Considering how much work actually goes into making a movie, it’s no surprise that plenty of mistakes or “happy accidents” happen on set. Most of those mistakes, though, will never see the light of day .
Some of them, on the other hand, actually do make it into the final cut, if only because they work extremely well for the film. When it comes to the ones in this list, you have to admit that the movies were better for the mistakes being left in.
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“In ‘Scream’ (1996), Matthew Lillard improvised ‘You [expletive] hit me with the phone, dick!'”
“The phone stuck to Skeet Ulrich’s hand because of the fake blood and he didn’t mean to nail him in the back of the head.”
It’s kind of amazing how Billy and Stu were such a comedic duo (of serial killers).
When Daryl Hannah smashed her elbow through the car window in ‘Blade Runner’ (1982), she actually injured herself.
During the scene, Hannah’s character runs by a car and breaks a window with her elbow, which actually caused the bone to be chipped in eight places . She didn’t let on that she was injured until after the scene was shot.
The very end of ‘The Last Temptation of Christ’ (1988) shows edge fog that wasn’t originally supposed to be there.
Director Martin Scorsese said that the assistant cameraman accidentally opened the film , which damaged the final take. But he liked that “damage” so much, it ended up being the Resurrection.
Leonardo DiCaprio actually injured his hand when he smashed the glass in ‘Django Unchained’ (2012).
Maybe one of the most well-known movie “mistakes” is this one, where DiCaprio’s character smashes a glass, causing the actor to bleed in real life . But amazingly, he kept going, and that take made the final cut.
In 1967’s ‘In Cold Blood,’ the rain reflecting on Robert Blake’s face that resembled tears were unintentional.
During this rainy scene, one of the film’s killers discusses his relationship with his father as pouring rain reflects on his face. It wasn’t planned , but ended up adding a lot more to the final scene.
“In the first ‘Star Wars’ movie our immediately recognizable lightsaber sound was a mistake…”
“While carrying a tape recorder with a broken mic cable, the shielding had come off and the sound was recorded as he walked by a television. The sound is the electrical feedback from the television’s tube .”
The scene in ‘Die Hard’ (1988) where John McClane falls down an elevator shaft used footage of a stuntman who slipped.
During the escape scene, Willis’ character slips down the shaft. This footage was taken from an actual moment in which a stuntman slipped and fell .
Kurt Russell smashed a 145-year-old guitar on the set of ‘The Hateful Eight’ (2015).
The guitar was on loan from the Martin Guitar Museum , and Russell was only supposed to smash a replica of it. Unfortunately, he couldn’t tell the real one from the fake, and the priceless antique ended up taking the hit.
“In ‘Chinatown’ (1974), Noah Cross (played by John Huston) repeatedly mispronounces Gittes’ name as ‘Gits’ instead of ‘Git-iss.'”
“This was not scripted, but was due to Huston’s inability to get the name right . Director Roman Polanski decided to keep it in, as it fit the nature of the character.”
Uncle Billy shouting “I’m alright, I’m alright,” in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ (1946) was improvised.
The scene, where Uncle Billy shouts the hilarious line from off-screen, only happened because a crew member dropped some props in front of Billy’s actor Thomas Mitchell, causing him to improvise a little.
“During the filming of ‘The Punisher’ (2005), wrestler Kevin Nash was accidentally stabbed by Thomas Jane when he forgot to swap a real knife out for a prop.”
“Nash hadn’t even noticed he was bleeding and finished the scene in character. The take stayed in the film.”
When Melissa McCarthy throws the phonebook at Michael McDonald’s face in ‘The Heat’ (2013), she wasn’t aiming for his face.
In fact, she (along with the rest of the crew) was sure she’d broken his nose . Thankfully, she didn’t, and the take ended up in the final cut.
“In ‘1917’ (2019), Schofield is running along a trench, when another soldiers runs into him and trips him up. This was unscripted.”
“An extra accidentally ran into George MacKay during a particular take, but McKay recovered and kept running .”
The cigarette flick in ‘The Usual Suspects’ (1995) was unplanned.
The cigarette that Redfoot flicks into McManus’ eye wasn’t actually supposed to go into McManus’ eye . But the genuine reaction from the cast definitely made the scene a whole lot better.
“In ‘Cheech & Chong’s Up in Smoke’ (1978), the dog who eats Chong’s burrito when they are in Tijuana was unscripted.”
“It was a local stray that wandered into frame, took the burrito, and walked away . Cheech & Chong just ad-libbed around it, and the scene stayed in the movie.”
“In ‘Blade Runner 2049’ (2017), Harrison Ford accidentally punched Ryan Gosling in the face while shooting a fight scene.”
“As an apology, Ford invited Gosling to share a bottle of Scotch whisky with him.”
I think the genuine look of apology on Ford’s face really makes it, though.
Joaquin Phoenix didn’t mean to break the toilet in the prison scene of ‘The Master’ (2012).
In fact, as he says, ” I didn’t know that was possible .”
Apparently, he hurt himself plenty of times on set, too.
Robin Williams’ fall in ‘The Birdcage’ (1996) was completely unintentional.
But given how easily (and hilariously) Williams played it off, you probably wouldn’t have guessed that it happened completely by accident . It also caused Hank Azaria to laugh on set (though he played it off as crying in the scene).
At the end of the pool sequence in ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’ (1953), Jane Russell wasn’t supposed to fall in.
One of the dancers got a little too close to her head, causing her to tumble in. And even though the dancer got fired , the scene turned out better for it.
