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These actors lost it during these scenes.
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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 WhatCulture, and here are 10 times actors broke character in movies.
00:3210. 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,
00:55When the F did we get ice cream? As Geoffrey Arend fires off the quip,
01:00Keep your eyes on Knoxville, who promptly cracks up laughing. Apparently because the line was
01:05improvised by Arend on the spot. With that in mind, you can't really blame him, can you?
01:09And yet the line is so hilarious that director Barry W. Blostein decided to include it anyway,
01:15no matter that Knoxville technically blew the take. Thankfully, seeing him thoroughly lose it only makes
01:20it even funnier. Now what's your favourite improvised moment in a movie? You let me know
01:25in the comments section down below. 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.
02:218. 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?
03:137. 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
03:40in silence. Each of them adopting completely flat effect-devoid facial expressions. That
03:46is, 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
03:55smirk. It's easily missed, but for a fleeting moment Hemsworth betrays the we're-too-tired-to-even-emote
04:01vibe that the rest of the scene has. Given that this scene was shot last minute though,
04:07literally the day after the world premiere, it's safe to say that the crew probably didn't
04:11have too long to get it in the can.
04:146. Whoopi Goldberg – Sister Act
04:16Whoopi Goldberg may be a damn pro, but even she has her limits, and evidently could not
04:22resist losing it in front of the legendary Dame Maggie Smith while filming a scene in
04:26Sister Act. When Reverend Mother gives Dolores a dressing down for supposedly corrupting the
04:32church's choir with her unorthodox ways, there's a sudden knock at the door, and a flummoxed
04:37mother loudly shouts,
04:39COME IN! In what can best be described as a high-pitched grunt. Given that Goldberg clearly
04:44wasn't expecting such a strange loud sound to be expelled from Smith's vocal cords, and
04:49Smith probably wasn't either, she finds herself unable to keep fully in character. Abruptly lifting
04:55her hands to her mouth, as she tries to prevent herself from completely breaking. Thankfully,
05:00this came at the natural end of the shot before it cuts to the door opening, in turn ensuring
05:06that it was still usable, and Smith's unexpected bleating wasn't forced to remain on the cutting
05:11room floor.
05:12Just a quick one to say thanks for tapping on this video today folks, and hit that subscribe
05:17button 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
05:28in 2000's otherwise abysmal Dungeons & Dragons film.
05:33As the evil mage profion, Irons makes an art out of no toss given line reads, where if
05:39he chewed any more of the scenery up, there'd literally be nothing left to shoot the damn
05:43thing on.
05:44Irons is clearly having a ton of fun with the role, which was by his own admission a pure
05:49paycheck part to pay for a castle he'd just bought.
05:52Yet Irons ultimately has such a whale of a time that he ends up gloriously losing grip
05:57of the fierce evil with a capital E character he's supposed to be playing.
06:02Late in the film, Irons fires off the unforgettable line,
06:05let their blood rain from the sky.
06:07But in the final second or so of the shot, Irons mugging turns to grinning laughter, the legendary
06:13actor seemingly unable to contain how unseriously he's taking the job 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.
06:32And boy, the resulting screeching sound sure is.
06:35As 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
06:44laugh their asses off.
06:45Starr screws his face up in a way which can at least be interpreted as frustration.
06:50But Daniels is very clearly corpsing as Kerry 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.
07:02While it wouldn't have been remotely out of character for Daniels Harry to start laughing
07:06at his pal's grating outburst, it seems clear that he wasn't supposed to start cackling
07:11in 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
07:37it from his hands. Greg says,
07:39If you can get it from my kung fu grip, then you can have it.
07:43At which moment, an extra on Ben Stiller's far left can be seen cracking up, and quickly
07:48burying his head below the plane's seat in an attempt not to ruin the take.
07:53I mean, the guy is easily noticeable and all, but at least it's contextually plausible that
07:58a plane passenger might find what Greg's saying funny.
08:00Props to the other extras sat closer to Stiller who remain positively stone-faced throughout
08:05though. Pros, the lot of them.
08:082. Ewan McGregor
08:09Star Wars Episode 3 Revenge of the Sith
08:12You can't really blame the cast of the Star Wars prequels for struggling to keep a straight
08:16face, and maintain their character given some of the utterly risible dialogue they were forced
08:21to tear through.
08:222. And in Ewan McGregor's case, one of his breaks ended up making it into the final cut
08:26of Episode 3 Revenge of the Sith, when Obi-Wan informs Padme that he's seen a security hologram
08:32of Anakin 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
08:43of an extremely serious description of child murder is pretty poor writing on George Lucas'
08:48part. And 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
08:59with a dead-eyed look that says, am I really about to say this? Before lifting his hand
09:04to cover his mouth as he desperately tries to stifle a laugh. Nobody could possibly blame
09:09you 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,
09:17especially with the majority of the cast playing mildly exaggerated versions of themselves,
09:23James Franco does nevertheless betray himself during one brief scene.
09:27Almost halfway through the movie, Franco records a relatively somber video confessional
09:32where he complains about Danny McBride showing up at his house uninvited,
09:37just before McBride himself appears in the background and starts chatting to him.
09:41McBride 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.
09:56The glitch was likely a sneaky way to cut between two takes in an attempt to conceal Franco breaking
10:01character, and it more or less works.
10:04But you can definitely spot Franco's slip-up if you're paying attention.
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