These Moments Were Improvised
This subtitle was improvised
Yo I just thought of something. People seem to love finding out when a scene in a movie or TV show was actually improvised but the director just kept the camera rolling. That’s one of the main forms of content now—someone pointing this out and then other people nutting. It’s awesome.
Now that it’s 2026 the statute of limitations on some of these movies has expired. I can finally reveal a bunch of scenes that, actually, break through the thin veneer of performance and brush with reality, and that makes them that much cooler, of course.
The first scene in The Social Network was actually completely improvised
People don’t know the first 10 minutes of this movie were actually entirely improvised. David Fincher, famously accommodating, actually just turned the cameras on the first day and let Jesse Eisenberg and Rooney Mara get going. They hadn’t even decided beforehand if she was going to be a student at BU or BC—they just figured it out on the fly! Somehow, they both locked in and broke through the cosmic plane to create something ineffable. Thank God the record button was on!
The ending of Michael Clayton was actually entirely improvised
George Clooney happened to just get in a cab and shut the fuck up for 2+ minutes at the end of this movie. And thank God he did—because he wouldn’t stop fucking talking for 2 hours before this. It’s nice to have some peace and quiet.
The capoeira dance from Ocean’s 12 was actually improvised.
Vincent Cassel just had this in the back pocket. First day on set, he walked up to Stevie and said, “Put those lights on in a completely randomized schedule. Let me show ya ass something.” And this is what we got.
The Social Network trailer was actually completely unscripted and improvised.
The truth is, Scott Rudin was just attending a performance of a children’s choir in Midtown and they were singing “Creep.” No one knows if it was about him or about one of the kids in the group. But now? We all know the song to retroactively be about Mark Zuckerberg.
I don’t know. I give up. I don’t want to do this any more.
Don’t really want to think of any other scenes and link them here. If I had started this a few days earlier, I probably could’ve come up with some good ones. But I don’t really care that much. I have other things to do, people to see. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t really matter. Who knows why we still do this. In 2026, I’m trying to reconnect with my Day 1s. None of that fake shit anymore. Life moves so fast, and with such force. We don’t really get a chance to commune with our intrinsic needs. What do I really want? Who do I truly want to communicate with? What are the most important venues for me to engage in? These are the things I’m trying to think through now. I’m about to turn 30. It’s past time to be intentional with my decision-making.
Howard’s Indian accent on The Big Bang Theory was actually completely improvised.
He just wanted to do this!
Ritam’s Footnote
Happy new year!!!