part, with Thompson left to fill in the emotional blanks. Curtis said, "Emma's scene with the Joni Mitchell song is very extraordinary, because I didn't do it. I just wrote that she goes upstairs, puts on the record, and lets the emotion show. Everything in that scene is just Emma."

    Karen cries in her bedroom

    15. According to her obituary in the L.A. Times, Olympia Dukakis improvised her Moonstruck character Rose Castorini's line, "Your life is going down the toilet." Apparently, she got the idea from her "experiences with her own mother."

    Rose says, You got a love bite on your neck. He's coming back this morning, what's the matter with you? Your life's going down the toilet. Cover up that damn thing, c'mon put some makeup on it!

    16. And finally: In an interview with Collider about Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Aubrey Plaza (Julie Powers) and Kieran Culkin (Wallace Wells) said there wasn't much improv in the movie, besides two moments that Culkin remembered. The first was when Wallace comes home from a night out and hits Scott's head with his keys...

    Wallace announces he's drunk and tosses his keys at Scott's head

    ...and the second was Chris Evans as Lucas Lee reacting to a notification with a genuine, "That's actually hilarious." Neither moment was scripted, but director Edgar Wright thought they were funny enough to make it into the final cut.

    Lucas reacts to a text by laughing and saying it's actually hilarious