10 Times Actors Broke Character In Movies

WhatCulture

These actors lost it during these scenes.

Transcript

00:00The most basic expectation of an actor is that they can manage to stay in character for the

00:05duration of a take that makes it into the final cut of the film. But sometimes that just ain't

00:10what happens. Sometimes actors briefly slip out of character for a few scant moments,

00:16laughing when they're not supposed to, typically called corpsing in the business,

00:20or simply doing something their character absolutely should not be. They're only human

00:25folks. But I am Gareth, this is What Culture, and here are 10 times actors broke character in movies.

00:32Number 10. Johnny Knoxville, The Ringer

00:34Midway through the criminally underrated sports comedy The Ringer, Johnny Knoxville finds himself

00:40unable to maintain his composure when one of his co-stars drops one of the film's most gut-bustingly

00:46memorable one-liners. Lynn's partner David spins a lie that he took Steve and his special Olympian

00:51pals to the mall for ice cream. At which point Winston shouts, when the F did we get ice cream?

00:57As Jeffrey Aaron fires off the quip, keep your eyes on Knoxville, who promptly cracks up laughing.

01:04Apparently because the line was improvised by Aaron on the spot. With that in mind,

01:08you can't really blame him, can you? And yet the line is so hilarious that director Barry W.

01:12Blostein decided to include it anyway, no matter that Knoxville technically blew the take.

01:18Thankfully, seeing him thoroughly lose it only makes it even funnier.

01:22Now what's your favourite improvised moment in a movie? You let me know in the comments section down

01:26below.

01:27Number 9. Peter Bull, Dr. Strangelove

01:30Let's be honest here, even the best actor in the world would struggle to keep a straight face when

01:35they're three feet away from Peter Sellers doing career best riffing. But in the case of actor Peter

01:40Bull, it was certainly a heroic effort all the same. Bull plays Soviet Ambassador Alexey D. Sidesky,

01:47and during the scene where Dr. Strangelove suffers from a bout of alien hand syndrome,

01:53Sellers decides to just do whatever the hell he wants, including repeatedly smacking his

01:58non-compliant hand. At this point, Bull, who has clearly been holding in a laugh for the entire

02:03scene, can keep it at bay no longer, letting out a sizable smirk for a few seconds. And despite

02:09Stanley Kubrick's noted penchant for perfectionism, he mercifully didn't request another take,

02:15or perhaps simply didn't notice until he was in the editing room. Either way, it's still in there.

02:21Number 8. John Ashton, Beverly Hills Cop

02:23It won't surprise anyone to learn that Eddie Murphy's funnyman hijinks caused a ton of flub

02:28takes for his co-stars, and wasted a whole ton of film during the production of Beverly Hills Cop.

02:34And one near-miss actually made it into the final film. When Axel Foley is spinning his memorable

02:40Supercop story to Lieutenant Bogomil, check out Sergeant Taggart rubbing his temples and pinching

02:45the bridge of his nose, in a desperate attempt not to laugh and ruin the take.

02:50The beauty of this quick thinking by Ashton is that it still sort of makes sense for the character,

02:55that the gruff Taggart is basically pinching his nose in exasperation at the absurdity of Foley's

03:00story, and how unlikely Bogomil is to buy it. Apparently, Murphy and Ashton's scene partner,

03:06Judge Reinhold, meanwhile opted to tightly pinch his thigh to prevent himself from laughing.

03:11Whatever works, eh?

03:13Number 7. Chris Hemsworth, The Avengers

03:15Perhaps the single most memorable credit scene in the entirety of the Marvel Cinematic Universe

03:21comes at the end of The Avengers, when the thoroughly knackered heroes are shown getting

03:25some well-earned shawarma, just as Tony Stark recommended in the film's closing moments.

03:31The comedy of the scene is derived from the fact that the heroes are completely exhausted from

03:35saving the world, and don't have the energy to do anything but chow down on their food in silence.

03:41Each of them adopting completely flat effect-devoid facial expressions.

03:46That is, except for Chris Hemsworth's Thor, who for a brief moment near the end of the scene

03:50turns his head towards Mark Ruffalo's Bruce Banner, and can't help but let out a sneaky smirk.

03:56It's easily missed, but for a fleeting moment Hemsworth betrays the

04:00we're too tired to even emote vibe that the rest of the scene has.

04:04Given that this scene was shot last minute though, literally the day after the world premiere,

04:09it's safe to say that the crew probably didn't have too long to get it in the can.

04:13Number 6. Whoopi Goldberg, Sister Act

04:16Whoopi Goldberg may be a damn pro, but even she has her limits, and evidently could not resist losing

04:23it in front of the legendary dame Maggie Smith while filming a scene in Sister Act.

04:28When Reverend Mother gives Dolores a dressing down for supposedly corrupting the church's

04:32choir with her unorthodox ways, there's a sudden knock at the door, and a flummoxed

04:37mother loudly shouts,

04:39COME IN!

04:39in what can best be described as a high-pitched grunt.

04:43Given that Goldberg clearly wasn't expecting such a strange loud sound to be expelled from

04:47Smith's vocal cords, and Smith probably wasn't either, she finds herself unable to keep

04:53fully in character, abruptly lifting her hands to her mouth as she tries to prevent herself

04:58from completely breaking. Thankfully this came at the natural end of the shot before it cuts to

05:03the door opening, in turn ensuring that it was still usable, and Smith's unexpected bleating wasn't

05:10forced to remain on the cutting room floor. Just a quick one to say thanks for tapping on this

05:14video today folks, and hit that subscribe button down below for more WhatCulture videos in your life.

05:205. Jeremy Irons Dungeons & Dragons

05:23We truly don't deserve the magnificence of Jeremy Irons hamming it up for the cheap seats in 2000's

05:30otherwise abysmal Dungeons & Dragons film. As the evil mage profion, Irons makes an art out of

05:37no toss given line reads, where if he chewed any more of the scenery up, there'd literally be nothing

05:42left to shoot the damn thing on. Irons is clearly having a ton of fun with the role, which was by

05:48his own admission a pure paycheck part to pay for a castle he'd just bought. Yet Irons ultimately has

05:54such a whale of a time that he ends up gloriously losing grip of the fierce evil with a capital E

05:59character he's supposed to be playing. Late in the film, Irons fires off the unforgettable line,

06:05let their blood rain from the sky. But in the final second or so of the shot, Irons mugging turns

06:11to grinning laughter, the legendary actor seemingly unable to contain how unseriously he's taking the

06:17job any longer.

06:18Number 4, Mike Starr and Jeff Daniels, Dumb and Dumber

06:22Perhaps the single most unforgettable moment in Dumb and Dumber occurs when Lloyd subjects

06:27hitman Mental and best pal Harry to the most annoying sound in the world. And boy, the resulting

06:33screeching sound sure is. As it turns out, the gag was improvised by Jim Carrey during shooting.

06:40And if you look closely at both Mike Starr and Jeff Daniels, they are struggling not to laugh their

06:45asses off. Starr screws his face up in a way which can at least be interpreted as frustration.

06:50But Daniels is very clearly corpsing as Carey lets out his insanely grating racket.

06:55A moment later, the shot cuts to Mental looking decidedly more upset about the situation.

07:01And that's that. While it wouldn't have been remotely out of character for Daniels Harry to

07:05start laughing at his pal's grating outburst, it seems clear that he wasn't supposed to start

07:10cackling in that moment, but just could not resist.

07:133. This extra, Meet the Parents

07:16Instead of an A-list actor now, we've got a background artist who proved themselves the

07:21single person unable to avoid corpsing in this heavily populated shot.

07:26Near the end of Meet the Parents, Greg has an altercation with an air stewardess while boarding

07:31a plane, and professes that he'll only check his oversized luggage if she manages to pry it

07:37from his hands. Greg says,

07:39If you can get it from my kung fu grip, then you can have it. At which moment, an extra on Ben

07:45Stiller's far left can be seen cracking up, and quickly burying his head below the plane's seat

07:50in an attempt not to ruin the tank. I mean, the guy is easily noticeable and all, but at least it's

07:56contextually plausible that a plane passenger might find what Greg's saying funny. Props to the other

08:01extras sat closer to Stiller who remain positively stone-faced throughout, though. Pros, the lot of them.

08:07Number 2, Ewan McGregor, Star Wars Episode III, Revenge of the Sith

08:12You can't really blame the cast of the Star Wars prequels for struggling to keep a straight face,

08:17and maintain their character given some of the utterly risible dialogue they were forced to tear

08:21through. And in Ewan McGregor's case, one of his breaks ended up making it into the final cut of

08:27Episode III, Revenge of the Sith, when Obi-Wan informs Padme that he's seen a security hologram of

08:33Anakin killing younglings. Younglings in this context being Jedi Padawans, if you didn't know.

08:39Now, it must be said that having Obi-Wan use the dead silly word younglings in the middle of an

08:43extremely serious description of child murder is pretty poor writing on George Lucas' part.

08:49And McGregor apparently thought much the same, as when he delivers the line read,

08:54he's visibly struggling not to bust up laughing. McGregor, ever the vet, takes a sharp breath with a

09:00dead-eyed look that says, am I really about to say this? Before lifting his hand to cover his mouth

09:05as he desperately tries to stifle a laugh. Nobody could possibly blame you for this, Ewan.

09:101. James Franco, This Is The End

09:13Though This Is The End seems like a pretty fast and loose movie where characters are concerned,

09:18especially with the majority of the cast playing mildly exaggerated versions of themselves,

09:23James Franco does nevertheless betray himself during one brief scene. Almost halfway through the movie,

09:29Franco records a relatively somber video confessional where he complains about Danny

09:34McBride showing up at his house uninvited, just before McBride himself appears in the background

09:39and starts chatting to him. McBride eventually walks off, and if you look and listen closely,

09:45you can hear Franco start convulsing with laughter, instead of playing the scene straight as intended.

09:51At this moment, the video camera suddenly glitches, before Franco says,

09:55F that dude. The glitch was likely a sneaky way to cut between two takes in an attempt to conceal

10:01Franco's breaking character, and it more or less works. But you can definitely spot Franco's slip-up

10:07if you're paying attention.

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