History Main / EnforcedMethodActing

** Another Billy West example involves Futurama; Dwight, Hermes' son, tells Fry "I heard alcohol make you stupid." Fry responds, "No, I'm- doesn't." Billy West didn't understand this line, illustrating Fry's stupidity, until he saw the scene animated and the line in context.

* Just the basic concept of ''{{Bowfinger}}'' is an extreme version of this, where the main lead, Kit Ramsey, doesn't even ''know'' he's in a movie, and all his scenes are filmed in secret because the titular film director couldn't afford to actually ''hire'' him.

*** Speaking of Porky Pig, his first voice actor had an actual stutter.

* Another actor does or says something that causes the actors he's working with to react in an unplanned way--usually by trying not to [[{{Corpsing}} burst out laughing]].

* The ''MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E20GreenIsntYourColor Green Isn't Your Colour]] features this in the form of Photo Finish boosting Fluttershy's {{Moe}} appeal by taking pictures of her natural reactions to harsh criticism.

* In the film [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcUTVxhMxcw Surviving Evidence,]] [[OneOfUs Kayla]] [[http://www.youtube.com/user/ILoveShinyMonkeys?feature=watch Bashe]] [[hottip:*: Heck, she writes [[InspectorSpacetime Sprock!]] who played Taylor, was actually "terrified of zombies." Her freaking out every time a zombie appeared? Not entirely an act.

* HideakiAnno, the eccentric director of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', infamously told MegumiOgata to ''literally'' strangle YukoMiyamura during the recording of the scene where Shinji tries to strangle Asuka in ''End Of Evangelion.'' Allegedly, the results were so realistic that Ogata [[ApologeticAttacker profusely apologized]] to Miyamura in the aftermath.

*** In a (somewhat) more lighthearted example, according to the commentary on episode 19, they really threw (or pretended to throw) a teacup at Aaron Dismuke's face in order to get his reaction (as Edward hits a teacup and it hits Al in the show). Not sure how much they were kidding, but when asked, Aaron said it bothered him, but was "really inspiring, though."

* Rather sickeningly occurred in an episode of ''Jim'll Fix It'', where a child who's wish was to appear in kids' school drama ''Grange Hill'' played a scripted scene, which was then followed by an unscripted and unexpected scene where he was subjected to ''school bullying''. Even after he realised it was a set-up, the child did not look happy ''at all''.

* Arguably, this was often the case in ''MorkAndMindy.'' Much of Mork's dialogue and antics were ad-libbed by RobinWilliams, and so Mindy's surprise and confusion were often genuine. Of course, this made it interesting in an "It's A Wonderful Life" episode where Mindy isn't supposed to react to the invisible Mork's antics, but Pam Dawber is visibly struggling to keep a straight face.

* According to ''GundamSousei'', ShuichiIkeda would go for drinks with cast members after each day of recording finished, except TohruFuruya, [[JerkAssFacade and was distant towards him]], to reflect the uncomfortable relationship between Char and Amuro. Once the final episode wrapped up, Ikeda invited Furuya out for drinks, which began a friendship reflected in Char and Amuro's interactions in ''ZetaGundam''.
** This is [[FridgeBrilliance made even more meaningful]] when you remember that, in Japan and other Asian countries, [[http://factsanddetails.com/japan.php?itemid=662&catid=19&subcatid=124 "social drinking"]] is an ''extremely'' important side of work interaction. Ikeda inviting everyone ''but'' Furuya would be considered as one of the most rude things he could do to a fellow co-worker -- in almost '''any''' other context than this.

* When MilesDavis was recording his groundbreaking fusion album 'Bitches Brew', none of the session musicians knew what they were supposed to play beyond tempo and chord changes. You can hear Miles giving instructions during quiet moments.

* It's not uncommon for music videos where the video is basically a bunch of random people partying... involves a bunch of random people in partying. BlackEyedPeas' I Gotta Feeling is one. It has a few famous people, but the rest are just random (though generally good-looking, obviously) people to fill up space. Apparently one got drunk during the filming (can't do a realistic partying without booze) and had to be kicked off the set.

* Rather sickeningly occurred in an episode of ''Jim'll Fix It'', where a child who's wish was to appear in kids' school drama ''Grange Hill'' played a scripted scene, which was then followed by an unscripted and unexpected scene where he was subjected to ''school bullying''. Even after he realised it was a set-up, the child did not look happy ''at all''. The fact that host Jimmy Savile is now officially recognised as a prolific child abuser makes it even worse in hindsight.

*** In one improvised scene which was never used, Glenn Cullen broke Julius Nicholson's glasses. Actor Alex [=MacQueen=], who plays Julius, was convinced that James Smith, who plays Glenn, had broken his own prescription glasses, and not the pair Smith had discreetly switched them for. [=MacQueen=] was apparently so upset that the scene couldn't be used.

** JimCarrey was known to ambush tourists during filming of ''ManOnTheMoon'', running at the tour bus out of the ''Film/{{Psycho}}'' set. While his version of ''TheTonightShow'' was running, ConanOBrien and his announcer Andy Richter would occasionally do the same thing at the same attraction at Universal Studios California.

* An episode of ''{{Taxi}}'' called for Louie [=DePalma=] to whisper something to Elaine Nardo, and for her to respond by slapping him and saying "That's disgusting!". Danny [=DeVito=] whispered such sweet things to Marilu Henner during rehearsals that she was genuinely shocked when he started whispering not-so-nice things, and she blew several takes because of it (to [=DeVito=]'s delight).
** When Carol Kane joined the cast as Latka's girlfriend Simka, AndyKaufman taught her their country's "language" by inviting her to dinner and refusing to speak English or let her do so.

* The scene in ''BreakingBad'' where Walt comes into the kitchen after shaving his head was actually the first time Anna Gunn and RJ Mitte had seen Bryan Cranston with his shaved head; Gunn had specifically avoided meeting with him until then to help her reaction.

[[folder:Film]]
[[{{EnforcedMethodActing/Film}} See here.]]
[[/folder]]

*** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1XTgs-GdDs Episode 8]] is the first time it's really apparent. It seems to be the equivalent of what originally happened after the Tucker incident, and it's still a TearJerker.

* In "FerrisBuellersDayOff" there is a scene where Ferris tickles Sloan (played by Mia Sara). Her laughter is real, because MatthewBroderick and Alan Ruck actually did take off her shoe and tickle her foot.
* In the film ''TearsOfTheSun'' there is a scene where the African refugees start to break down and cry while Bruce Willis leads his team of Navy Seals into to a village to stop an ethnic cleansing. The reason they are crying is that they are actual African refugees who are flashing back to actual ethnic cleansing they had endured.
* ''TheLastKingOfScotland'':
** For the scene early on where Idi Amin speaks before the cheering crowd of villagers, the filmmakers didn't have to tell the extras to react that way ... because they all believed that Forrest Whitaker really was Idi Amin.
** The director decided to use local Ugandan children as extras for a scene where James [=McAvoy's=] character is giving vaccinations. Of course, the director did not tell the children or their parents/other adults with them that the syringes were just props. Many of the children thought they were really going to get shots, so their apprehension and nervousness is completely real.
* During filming of ''TheSilenceOfTheLambs'', real-life FBI Agent John Douglas, whom the character of Jack Crawford was based on, played audiotapes for actor Scott Glenn to get an idea of the stress of dealing with serial killers. Those tapes were of real young women being raped, tortured and murdered by serial killers Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris. The tapes were so horrific that Glenn broke down in tears, telling Douglas "I didn't know there were people who could do things like that," and he later said that he could no longer oppose the death penalty. Glenn also refused to sign on to the sequels, so his character was cut completely out of ''Hannibal'' and replaced by Harvey Keitel in ''RedDragon''.
* The famous knife fight scene from ''RebelWithoutACause'' used real knives, and drew actual blood.
* In ''TheExpendables'', during the fight between Sylvester Stallone and Steve Austin, in the basement of the castle, Stallone was actually thrown at the support beam and hit it very hard, and was pretty badly hurt by the impact. The reaction from that impact was very real.
* In the ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' franchise:
** ''Film/{{Alien}}'':
*** The scene where the chestburster erupts from John Hurt's chest at dinner. The actors knew in theory what was about to happen but had not been told any specifics. For example, Veronica Cartwright did not expect to be sprayed with blood; her horrified "Oh, ''God!''" is completely genuine. The blood was also not fake. This is all confirmed on the Collector's Edition release of the DVD. [[http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/oct/13/making-of-alien-chestburster This Guardian article]] has some of the cast and crew reminiscing about the filming of the scene.
*** Cartwright ''really'' slapped Sigourney Weaver. That wasn't just a sound effect, and Weaver's recoil and look of shock is genuine. According to the actress in the DVD commentary, she was fed up with Sigourney, who at that point had acted only on the stage and so was not used to pretending to get hit, instinctively flinching away from the slap and so, after numerous failed takes, faked the first slap and then properly hit her when she flinched.
*** Director Ridley Scott placed a veiled cage with a German Shepherd in front of JonesTheCat, and unveiled it when he shouted "Action!!" Hence when The Alien rose up behind Brett like a phallic gargoyle, the menacing hissing of fear from the poor kitty cat was ''real.''
*** In a lesser known example, Ridley Scott made sure that Bolaji Badejo ([[PeopleInRubberSuits the man who played the Alien in most of the scenes]]) did not take tea or lunch breaks with the rest of the cast so their fear of the alien would be more genuine.
*** Yaphet Kotto did a lot of improv acting. Scott played along with it, and advised him to antagonize Sigourney Weaver, so their conflict later in the film would be more believable. When Ripley yells at Parker to "SHUT UP!" after [[spoiler:Dallas's death]], Weaver already had to listen to Kotto talking over her dialogue dozens of times.
** ''Film/AlienResurrection'':
*** Winona Rider nearly drowned when she was a child, and the first scene they shot was the underwater through the canteen scene. Winona Rider had never been in water since her accident. The looks of anxiety before she goes in, and the utter terror on her face when they can't get out the other end? Yeah, those weren't faked. She had an anxiety attack on her first day of filming.
* In ''BillyMadison'', the director and Creator/AdamSandler asked the kids in the dodgeball scene for permission to be hit with the ball. They didn't say ''how'' hard, however, resulting in several understandable jump cuts.
* In ''AmericanBeauty,'' Annette Bening is having a breakdown rant at the dinner table that Kevin Spacey is supposed to stop by dropping a plate of asparagus on the floor. After a few unsuccessful takes, he unexpectedly throws it at the wall, violently shattering a real glass plate. Bening and ThoraBirch react with genuine shock (although you don't see the expressions on their faces in the shot).
* William Friedkin used a lot of first takes for ''Film/ToLiveAndDieInLA'' in order to get across the most natural reaction from the actors, who were a little more casual for what they thought was a rehearsal take.
* ''KnockedUp'': Jay Baruchel is ''terrified'' of roller coasters and was initially not going to partake in the roller coaster scenes used for the opening montage. When one of the other actors was running late, director Judd Apatow convinced Baruchel to go on the coaster just once for a take. According to Apatow (and the behind-the-scenes footage), Jay's panicked "IWANNAGETOFF!" that made the final cut of the film is a legitimate Jay Baruchel freak-out and not him being in character.
* In ''Film/AnAmericanWerewolfInLondon'', one of the extras in the zoo scene was told that the lead, David Naughton, was going to say a few words to her and move on. She ''wasn't'', however, told that he was going to be completely naked when he did that.
* In ''OnTheWaterfront'' during a pivotal scene between Marlon Brando and Eva Marie Saint, Saint accidentally dropped one of her gloves. Without skipping a beat Brando picked up the glove and started toying with it while doing the scene. The glove added both chemistry and romantic symbolism to the scene. The director has stated that the best directing he ever did was not yelling cut the moment she dropped the glove.
* In ''Film/MediumCool'', a film about--well, ''[[RealLifeWritesThePlot shot during]]'' the Chicago 1968 riots, directed by Haskell Wexler with actors in the middle of real-life events. When the police started beating in the heads of journalists, it prompted the director to later dub in the voice of a man shouting ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MydIOnH5ac0 "Look out, Haskell. It's real!"]]''
* Robert Mitchum really slapping Jean Simmons in ''Angel Face'' may be a borderline case; supposedly, Otto Preminger ordered it not because Simmons's reaction was inadequate, but because Mitchum couldn't produce a convincing-looking fake slap.
* In ''WhiteHeat'', most of the actors in the prison dining hall were not warned that James Cagney's Cody Jarrett was about to go ballistic. Their surprise at him running atop the tables and clocking guards is real. Cagney planned out much of this sequence without explaining it to the ''director''. They were having trouble deciding how to play it out and shoot it, and Jimmy apparently said to just keep the cameras pointed at him.
* At the beginning of ''Film/ApocalypseNow'', the character of Willard is in his hotel room drunk. During the filming of the whole scene Coppola was telling Sheen he was a worthless actor and father to keep him crying. (Sheen ''was'' drunk while filming the scene, but that's just method acting, not Enforced Method Acting.) In the same scene, Sheen started to bleed profusely after breaking a mirror. Coppola told him to work with it.
* WinonaRyder said in an interview that, when filming ''Film/BramStokersDracula'', Coppola teamed up with KeanuReeves to throw insults at her so she would cry more heartfully during a scene where Mina was supposed to break down, yet Ryder couldn't reach the emotional depths she required.
* While shooting ''At Close Range'' in 1986, Creator/SeanPenn became aware of ChristopherWalken's intense fear of handguns. In the midst of filming the climactic confrontation scene between the two, Penn ran off-set yelling to the prop guy, "Give me the other gun!" Walken was unsure if it was loaded and became extremely nervous. Cameras rolling, Penn threatened Walken with it. That take, complete with the close-up of Walken's fear-filled eyes, ended up in the film. He admits to being quite angry with his co-star to begin with, but then realized "what a favor he had done me" and actually thanked Penn later. The two remain good friends to this day. In fact, two years later, Walken pulled the same stunt on MatthewBroderick while filming the scene in ''Biloxi Blues'' where a drunken Sgt. Toumey threatens to blow a tunnel through Eugene's head. One must wonder if Broderick carried on the tradition.
* In ''Film/{{Thor}}'', there is a scene where Loki (Creator/TomHiddleston) briefly tries to confess something he's done, but his father Odin (Creator/AnthonyHopkins) shuts him up with a sort of {{angrish}} roar that causes Loki to stumble back, blinking and silenced. According to Hiddleston, the roar was "unscripted genius[...] Terrifying. Magnificent." and his startled shrinking away was not acting.
* In ''The Bad Sleep Well'', actor Tatsuya Mihashi was nervous and stumbled over his words during the first take of his character's speech during the opening wedding scene. Creator/AkiraKurosawa didn't even bother to film the second take. The nervousness and awkward mistakes in Tatsuo Iwabuchi's wedding toast are all genuine.
* In ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' the Joker blows up a hospital. Trying to do an unflinching walk while the building explodes behind him, there was a delay. Depending on who tells you, pyrotechnics messed up, or Nolan didn't tell Ledger that there would be a delay. So, Ledger, not breaking character, turns around at the hospital, gives a half-assed shrug, pulls out the detonator and calmly mashes the button until the rest of the explosions go off and he runs into a bus.
* ''Film/TheGodfather''.
** Actor Lenny Montana, as Luca Brasi, was so nervous about his scene where he gives his regards to Don Corleone (MarlonBrando) that he stumbled and stuttered over most of his lines. Brando compounded the problem by making funny gestures and having message written on his forehead to unsettle Montana. When Brasi apologizes and asks to start again, that's actually an out-of-character moment that got kept in the final cut. Coppola liked the scene as it was and added an earlier scene with Brasi nervously practicing his lines to make his awkwardness more natural.
** Also, when filming the severed horse head scene, they used a realistic prop head for the filming. After a few takes, they replaced the prop with a real horse head without the actor knowing. His reaction was completely genuine.
** In ''TheGodfatherPartII'', director Francis Ford Coppola played a trick on the actor who played Signor Roberto by making it so the door to Vito Corleone's office wouldn't open. Signor Roberto's frantic babbling of "I wish I could stay!" and so on as he jiggles the door handle was all completely ad-libbed.
* In ''BadBoys 2'', when Dennis Greene, who played Reggie, showed up for shooting, he was told by Martin Lawrence's bouncer that he mustn't look into Lawrence's eyes or talk to him, and Lawrence himself was subsequently nasty to him. It was all a ploy arranged by Creator/MichaelBay, who wanted the boy to be genuinely scared of Lawrence. Greene also wasn't told about the gun that he would be threatened with by WillSmith.
* According to a long-standing but unconfirmed Hollywood legend, during the shooting of the 1959 remake of ''Film/BenHur'', scriptwriter Creator/GoreVidal and director William Wyler convinced Stephen Boyd to play the role of Messala as if he and Judah were estranged lovers, without informing CharltonHeston of this--the "enforced" aspect was entirely on Heston's part. This is corroborated by Gore Vidal in the documentary film ''TheCelluloidCloset.''
* In the movie ''Date Night'', during the Erotic dance scene, in order to make the actors feel as awkward as the characters would, he shouted obscure things at the actors. On a side note, most of the lines from the two main characters were improvised on the spot.
* The actors in ''Film/TheBlairWitchProject'' were given no more than a 35-page outline of the mythology behind the plot before shooting began. All lines were improvised, and nearly all the events in the film were unknown to the three actors beforehand, and were often on-camera surprises to them all. For example:
** In a scene where the main actors are sleeping in a tent at night, the tent suddenly shakes violently and they all get scared. This was unscripted and the director shook the tent; they were really scared.
** The crackling sounds in the woods heard through the film were made by the director and friends walking up to the camp's perimeter, breaking sticks, and then tossing them in various directions.
** To promote discord between actors, the directors deliberately gave them less food each day of shooting. As one of their messages to the cast read: "Your safety is our concern. Your comfort is not."
* In ''BoyzNTheHood'', director John Singleton didn't tell the cast when shots would be fired, to ensure that the actors' reactions to the sound of gunfire would feel authentic.
* In ''TheChroniclesOfNarnia: TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'':
** Georgie Henley and Skandar Keynes, the actors playing Lucy and Edmund, had never seen the snowbound set until they walked onto it on camera. Their awe-struck reactions were authentic.
** Similarly, Georgie Henley had never seen James [=McAvoy=] in his Mr. Tumnus costume before shooting their scenes together.
** In a more subtle example, director Andrew Adamson shot the film in primarily chronological order. He did this in order to naturally create a sense of mature development from his young actors, which mirrored their real-life development.
** Before and between takes during the scene in which Edmund meets the White Witch, Tilda Swinton flirted with Skandar Keynes (roughly thirteen years old at the time) so that there would be a genuine undertone of discomfort in his performance.
** When they were first cast, Georgie Henley and James [=McAvoy=] were encouraged to spend a lot of time hanging out to build their friendship. Further into the shoot they were abruptly separated and purposefully kept away from one another so Georgie's tears at seeing his statue depicting him in anguish (and their subsequent reunion) would seem more genuine.
* ''Film/TheDeerHunter''
** Director Michael Cimino convinced Christopher Walken to actually spit in Robert de Niro's face. De Niro was completely surprised by it, as evidenced by his reaction.
** The slapping in the Russian roulette scenes was real as well and genuinely heightened the actors' tension.
* Attempted in ''Film/TheDescent''. The crawlers were kept hidden from the cast until TheReveal and the actresses were given the sole instruction to stay in the same place for the shot. When it appeared, everyone got such a fright they went running to the other side of the set. At least the effort wasn't a complete waste, they did say that it shook them up pretty bad for the next take...
* In the climactic scene of ''Film/DieHard'' where Hans Gruber falls out the building. Creator/AlanRickman was suspended over 40 feet in the air and told that he was going to be let go on a count of 3 where he would safely land on the safety mat...except they dropped him on '''''2''''', and the [[OhCrap look of panic on his face]] is definitely ''not'' acted; one is not surprised to learn that he was ''extremely'' angry with the director after that day's shooting was over.
* In ''El Norte'', during the scene in which Rosa is bitten by rats, the panic is real due to the actress' real fear of rats.
* In ''TheElephantMan'', John Hurt in playing the title role needed to wear extensive prosthetics. This was before latex, let alone lightweight foam latex, came into much use--so his prosthetics were extremely heavy, about twenty pounds of weight glued to his head and shoulders. When he tried to lie down and sleep a few hours before going on-set the first time the makeup was applied... Suffice it to say that he was found in the morning sleeping sitting up, in the same manner Merrick was known to.
* In ''FarAndAway'', one scene has NicoleKidman peeking under a bowl covering Tom Cruise's genitals. For the first few takes, she didn't look surprised enough, so director Ron Howard had Cruise take off his underwear without Kidman's knowledge.
* ''Film/TheGoonies''
** The kids weren't allowed to see the pirate ship until the filming of the scene in which they see it for the first time. Unfortunately, the first take wasn't used, as several of the cast blurted out an unscripted "Holy ''shit!''"
** Jeff Cohen, who played Chunk, was told that the scene where Sloth picks his chair-tied self up would cut before the actual lift occurred; it obviously didn't, and John Matuszak straight-out picked him up easily, leading to the kid's wails and cry of, "You smell like phys. ed.!"
* ''Film/{{DOA}}'' used this. That long sequence where Frank is running through the streets? None of that was planned. They just sat the camera on the back of a car and had the actor run through the streets. Those times where he nearly gets hit by a car and a bus, the actor really could have been hit by a car or a bus. It really adds to how frantic he is.
* The scene in ''Film/{{Rocky}}'' where he runs around Philadelphia was shot on the fly. People are staring at him because they were wondering who that guy jogging was.
* In the movie ''Film/{{Mash}}'', director RobertAltman had trouble shooting the scene in which Hot Lips is exposed in the shower when the tent flap is pulled up. On the first take, actress Sally Kellerman knew what was coming and was already lying on the ground during the reveal. For the second take, Altman and Gary Burghoff came onto the set and dropped their trousers in front of her off-camera to keep her distracted until the actual reveal.
* ''Kes''
** At the ebdm the director told the young main actor that they'd killed the kestrel he'd been filming alongside in order to get a convincing performance out of him. In actual fact, they'd got another dead bird from a sanctuary before filming.
** The scene where a boy, who is mistakenly thought to have been smoking, is caned across the hand. The caning is real, and the camera, lingering for a long time on the child actor's face, positively soaks up his bemusement.
* In ''MemoirsOfAGeisha'', according to the director's commentary, in the scene in which Mameha (played by MichelleYeoh) admonishes Sayuri (played by Ziyi Zhang) for her lack of caution which led to her assault at the hands of the Baron shortly before her virginity is to be auctioned off, Zhang was not told beforehand that Mameha, her character's mentor and one of her only friends, would quickly exit after hissing her final line: "...if you are found to be worthless..." as a vicious threat, leaving Zhang to deliver Sayuri's lines, to declare "I am not worthless. I am not worthless!" to only herself, with no one to hear her. Zhang/Sayuri broke down at this, quite nicely.
* Child actor Jackie Cooper was goaded into crying for a scene by a director who threatened to shoot his dog. Cooper was so traumatized by the memory of that event that when he later wrote his autobiography, he entitled it, ''Please Don't Shoot My Dog.''
* In ''TheKid'', Jackie Coogan was told he would be sold to an actual workhouse if he did not cry convincingly in the scene where the little boy is taken away from the Tramp. Needless to say, it worked.
* While filming ''Franchise/StarWars V: Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', Creator/MarkHamill was only told Darth Vader was Luke's father a few minutes before the scene was filmed. David Prowse, who was playing the physical half of the Darth Vader part, wasn't told at all. In order to make sure that no one on the crew would leak the surprise, Prowse was given the line, "No, Obi-Wan killed your father!"
* In ''StrawDogs'', to get the perfect "shocked reaction" from the villagers when DustinHoffman's character walks into the pub, director Sam Peckinpah had him walk in without any trousers on. It worked. If you watch the reaction shot of the town drunk, his eyes go wide and immediately drop down, apparently to stare at Hoffman's naked lower body off camera. The next shot starts at Hoffman's shoes and pans up to justify the eye motion.
* ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory''
** None of the cast, child or adult, was allowed to see or even know about the "candy gardens" room until the filming--the wonder and amazement on their faces at the moment the door opens is genuine.
** In the documentary on the same disc, GeneWilder admits he did not tell Peter Ostrum just ''how'' furious he would be when he declared Charlie had violated the contract [[spoiler:by stealing Fizzy Lifting Drinks earlier in the movie]] and thus wouldn't win the lifetime supply of chocolate. Since it was key that Charlie be shocked, Wilder didn't unleash the character's rage until the cameras rolled in order to get the most natural reaction possible.
** Similarly, the scene when the Oompa Loompas walk out for the first time was unscripted; all the reactions that the actors have to them are real.
** And Gene Wilder's raving on the boat came as a complete shock to the actors aboard, who all genuinely thought that Wilder was going insane.
* ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' films,
** In the second film, all the actors were told that TheReveal at the end was that of Anamaria, a minor character from the first film. The looks of shock as [[spoiler:Barbossa]] appears are genuine.
** Also done when [[spoiler:Elizabeth kisses Jack]] near the end of the same film. [[spoiler:Orlando Bloom wasn't told that that would happen, so Will's expression upon seeing the two kiss was genuine as well. ]]
** Not to mention the crew's collective looks of confusion at Jack's "Jar of Dirt" song.
** The actors were also not told until the moment that the bone cages would actually be swinging.
* The documentary ''The Fear of God: The Making of The Exorcist'' revealed some of the shocking enforced method acting used by director Friedkin in ''Film/TheExorcist''. He refrigerated the room to make Max von Sydow and Jason Miller shiver convincingly. He assured the actresses that they would be treated gently when hooked up to wires, and then yanked them around so violently that he caused them minor injuries. Firearms would be discharged between takes every once in a while to keep everyone jittery. Jason Miller was not told that he was going to be sprayed in the face during the vomiting scene. And when the actor playing Father Dyer wasn't getting the final scene, where he administers the last rites to Father Karras, just right, Friedkin took him aside, slapped him hard across the face, and then resumed shooting. In the documentary, O'Malley testifies that his shaking hands during that scene are due to fear of Friedkin.
* In ''Exorcist 2: The Heretic'', when Regan is about to walk off the edge of a building, there were no safety measures in place. One wrong step and she would have plummeted.
* In ''Film/{{Transformers}}''
** one scene had Shia [=LaBeouf=]'s character clinging to the side of a building while above him are the spinning blades of a helicopter with explosions all around him. As admitted by the actor, the fear he expresses is genuine as the copter was real.
** When Scorponok attacks the soldiers in the desert the actors were told to run and not to stop no matter what. That was because Scorponok's "tracks" were being made by detonating buried strands of primacord. So the panic in that scene is quite genuine.
** And when Sam's on the hood of a car, and Barricade slams it, demanding to know where the glasses are? One of the first pieces of movie-related video released to the Internet was a clip of that scene being filmed, complete with Shia [=LaBeouf=] screaming afterward that they didn't tell him the car was going to jump up.
** The very large explosion during ''Revenge of the Fallen'''s desert battle climax where all the actors and actual service personnel are running away? That was real panic on their faces. And they had only one take.
* ''Film/{{X-Men}}''
** When {{Wolverine}} first confronts {{Magneto}}, the initial look of shock at Magneto's entrance was a result of HughJackman's fear of what was happening around him. He was told Magneto would tear open the train car; he thought this meant ripping off the door, not half of the train being literally pulled apart by hydraulics. He mentioned having to study that shot when doing the reaction shots so he could reproduce all the various twitches and tics he went through.
** When Sabertooth throws Wolverine off the Statue of Liberty, the next scene is Wolvie slamming his claws into the side of the torch to stop falling. In an interview with Wizard, Jackman says the harness slipped and pinched him in [[GroinAttack a very uncomfortable place]], as a result his screams of rage are actually genuine screams of pain.
* In ''Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'', director Creator/StevenSpielberg didn't allow the child actors to see the E.T. puppet until their scenes were filmed. Thus, their screams are genuine. Additionally, the scenes were filmed chronologically, so that by the end, their tears during E.T.'s departure were part of a sincere sadness that the shooting was over.
* ''CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind''
** When Cary Guffey's three-year-old character is supposed to be reacting to aliens, Spielberg had two crew members in a clown and gorilla suit appear suddenly and then remove their masks. The boy is at first afraid, then smiles.
** And when Guffey's character is abducted later, Melinda Dillon was not told the extent of the special effects that would be going off around the house, making her panic authentic. In particular, when he looks into the sky and says "toys" (presumably in reference to the alien spaceships), Spielberg had gotten onto a ladder with a large box and opened it up to reveal actual toys.
** When Spielberg told Guffey to say goodbye to the aliens "like your friends are going away forever". The four-year-old actor misunderstood and thought Spielberg was saying that his ''real life'' friends (there were other children on the set) were going away forever. Those tears are real.
* ''Franchise/JurassicPark'' films:
** In ''Franchise/JurassicPark'''s scene with the kids in the car, the glass wasn't supposed to break. Those screams were for real.
** The commentary track to ''Film/JurassicParkIII'', after describing the machines used in one scene added, "So when the actors look frightened, they're not acting." They were conditioned to react to dinosaurs realistically via someone shoving a dino head on a stick in their face and going "grr" ''just'' so they'd be more scared when they actually used ''real'' models.
** During the scene where the T-rex is pressing its snout against the the pane of glass with the children underneath. The robotic t-rex was being controlled by a puppeteer with a scale model rather than a programmed set of movements. The puppeteer was given plastic stops to tell him how far he could go with the robot before he crushed the actors; needless to say, the pressure being put on both actors was very real.
* During the filming of a basic training scene in the movie ''Film/{{Stripes}}'', director Ivan Reitman quietly told the actors to pull Warren Oates, who played their drill sergeant Sgt. Hulka, down into the mud with them--when they did so, Oates chipped a tooth. Oates subsequently berated Reitman in front of everyone, shouting, "If you want to push me into the mud I'll get pushed into the mud, but don't pull that kind of shit again!" After that, Ivan Reitman has never attempted to use Enforced Method Acting in any of his films.
* In ''Vera Drake'', the director and the actress playing the title role managed to keep the character's big secret from the actors playing her family until the scene where they find out, to get genuine reactions out of them.
* In ''TheCelebration'', Thomas Vinterburg kept the awful revelation during the speech a secret. The shocked reaction of the crowd, who had become quite in-character by that point and saw their host as a cordial, lovable gentleman, was very real.
* In ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow'',
** All of the actors except TimCurry were left in the dark of the fact that Eddie's corpse was under the tablecloth. Patricia Quinn's hysterical laughter in that scene, and Richard O'Brien subsequently yelling at her to shut up, were also genuine reactions.
** Also in the dinner scene, when Susan Sarandon jumps a mile when her fiancé slams his hand on the table--real. He accidentally slammed his fist down on top of her fingers. If you keep an eye on her you can see her mouth 'Ow' and subtly rub her hand as she moves it under the table.
** Janet knees Frankenfurter in the groin. Apparently Sarandon wasn't a big fan of Curry's off-set behaviour. Happens again when they're in the pool, if you watch Curry's face you can find the moment, but that time it really doesn't have anything to do with what's going on.
* In Garry Marshall's 1991 film ''Frankie and Johnny'', Marshall wanted Creator/AlPacino to show a genuine amount of surprise when opening a door at a key point in the movie. To get authentic emotion from Pacino, Marshall arranged for Creator/WilliamShatner and Creator/LeonardNimoy (who were shooting the sixth ''Film/{{Star Trek|VI The Undiscovered Country}}'' movie nearby) to make an appearance on the other side of the door just off camera in full costume as Kirk and Spock!
* In ''Film/MontyPythonsLifeOfBrian''
** The extras who play guards in the "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K8_jgiNqUc Biggus Dickus]]" scene were told to stand stock still and look serious, and that if they so much as giggled they would be fired. You can see them genuinely straining not to laugh when Michael Palin gets into his bit. Seriously, ''you'' try to watch the scene with a straight face. Another highlight is the OhCrap look on the guards' faces when he says, "He has a wife, you know..."
* In the "burn the witch" scene from ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'' when Creator/JohnCleese held his pause for an extremely long time (far longer than in the rehearsals), Eric Idle had to bite on his prop scythe to stop himself from laughing.
* In Creator/MontyPython's ''[[Film/MontyPythonsTheMeaningOfLife Meaning of Life]]'', many of the extras in the famous Mr. Creosote scene had no idea what was going to happen, and their disgusted reactions to the scene are genuine. In an interview, Carol Cleveland revealed that her line about bleeding all over her seat was met with particular revulsion--one of the extras screamed [[WhoWritesThisCrap "Who the fuck]] ''[[WhoWritesThisCrap wrote]]'' [[WhoWritesThisCrap this?!"]]
* In ''Film/StarTrekNemesis'', in the scene where Riker is fighting the Reman [[TheDragon Dragon]] on a catwalk that suddenly collapses beneath them, Riker's panicked cry is for real because they didn't tell the actor ahead of time.
* Another Star Trek example: In ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'', in the scene where Kirk first confronts Khan, Kirk says "Here it comes" to Khan before transmitting what is supposed to be classified data but is actually a signal to make Khan's ship drop its shields. WilliamShatner kept delivering the line in his [[LargeHam usual acting style]], making it too clear that Kirk was tricking Khan, so director Nicholas Meyer had Shatner do the scene multiple times until he was tired enough to do a more appropriately subdued take.
* In ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome'', the camera was hidden for the scene where Chekov and Uhura stand on a street corner and ask "Where are the nuclear wessels?" Those are real pedestrians, not extras, interacting (or not) with Walter Koenig and Nichelle Nichols. When one unexpectedly stopped and gave directions, a staffer had to chase after her with a release form.
* In the German movie ''Film/DasBoot'', one of the actors (Jan Fedder) fell off the bridge of the submarine set. One of the other actors shouted "man overboard" and the director remarked that it was a good idea and they should run it one more time with the fall as part of the plan, not realizing that Fedder had broken several ribs and had to be hospitalized.
* Creator/AlfredHitchcock was fond of this type of acting.
** When he made the film version of ''{{Rebecca}}'', the story called for Joan Fontaine to be nervous around the other actors. To achieve this, Hitchcock told her that no one else on set liked her. (Which was true in LaurenceOlivier's case; he had wanted his bride-to-be, Vivien Leigh, for the female lead and was not pleased when Fontaine was cast instead.)
** The climax of ''Film/TheBirds'' was filmed with five days' worth of live birds thrown at actress Tippi Hedren, instead of the mechanical birds she had been promised. The blood from the birds hitting her and the terror she expresses was genuine, and she was ordered a week's rest after breaking down crying onset, when she reported "nightmares filled with flapping wings".
** In ''RearWindow'', one elaborate set involved the outside of a bunch of buildings, and one scene where a man and a woman on the "back porch" were supposed to go back inside through one of two windows, carrying the mattress they had out back in, when it started to rain. Hitchcock told them to go into different windows, so when the scene came, their confusion was real, but it made for a very convincing portrayal of people surprised by the rain and trying to get back inside in a hurry.
** Guides at the Universal Studios tour tell the story that when shooting the shower scene in ''Film/{{Psycho}}'', Hitchcock switched off the hot water and made it ice-cold, ensuring that Janet Leigh's screams would be real. Leigh, however, has denied this.
* In ''DraculaDeadAndLovingIt'', when Lucy Westenra is staked after becoming a vampire, "Harker" actor Steven Weber wasn't told the massive amount of stage blood that would come from the dummy. In the movie, he's clearly struggling not to laugh as he delivers his lines. The line "She's dead ''enough''" was reportedly ad-libbed by Weber on the spot.
* In the scene from the movie ''{{Shine}}'' where concert pianist David Helfgott (played by Geoffrey Rush) was jumping on a trampoline naked except for an open trenchcoat, Lynn Redgrave's shocked and amused reaction was genuine because at the last minute, Rush covered his privates with a bouquet of plastic flowers.
* When directing ShirleyTemple, ruthless Western director JohnFord needed her to cry. So he asked the stage manager to inform her that her dog had been killed by a car, right before flipping on the cameras. What is captured on film is one of the best moments of Miss Temple's career.
* JohnWoo reveals on the commentary track of ''HardBoiled'' that, in the scene where Tequila outruns an explosion and leaps out a window holding a baby, Chow Yun-Fat was not given any warning before the pyrotechnic charges were set off behind him.
* The scene where Film/JamesBond is in a pool with sharks in ''Film/{{Thunderball}}'' was meant to be filmed with the sharks in a plexiglass tunnel. When it turned out not enough glass was available and there would be a hole in the tunnel, the filmmakers elected not to tell Sean Connery, as he was terrified of the sharks and they knew they would never be able to get him in the pool if he was aware of the problem. Hence the terrified look on his face when the shark comes after him, and then his practically doing a vertical leap out of the water.
* In ''Film/TomorrowNeverDies'', in the Saigon scene where Bond and Lin steal a motorcycle, the director instructed each of the actors separately that they would be driving the bike, resulting in the desired scuffle over who would sit in front.
* During the boat chase on the Thames at the beginning of ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough'', two traffic cops writing a ticket and attaching a parking clamp to a car at the riverside get a lot of water splashed onto them when Bond slams his boat round a corner. Apparently the actors were told they would get a ''bit'' wet and the rest of the crew was worried to get the scene right the first time, because the reaction just wouldn't be the same in the second take.
* ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}'':
** When Film/JamesBond electrocutes the {{Mook}} by dropping the fan in the bathtub right at the start of the film, the special effects included high-pressure steam jets, which scalded the leg of the actor, unable to escape due to the way the cable of the fan had wrapped itself around his leg. The look of pain was real.
** When Oddjob knocks Bond to the floor by smashing the back of his neck, Bond is thrown sideways, contorted in pain. Being an athlete and not an actor, the blow was genuine, as the actor playing Oddjob hadn't yet mastered the art of pulling blows. Apparently, Sean Connery was quite badly hurt.
** When Bond electrocutes Oddjob on the bars of the gold depository, Oddjob was getting badly burned by the spark effects, which were wilder than initially planned by the special effects department. The look of pain on his face and concern on Bond's face were real.
** The laser scene. The scene was shot with special effects technicians crouched under the table, burning through it with a blowtorch. There was a mark to show where they needed to stop burning. They didn't. SeanConnery's distress is extremely obvious and he was apparently furious once filming was over.
* In ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe'', Roger Moore decided last minute it would be much more dramatic if he was sitting in the chair instead standing behind it when the gun underneath the dining table was fired. The special effects team had only reinforced the back of the chair for the original planned shot, which meant Moore risked serious injury if he didn't leap away in time.
* In ''Film/{{REC}}'' all the shock when [[spoiler: Alex is thrown down the stairs]] is genuine because the directors didn't inform the rest of the cast about it.
* In ''Film/MaryPoppins'':
** The young actors playing Michael and Jane weren't told that it was [[spoiler: Dick Van Dyke]] playing the elderly Mr. Dawes. In an interview included on the Mary Poppins DVD release, Karen Dotrice said that she didn't find out until seeing the credits of the finished movie in the theater.
** Also, in the scene where the children are to take their medicine, a bottle with several internal compartments is used to dispense several colors of elixir. The children were not informed of this, so when Jane shrieks in shock at the changing color, it's real.
* ''RomanHoliday'' features a moment where Gregory Peck's character pretends his hand has been bitten off by a statue. Peck didn't tell co-star Audrey Hepburn [[IncrediblyLamePun beforehand]] and her reaction is genuine.
* From [[http://www.dfi.dk/tidsskriftetfilm/50/dogsleds.htm an article]] on the making of the film ''The Journals of Knud Rasmussen'': "The way (filmmakers Norman) Cohn and (Zacharias) Kunuk work, the scene starts, everyone gets into character and the camera rolls. It was a challenge for the Danes, (producer Elise) Lund Larsen says. She mentions a scene of a party, when Kunuk unexpectedly pointed the camera at (actor Jakob) Cedergren and urged him to drum dance. That's not in the script. The point is to get a reaction that matches how Mathiassen must have felt. "
* Creator/StanleyKubrick was apparently a fan of this technique.
** When filming [[Film/TheShining his adaptation]] of Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/TheShining'', he verbally abused Shelley Duvall and notoriously made her do numerous takes of a single scene in order to render her performance as Jack Torrance's meek and increasingly terrified and hysterical wife Wendy more compelling. He similarly made Scatman Crothers do hundreds of takes of scenes until eventually Crothers broke down crying and yelled "What do you ''want'' from me, Mr. Kubrick?" As Crothers's character has comparatively little screen time this might be less an example of this trope and more of Kubrick just being his usual PrimaDonnaDirector self.
** He did this all over the place in ''DoctorStrangelove'':
*** He wanted a "cowboy" actor to pilot the Leper Colony nuclear bomber, but all the ones he contacted refused because of the anti-war source material. So he finally decided to contact Slim Pickens, show him nothing but his parts, and never told him he was making a comedy, implying that his character was the hero of the film, "heroically" ''delivering the bomb that ends the world.'' Pickens was okay with it in the long run, spinning the publicity into a highly successful career.
*** On the other hand, George C. Scott wanted to play General Turgidson as a dignified WellIntentionedExtremist, so Kubrick tricked him by telling him to do a few over the top takes as "practice" and that [[BlatantLies they would never be put into the real movie]]. ''[[LeftItIn Kubrick used all of them.]]'' Scott eventually admitted it was better that way, but nonetheless he vowed never to work with Kubrick again.
* A mild case took place during the filming of ''TheSoundOfMusic'': the reconciliation scene between the children and Captain Von Trapp was filmed last, ensuring that the tears were genuine. One story has it that Christopher Plummer deliberately enhanced the effect by deliberately distancing himself from the actors playing the children so they all thought he didn't ''like'' them. But then, he somewhat infamously ''didn't'' like them. He even insisted a stand in be brought in when he carries one of the children on his back because the real actress was "too fat".
** When the kids fall out of the paddle boat and the oldest daughter drags the youngest to the surface by her collar, she had to do that because the youngest kid couldn't swim.
* ''Film/{{Scream 1996}}''
** In order to get the appropriate fear reaction from Creator/DrewBarrymore, director Creator/WesCraven reminded her of a story she had read about a man who got rid of a litter of unwanted puppies by lighting them on fire.
** In the scene where Sidney dresses up in the Ghostface costume and stabs Billy with an umbrella, the stunt woman in the costume couldn't see very well and ended up stabbing the actor who played Billy in the chest - right where he had a wire from heart surgery. The screams of pain from him are real.
*** Also, in [[Film/{{Scream 3}} the third movie]] Scott Foley (Roman) is ''really'' screaming from being struck with an ice pick as Neve Campbell (Sidney) missed the protective pad.
* Similarly, Frankie Laine was not informed that ''Film/BlazingSaddles'' was a comedy, so he sang the theme song straight, which makes it even funnier. [[WordOfGod According to]] Creator/MelBrooks, Mel was looking for a Frankie [[PoorMansSubstitute sound-a-like]], and when the genuine article came in, he just didn't have the heart to tell the guy that it was a parody movie after hearing his effort.
** Another enforced method acting moment was when Cleavon Little can't keep a straight face after Gene Wilder delivered the "You know... morons" line. Little was not told about the line in advance.
* As early as the first ''{{Terminator}}'' crew members wore T-Shirts emblazoned with "You can't scare me. I work for JamesCameron."
** While filming ''TheAbyss'', JamesCameron kept the cameras rolling after Ed Harris had run out of oxygen, capturing the actor's real panic. When he got out of the tank, [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Harris went up to Cameron and punched him.]] Harris has said he would never work with Cameron again. Mary Elizabeth Masterantonio was forced to go through the resuscitation scene so many times she got angry and stormed off the set at one point. The casts nervous laughing at her revival was genuine as a result of dealing with the stress.
* Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger's entrance into the bar in ''Terminator 2'' gets a lot of reactions from the patrons, mainly staring as his pelvic area. Arnold was wearing [[GoofyPrintUnderwear gaudy boxer shorts]] to draw their gaze.
** According to WordOfGod , Linda Hamilton tried to get the orderly to really hit her during one scene, but he refused, which meant numerous retakes of one scene in which Hamilton had to fall hard onto her knees. In revenge, when she hits him in the face with a broomstick, she really hits him. The look of pain on his face as he crumples to the floor is very real.
* In the Creator/AdamSandler remake ''Mr. Deeds'' there is a scene where Sandler invites John Turturro's character to hit his foot with a fireplace poker to prove he has no feeling in it. While Sandler doesn't even shrug at the first two strikes, at the third Deeds screams in pain before revealing he was joking to get a rise out of the butler. As you might have guessed, the scream wasn't in the script, Sandler and the director threw it in at the last minute to get an amusing reaction out of John Turturro.
** The end of the movie involves Sandler using that foot to save WinonaRyder from drowning. See the entry for ''Alien: Resurrection'' above to see why this is significant.
* ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' films:
** In his memoir ''Lucky Man'', MichaelJFox recounts that while filming the scene where Marty is lynched in ''Film/BackToTheFuture Part 3'', he actually didn't get his hand in the right place on one take and actually blacked out. The director soon realized that the swinging was too realistic.
** Marty's gasp in part 2 when Biff kicks him in the gut is real. RobertZemeckis is apparently big on real reactions, and runs the mantra "Pain is temporary, film is forever" with his actors.
* In ''EmpireOfTheSun'', there was a scene where a maid smacks ChristianBale's character across the face. They had practiced the scene with a fake slap, but Creator/StevenSpielberg told the actress playing the maid to really slap him for the real take. Christian Bale's shocked reaction was completely real.
* In the scene in ''Film/WithnailAndI'' where Withnail drinks lighter fluid, the liquid in the bottle was vinegar, not water as previously rehearsed. The look on Creator/RichardEGrant's face is completely unfeigned.
* Between takes in ''The King of Comedy'', RobertDeNiro made antisemitic comments around Jerry Lewis in order to make Lewis's anger toward [=DeNiro=]'s character more real.
* In ''TheThomasCrownAffair'', the 1999 remake, the director told Pierce Brosnan to keep kissing Rene Russo even though she was pulling away, during a kissing scene near the end of the film. Rene was not told of this, so during the scene, she was really trying to stop the kiss.
* In the comedy ''RunFatBoyRun'', director David Schwimmer said that in the scene where Simon Pegg and Hank Azaria are talking in the locker room, Simon's shocked reaction to Hank dropping his towel was very real. Apparently, Hank was supposed to wear a modesty patch over his genitals, but it didn't fit, so he did the scene without it.
* ''TheLastHouseOnTheLeft''
** In the 2009 remake, actress RikiLindhome has a brief topless scene near the beginning when the girls first see her character, as she quickly changes shirts ripping off her old one in plain view. Sara Paxton was not informed that this would happen, causing her shock to be more genuine.
** On the original movie's special edition DVD actors commentary track, the actors playing Krug and Weasel boast about how they terrorised the actresses playing Mari and Phyllis, right down to hinting during the filming of the rape scene that they'd go ahead and actually commit the act if they didn't think the actresses' performances were convincing enough. They seem to think this is awesome.
* In ''FightClub'', the first punch in the first fight between Edward Norton and BradPitt was supposed to be awkward as neither character had fought before. It was agreed beforehand that Norton would punch Pitt in the shoulder, but the director changed it at the last minute. Brad was not informed.
-->'''Tyler Durden''': Ow! Christ, why the ear, man?!
** Helena Bonham-Carter is British and didn't know what Marla's "I haven't been fucked like that since grade school" line meant, since England has a different education system. When she found out that grade school was the American equivalent of ''primary school'', she was ''not'' happy.
* In the film version of ''Film/TheCatInTheHat'', Mike Meyers is standing in the hallway amidst the house falling down, and one particular beam falls, and Mike jumps and starts looking around, because no one told him it was going to happen.
* For the film ''WhenHarryMetSally'', director Rob Reiner often encouraged Billy Crystal to improvise his dialogue to evoke more realistic reactions from Meg Ryan. The most noticeable example is in the famous "too much pepper in my paprikash" scene. At one point, while trying to figure out what Harry is saying, Sally laughs and looks away. This was Ryan looking to Reiner for some idea of what to do, but Reiner [[ThrowItIn decided to keep it]] because it makes her character more endearing and lovable (at the exact moment in the film when the characters' love relationships starts).
* Creator/AkiraKurosawa did this in ''Film/{{Throne of Blood}}'', in the climactic sequence where his Theatre/{{Macbeth}} analogue is being fired upon by dozens of archers. The arrows that actually hit Lord Washizu, or miss narrowly, were pulled by strings behind the walls; the ones that miss by a larger margin were ''actually shot at him'' by expert marksmen on the set. Needless to say, ToshiroMifune's display of blind terror is not entirely acted.
** Using expert marksmen was standard practice in Japanese cinema at the time. If the character was supposed to be struck by the arrow, the actor wore a wooden block under his costume and prayed really hard that the archer was having a good day.
** ''Film/TheAdventuresOfRobinHood'' used the same technique with a professional stunt archer.
* When filming the pie fights featured in several Three Stooges shorts, directors such as Jules White would avoid anticipation or flinching with misleading timing; e.g., telling an actor they would be hit with a pie on the count of three, while secretly instructing the person hurling the pastry to throw it on ''two''.
* During the carrying-his-cross scene in ''Film/ThePassionOfTheChrist'', Jim Caveziel dislocated his shoulder when he collapsed and the cross fell on him. He insisted that the take be kept in the final film, so that the pain Jesus was supposed to be experiencing would seem more real.
* In the film ''ToraToraTora!'', a radio-controlled aircraft was supposed to roll down the runway past a bunch of extras, and then blow up. It went out of control and swerved toward the extras, who then really did start running for their lives.
** They are wire-controlled replicas of P-40 fighters, but with real Allison engines in them. And both takes are seen in the finished movie. One where the plane runs into a row of parked planes, and the other that explodes and spins to a halt in the middle of the runway.
* During the fascist dream sequence in ''Music/PinkFloyd's Music/TheWall'', actual neo-Nazis were employed as extras. Thus the intensity and brutality shown is as real as it can get.
** At one point, the character Pink phones his wife, knowing she's with another man. The phone call? Real. The operator's confused reaction ("There's a man answering...") is genuine. They had to do the call several times before they found one who realized what the situation was. The exact same phone call was originally featured on the album of the same name (See under Music.)
** In the scene where Pink trashes his hotel room, the actress playing the groupie had just been told to watch him. She got genuinely shocked when he started throwing things at her.
* Creator/TommyLeeJones hated the script to the first ''Film/MenInBlack'' movie so much, he re-wrote all of his own lines. Of course, he didn't tell Creator/WillSmith of any of his changes, so Smith had to constantly ad-lib to keep up.
* In ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'', while preparing for the shoot actors whose characters had close relationships were often paired up (though Creator/PeterJackson complains on the DVD that when they were sent out in canoes to learn to work together they spent most of their time trying to sink each other). The actors playing Merry and Pippin have mentioned that they spent most of their time together during principal photography for the first two films, and were then kept apart for ''Return of the King''. They apparently didn't appreciate the last part.
** In ''Fellowship of the Ring'' Billy Boyd was not aware that Gandalf's firework actually was going to flare. Pippin's scream is real. He admitted in the film's commentary that he got so freaked out by the firework that he peed his pants. Dominic Monaghan actually called him 'Pissylegs' for the rest of the production because of it.
** When Bilbo is giving his farewell speech to the fellow Hobbits, he sounds drunk because Ian Holm ''was'' for the scene. Later, he was unable to replicate his own manner of "drunk speech" for the ADR, so the sound team spent a lot of time clearing the on-set recording from all the background noises.
** When Merry is given the orc brew in ''The Two Towers'' they used all sorts of ill-matched ingredients for the brew and since Merry is unconscious when it's given to him it was more or less forced down the actor's throat. Apparently it made him actually vomit in a few takes (like the one used in the film).
** Also, while filming the scene where Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli are examining the pyre of Uruk-hai bodies, believing Merry and Pippin has been burned along with them, Aragorn kicks a helmet lying on the ground and screams in anguish over his hobbits friends most likely being dead. The intensity of the scream was due to Viggo Mortensen (who played Aragorn) breaking two toes when he performed the kick, but Peter Jackson liked the shot so much that is was left in the movie.
*** Apparently Aragorn's deflection of Lurtz's throwing knife is also real, as it was meant to miss in the original script.
** There was something of a rivalry between the extras playing Elves and the extras playing Uruk-hai. The Uruks coined the nickname "cupcakes" for their Elven counterparts. This apparently started because the Elven extras (who were largely local college students) weren't getting into character as soldiers, so the Uruk-hai decided to start taunting, jeering, and otherwise acting like actual members of an opposing army. This got the Elven actors riled up enough to be in character.
** David Wenham mentions on the commentary for the third film that his horse often refused to cooperate, and after a while he found out it had been bought for $200. He ponders that this might have been done on purpose - give [[TheUnfavorite Faramir]] the lousiest horse, [[ButtMonkey no one]] [[TheWoobie loves him anyway.]]
* While filming ''Film/TheFall'', Lee Pace spent twelve weeks in a wheelchair pretending to be unable to walk while filming so the child actor he was working with would deliver a more realistic performance. An extra on the DVD shows the moment where he and the director admitted to the crew that he could actually walk and got up out of his wheel chair. Also, most of the girl's lines were only loosely scripted and she adlibbed most of her lines in reaction to what was happening in the scene, and everyone referred to Pace by the name of his character, Roy.
** Also, the scene when five year old Alexandria, hysterical already, comes to find that Roy is [[spoiler: alive after he attempts suicide with what he thinks are morphine pills]] Lee Pace was frustrated by the number of takes it had taken to get the scene, Tarsem's insistence on repeated takes and the actresses inability to get her physical movements quite right. Tarsem had infamously been calling CUT right before Roy was supposed to react to waking up meaning Pace had by the 30+ take built up quite a lot of tension. When Tarsem finally let the scene continue after Alexandria draws the curtain back, Lee unleashed Teh Rage and lost his f** ing mind, screaming hysterically (in character). The child actress was totally terrified and genuinely wet herself in fear. Tarsem, in the commentary described her as being like a giraffe; when scared she goes very still and pees.
*** He also cast her after meeting her, at which point she barely spoke a word of English and telling a fellow crew member 'We have to make this film now, in six months she'll be a different person' All the hospital scenes were shot in sequence so that Alexandria's grasp of English developed naturally, taking her from one or two confused words a scene to complete English language conversations with Pace.
**** Also, in the scene depicting the finale, [[spoiler: where Roy tries to kill off the hero of the fairytale he has been telling Alexandria]] They had another difficult day of shooting and Pace, once again, got quite wound up. His frustrated, angry telling of the story is fuelled by quite genuine anger not to mention, in the moment when he lifts his hand to mime punching someone as in the story, the child actress once again flinched totally realistically as she genuinely thought he might hit her.
* An accidental case of this occurred during the filming of the original ''[[Film/{{Gojira}} Godzilla]]''. The original suit that the actor wore in filming was so stiff and inflexible, that the suit could, quite literally, stand upright ''by itself''. This forced the actor wearing the suit to move in ways which were not like those of a human, making the monster that much more real and terrifying.
** In two separate movies, Godzilla vs. Mothra and Terror of [=MechaGodzilla=], due to a combination of malfunctioning pyrotechnics and the actor not being able to see where he was going, the Godzilla costume actually caught fire during filming. Both scenes made the final cut of the films.
* ''StandByMe''
** To get the appropriate reaction from Creator/WilWheaton and Jerry O'Connell, who were children at the time, for the train scene, director Rob Reiner yelled at them until they cried.
** In the movie, Kiefer Sutherland's character is a bully who terrorizes the younger boys in the town. Sutherland is a method actor himself, so he picked on the boys off-set to scare them.
** A gentler example from the film: during the scene where River Phoenix breaks down, he was having trouble. Rob Reiner got him to remember a time when an adult had let him down, allowing him the appropriate level of emotion.
* Fritz Lang utilized this often, though it's hard to say where this trope ends and outright abuse begins. The best-known example was while filming the cellar scene of ''Film/{{M}}''; star PeterLorre was kept working to the point of exhaustion while suffering real physical blows in order to increase his pain, fear, and desperation. The shot where he is kicked with an iron boot was filmed dozens of times in succession.
-->'''Hans Beckert:''' YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO DO THIS TO ME!
* In TheFilmOfTheBook ''HarryPotter/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'', they were in the process of filming the dramatic scene in which Sirius falls through the veil. To help get DanielRadcliffe to the proper emotional state, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VZJIRKw-Wg Gary Oldman asked him if he could do something a little physical with him, then shook him violently and screamed in his face.]] So those tears are apparently real.
** The moral of this story, kids: If GaryOldman asks if he can help you get into a distraught emotional state, the answer is a polite no unless you are ''really'' dedicated to your art.
** In ''HarryPotter/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'' a cannon was fired to start the First Task. When the scene was filmed the director had the cannon fire on the line before the prompt from the rehearsals so the actors jumped for real.
*** Also on ''Goblet'', Harry was supposed to be rubbish at the big Yule Ball dance scene. So the director had the rest of the cast practice that sequence during the month Dan Radcliffe was shooting the long underwater Second Task, and then gave him a week to learn the dance.
* DustinHoffman tells a story that when they were filming ''MarathonMan'', LaurenceOlivier's acting was way too big and theatrical for the scene, but the director was unwilling to tell SIR LAURENCE OLIVIER to tone it down. So Hoffman went back over and told Olivier that they already had all the film of him they needed, but they wanted more of Hoffman's half of the scene, so could he do a few takes just reading his lines, as if they were in rehearsal. Apparently Olivier saw through it, but appreciated his tact.
** And when Hoffman's character was supposed to be exhausted by being kept awake for three days, Dustin, being a method actor, stayed awake for three days before shooting -- to which Olivier remarked "Try acting, dear boy...it's much easier."
* In ''SoylentGreen'', just before the shooting of the euthanasia scene, Heston was told by Edward G. Robinson (playing Sol Roth, the character dying) that he was dying of terminal brain cancer. Heston was the only one in the cast that had been told. The crying that Heston gives in the scene (while he watches Robinson's character die, appropriately enough) is thus quite real. Robinson died 12 days after shooting finished.
* In ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'', when Carlisle bites Edward, he whispers in Edward's ear. The in-character "I'm sorry" failed to get the right terrified reaction, as did the equally in-character "My son", but when he whispered "You're sexy", [[FanNickname RPattz]] actually breaks into a broad smile as if he's about to laugh. But that's the take they used.
* In ''{{Cocoon}}'', the scene where Hume Cronyn's character punches out the orderly wasn't all acting. Cronyn, who was [[BadassGrandpa a Golden Gloves boxer]] and [[HandicappedBadass lacked sight in one eye]], actually knocked the guy out because he (Cronyn) lacked depth perception.
* ''Film/TheUsualSuspects''. Redfoot threw a cigarette at Mcmanus's face which was meant for his chest. Stephen Baldwin's reaction is real, as is Benicio del Toro's look of panic.
* ''TheresSomethingAboutMary''. When Ted (BenStiller) is being loaded into the ambulance, he really is dropped.
* During filming of the climactic dinner scene from ''Film/TheTexasChainSawMassacre1974'', the stench of the food got to everyone so much that some of them (including the man playing Leatherface) started to hallucinate that they were really their characters. One actor, who had fought in the Vietnam War, describes filming that scene as the worst experience of his life.
** The dinner scene was a 24 hour shoot, so the actors' exhaustion and bloodshot eyes were real.
** Marylin Burns' finger was cut for real when the prop blood sprayer wouldn't work properly. The obvious cut immediately afterwards is so the actor playing the grandfather wouldn't have to suck on a real bleeding finger.
* When James Woods and Sean Young starred in an otherwise forgettable movie, ''The Boost,'' the off-camera tension between the two of them got so bad that when the script called for Woods' character to slap Young's, Woods slapped her for real.
* According to the interviews in the BONUSVIEW content of the ''Film/{{Ghostbusters}}'' Blu-Ray (known as "Slimer Mode") the actress who played the maid at the hotel was only told of a "bang". She had no idea that there were pyrotechnics in her cart, so when they went off (in the scene where the Ghostbusters fire their proton guns for the first time), her "What the hell are you doing?!" was genuine.
* Apparently on a day when ZacEfron was filming a scene that involved him being angry for ''SeventeenAgain'', the movie's director decided to be a total dick to him in order to make the emotions more real in the scene.
* ''AmericanPie Presents Band Camp''. While filming the scene where Matt Stifler strips naked during a trivia game with some girls, actor Tad Hilgenbrink actually did just that on the set. As he had not informed the actresses that he would be naked (they had assumed his bits would be covered in some way), their surprised reactions are genuine.
* For a brief scene in ''Film/ShatteredGlass'' where a woman runs away crying from a crowd of harassing Young Republicans, director Billy Ray instructed the actors to glare at the actress silently before filming and not respond to her attempts at conversation. The look on that poor woman's face is all real.
* John Ford reportedly abused Victor [=McLaglen=] to no end on the set of ''The Informer'' - he would change the shooting schedule without warning, tell him they were rehearsing when they were actually doing a take, make him perform drunk, and for the climactic scene he promised [=McLaglen=] the day off only to wake him up early and have him act through a raging hangover. The result: one near-homicidal Irishman, and one brilliant, Oscar-winning performance.
* In ''MysteryMen'', The Bowler (Creator/JaneaneGarofalo) touches the hand of [[spoiler:the recently-killed hero Captain Amazing]] in an attempt to get his pulse. When the hand breaks off, her shriek of surprise sounds entirely genuine -- no one told Garofalo the prop was designed to fall apart when touched.
* In the film adaption of the novel ''Film/{{Eragon}}'', there is a scene where [[{{Farmboy}} Eragon]] (Ed Speleers) is snooping around in [[TheObiWan Brom's]] house, looking for information on dragons, when Brom himself (Jeremy Irons) comes out of the shadows and shouts at him to get out. According to the DVD commentary, Speleers didn't know that Irons was there until he appeared, to produce a suitably startled response.
* In ''ItsAWonderfulLife'', during the run-on-the-bank scene, George convinces most of the Bailey Building and Loan clients to only withdraw a small amount to tide them over instead of taking their money from Potter's banks. After a few people ask for twenty dollars, one lady asked for an odd amount, $17.50. Turns out that Frank Capra had asked her beforehand to ask for an odd amount instead of the twenty that everyone else said in order to surprise Jimmy Stewart and get a reaction from him. His reaction was, after a moment's surprise, to hug her.
** Also, when Uncle Billy stumbled drunkenly from a party and walked off-camera, he tripped and shouted, "I'm all right, I'm all right!" What really happened was that a stagehand had accidently dropped some equipment just at that moment, and Capra decided to keep the scene in. He also slipped the stagehand an extra $10 for "improving the sound".
** Also, in the same film, the famous telephone conversation was the first take of the scene and the first scene that James Stewart had recorded since returning from WWII (in which he flew something like 50 bombing missions). Apparently the scene wasn't even rehearsed and the outpouring of emotion from Stewart is quite genuine; you can see how nervous and uncomfortable the actress playing Mary was and this flood of emotions apparently scared the crap out of Frank Capra too, who didn't even try to film the scene a different way and of course it is one of the most famous scenes in the film.
* The film ''LuckyNumberSlevin'' features a scene where Lucy Liu accidentally stumbles in and sees Josh Hartnett completely naked as he adjusts the towel he's wearing. In the original script, that bit wasn't supposed to happen, but as a practical joke Josh took off the towel just as Lucy walked in, flashing her. Lucy's giggle and quiet "sorry" were genuine before she continued delivering her lines.
* In ''{{Goodfellas}}'', in the scene where Paulie admonishes Henry and tells him to stop selling drugs, Paul Sorvino (Paulie) slaps Ray Liotta (Henry) for real, in order to really elicit a scared and cornered reaction.
* ''EternalSunshineOfTheSpotlessMind'' had a couple of examples:
** In the circus scene, KateWinslet was asked to suddenly disappear without JimCarrey's knowledge. The result was poignant; in the final cut, Jim can clearly be seen saying "Kate?" with a very saddened expression on his face.
** When Mark Ruffalo scares KirstenDunst, Mark was asked to hide in a different spot for each take to genuinely scare her.
* In Sommers' ''Film/{{The Mummy|1999}}'', Jonathan Hyde (the Egyptologist in the rival expedition) was genuinely surprised when his donkey took off full tilt in the race to reach Hamunaptra first.
** Although hopefully not intentional, Creator/BrendanFraser gave Kevin J. O'Connor some genuine bruises when Rick roughed up Beni for information in the doomed Egyptologist's office; likewise, Fraser was able to bodily lift O'Connor uncomfortably close to the spinning ceiling fan. Apparently, he doesn't know his own strength.
* In ''Film/TheGeneral'', director BusterKeaton did not tell leading lady Marion Mack what was going to happen when he pulled the spout off the water tank during the return chase. He wanted her reaction when she got ''drenched'' by a torrent of water to be authentic.
** In the scene where the bridge collapses under a locomotive, the face of the Confederate officer is genuine: he was not informed of this event. The bridge and the locomotive were real, not just models.
** Buster practically built a career around these; In one film he's being washed down a lake, but Buster had a hidden harness on which kept him from actually being washed towards the rapids and waterfall. The harness broke, naturally, and it's glaringly obvious when Buster's waves and swimming to safety suddenly become faster and more pronounced. He actually looks and shouts at the camera several times. He had to cling on to rocks before he was rescued.
*** In the same film Buster swung into a waterfall to rescue 'the maiden'. He inhaled enough water to need resuscitation efforts.
** In yet another film, Buster leaps from one building to another, misses by a hair and slams into the side of the building before falling. Buster performed this stunt, for real, slamming at speed into a solid brick wall. He took a hot rub down then an ice bath and was back at work within two hours.
** He inverts it a lot, too, by not flinching when he KNOWS a hit is coming; when the house famously falls on Buster in ''Steamboat Bill, Jr.'', the wall was a real, incredibly heavy part of a house. Crew members had walked off the set, refusing to be part of what they KNEW would be the actor's demise. The stunt went perfectly and Buster managed to act not even a little bit scared or aware the wall was about to crush him TO DEATH.
* It's quite alarming the number of times the actors in ''Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly'' [[FatalMethodActing nearly died while making the film]], with Eli Wallach suffering the most abuse.
** In the scene when Tuco severs the handcuffs by lying on the train track, Eli Wallach got almost decapitated by the low, sharp metal steps jutting out of the side of the train, and his expression of terror as he realises this is real.
** In the first hanging scene, the horse got significantly more spooked than anyone besides Leone expected, and it galloped for literal miles, Wallach tied helplessly to its back, before any of the crew went out to get him. He was understandably furious when they found him again.
** In the torture sequence, many of the blows Tuco received were genuine.
** There are rumors that Eastwood and Wallach were forced to share a room and a bed (not like that - in shifts) in order to encourage their initially prickly attitude towards each other and their eventual bonding.
*** They ''did'' end up sharing the bed as time went on. Afterwards, Eli Wallach's wife apparently used to delight in telling people that her husband was "[[YaoiFangirl the only man ever to sleep with Clint Eastwood]]".
** [[DollarsTrilogy The Man With No Name's]] [[ClintSquint squint]] comes from ClintEastwood's allergy to horses (and too-bright set lights), and his scowl comes from his hatred of smoking (Clint said the bitter taste helped him feel the role better).
*** He actually picked out the nastiest-tasting cigars he could find, on purpose, as an aid.
* In ''Film/EscapeFromNewYork'' during the boxing ring fight, the professional wrestler Ox Baker, who never acted before, got a little too intense and struck KurtRussell very heavily with some of his blows. So Snake Plissken's expressions of fears you can see are genuine. At the end, Russell had finally had enough and asked Baker to take it easy, tapping him in the groin to let him know he was serious. Baker then calmed down.
* In 1968's ''Theatre/{{Oliver}}'', there is a scene where Oliver discovers Fagin's hidden cache of pilfered treasure. The director, Carol Reed, was not getting the right results from his young star when he was shown a box of fake jewelry and gold. Instead, Reed produced a white rabbit from the pocket of his coat, offscreen, just as the reveal happened on camera. Thus, young Mark Lester's reaction of surprise and delight is genuine.
* In ''Looking For Eric'', Steve Evets (who plays Eric Bishop) had not been told that Eric Cantona would be here - they smuggled him on set while Evets was smoking a cigarette and hid him. However, they didn't use his enforced take. Other scenes of enforced method acting include an armed police raid omitted from the actors' scripts, and the gangsters' first reactions to seeing dozens of United fans in Cantona masks raiding their house.
* In Andrzej Wajda's FrenchRevolution film ''Danton'', he created distance between the two different factions by having Robespierre's supporters all be Polish actors, and Danton's all French, so that they came from different backgrounds and could barely even talk to each other off-set.
* While shooting ''School Daze'', Spike Lee had all his lighter-skinned actors in better accommodations than his darker-skinned ones to increase the tension between the two camps on set. During one scene, a unscripted fight broke out and Lee [[ThrowItIn had the cameras keep shooting]].
* ''CharlieChan'' actor Warner Oland was an alcoholic; his director. "Lucky" Humberton, at times encouraged his drinking, because he found the actor's slightly slurry speech better conveyed the sense of one struggling with a foreign language, as well as mentally groping toward the solution of a crime.
* ''MeetTheParents''. BenStiller once described de Niro making him uncomfortable off-camera to this end: "Whenever I made it clear I didn't want to go to first base, he made sure he went to second."
* In ''Film/TheMonsterSquad'', Ashley Bank had not seen Duncan Regehr in his full Dracula costume and makeup (complete with eerie red eyes) until they shot the famous "Give me the amulet, [[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch you bitch!]]" scene. Cue a Blood Curdling Scream from the young Miss Bank. Upon completing the shot, Regehr grew very upset about how badly she'd been frightened and flatly refused to do so much as one more take.
* Back in the silent film era, G.W. Pabst had two characters in his film ''Pandora's Box'' who are attracted to each other, but one character keeps screwing the other's life up and it gets messy. The actor apparently had some disdain for the actress playing the other character and would not even speak to her. Director Pabst let the awkward, antagonistic undercurrent fuel their tonally uncomfortable scenes.
** Also in ''Pandora's Box'' (which is by the way still a good and complex film, even compared to modern sound movies), there's a lesbian character. The actress was adverse to playing a lesbian (this was the 1920s, after all), but Pabst cast her anyway, resulting in this character who almost always looks uncomfortable at everything even when showing affection - looked strangely authentic from here.
** The actress Louise Brooks reported that Pabst deliberately destroyed her favorite dress to ensure her look of dejection during the final scene with Jack (the Ripper).
* The movie ''Film/StarshipTroopers'' has several examples. Key cast members participated in a pre-production 'boot camp' to prepare them for the film's training sequence. Verhoeven stood in for the CGI aliens during filming, running at the actors and screaming like a madman to get more realistic reactions (footage is included on the Special Edition DVD extras). And to make the cast feel more at ease during filming, Verhoeven himself stripped down for the co-ed shower scene (footage is not included on the Special Edition DVD extras).
* During a dinner scene from ''FindingNeverland'', the boys are supposed to be laughing -- what the audience doesn't hear is the fart machine in the background, garnering genuine laughter from the young actors.
* To make the actors more at ease during a love-making scene in ''Mannen som slutade röka'' (''The Man Who Quit Smoking''), director Tage Danielsson as well as the whole production team were naked during the shooting.
* In the remake of ''TheAmityvilleHorror'', RyanReynolds stayed up late all night, on several occasions, to accurately capture the insomnia and mental break down his character was going through. In one particular scene when he tortures his stepson by making the boy hold chunks of wood Reynolds is chopping with a huuuge axe, he has a close confrontation with the boy and ends up giving him a fairly hard slap on the face. Reynolds has since admitted this wasn't scripted, at all, and came to him naturally through the character. He has expressed shock and some disturbance at his own actions as he never thought he'd be the type to hit a child, but here, in the heat of the moment, he did. Makes the scene A LOT more intense knowing that.
* In the film of ''Film/TheNameOfTheRose'', when the ceiling of the burning library collapses on Jorge, it is actually solid oak that hits the actor, the 81-year old Feodor Chaliapin. The set people had overlooked that part of the script and hadn't obtained lightweight balsa wood to hit the actor, and were only reminded of it on the morning of the shoot by director Jean-Jacques Annaud. So, not having any balsa wood on hand, they set up the ceiling collapse using solid oak. The scene was filmed, and this enormously heavy piece of wood lands on Chaliapin. Annaud realizes what has happened and shouts "Cut!" and everyone rushes to see if Chaliapin is all right. Chaliapin's first words were, "Is the take OK?" Annaud asks, "Never mind that. Are you all right?" Chialapin replies, "I'm 81 years old. I can die. Is the take OK?", which probably counts as a real life CrowningMomentOfAwesome.
** In the same movie, Annaud had apparently not warned Christian Slater of what would happen during the scene where the girl more or less rapes his character, and let the actress decide what to do for this scene (Slater may also have had a crush on her).
** The director has also previously implied that the sex scene may not have been simulated. Given the fact that Slater was 15 at the time, and the actress was 21, even if it's true "implied" is probably the only legal way to say it.
* While filming the first ''Film/{{Predator}}'', most of the cast and crew caught a severe case of diarrhea from drinking unpurified water. This resulted in very tense performances on film as the cast members were trying to hold it in until the scene was done and they could run to the toilet.
** In ''Film/{{Predators}}'', Oleg Taktarov received a minor head wound after accidentally hitting his face against a steadicam. However, he decided to keep filming because the bleeding helped add to the film's atmosphere.
* That scene in ''Film/FlashGordon'' when Dale looks shocked after [[BrianBlessed Prince Vultan]] walks past and gooses her? [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pa5L8YjsiSk Brian's idea]].
* According to the [[DVDCommentary director's commentary]] on the ''Film/SleepyHollow'' DVD, in the scene in the church where the doctor is killed by a blow to the head, they accidentally hit Ian [=McDiarmid=] so hard that he ended up having to go the hospital.
* In the first ''Film/{{Phantasm}}'' movie, after [[spoiler: Reggie is stabbed to death by the Tall Man, he is seen writhing on the ground shivering as his lifeblood ebbs out. The scene was filmed on a very cold night in the middle of winter, with a airboat engine blowing on the actors to simulate the Tall Man's space gate collapsing, so the uncontrollable shivering was real.]]
* In the credits for ''TheQuietMan'', there's a bit where [[FieryRedhead Maureen O'Hara]] whispers in JohnWayne's ear and he gives her a quick, shocked expression before they stroll back to the cottage. Director JohnFord gave O'Hara a line to shock the Duke in an unscripted moment. His facial expression is real.
** Only three people ever knew what was said: John Ford, Maureen O'Hara and John Wayne. O'Hara is the only one still alive, and she won't say.
** Furthermore, the scene where John Wayne is dragging her off to see her brother, Ford and some of the crew scattered sheep, uh, ''dung'' on the ground, and some of the crew cleaned it up at the request of O'Hara. This went back and forth until shooting, at which point there was sheep crap scattered around the field. O'Hara was ''really'' trying not to fall in that scene.
* John Wayne's final film, ''Film/TheShootist'', involves an aging cowboy dying of cancer. Sadly, this required no acting on Wayne's part.
* During the filming of ''Film/BlackSwan'', Director Creator/DarrenAronofsky would try to pit NataliePortman and MilaKunis against each other to make their antagonistic scenes together more authentic. Unfortunately for him, both of them caught on to what he was doing very early and instead sent congrats to each other by phone when Darren told one of them the other was doing great.
* AlejandroJodorowsky considered his film-making to be a sort of magical ritual in and of itself, and as a result, used this approach to an alarming degree. For example, it was not uncommon for him to instruct actors to take psychedelic drugs.
** In the course of [[http://www.subcin.com/jod01.html this interview]] he claims that the scene in ''ElTopo'' where [[spoiler:Mara hits El Topo, and then he rapes her]] was not acted.
* In ''PrettyWoman'', JuliaRoberts' hysterical laughter while watching old ''ILoveLucy'' reruns is genuine, because the director is tickling her feet.
** In the scene where Richard Gere's character gives Roberts' character a diamond necklace, he snaps the lid of the jewelery box on her fingers, causing her to jump, then shriek with laughter. The lid-snap was spontaneous on Gere's part, and Roberts' reaction is real.
* In ''TheFabulousBakerBoys,'' when real-life brothers Beau and Jeff Bridges have a fight, Jeff very nearly actually broke Beau's hand. They planned to come up with a "safe word" in case things went too far, but Jeff forgot himself and Beau went to the hospital directly afterward. When he yells "my hand, my hand!", it's totally genuine.
* During the production of ''AWalkToRemember'', the actors playing Mandy Moore's popular classmates were told to distance themselves from her for a period of time, so she would feel unpopular and disliked. According to Mandy Moore, it didn't go as planned, as they caught up and became close when they were told they could be civil to her.
* During the filming of ''BlueValentine'', actors Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams actually shared a home and lived more or less as a married couple, like their characters. They have both stated that they tried to pick fights with the other, as their characters' marriage is falling apart, but had a hard time of it due to their mutual fondness for one another. Director Derek Cianfrance even encouraged Gosling to go into Williams' bedroom and try to make love to her. It didn't work.
** In the scene where Dean and Cindy are on the bridge, and Dean climbs up the railing, Williams was told she had a secret and to keep it under lock and key, while Gosling was instructed find out this secret by any means necessary
* SamRaimi did this in ''Film/DragMeToHell'', purposely neglecting to tell Alison Lohman that a dummy animated corpse was going to vomit in her face.
* Averted in ''Film/Halloween4TheReturnOfMichaelMyers''. During filming, much care was taken to ensure that DanielleHarris, who played Jamie, was not frightened, most notably by the actor playing Michael, who repeatedly removed his mask in order to reassure her that he was not going to hurt her.
* A scene in ''Film/{{Tron}}'' had BruceBoxleitner performing a difficult 'behind the head' frisbee catch while expressing defiance and anger. The director got Bruce riled up by accusing him of not practicing, saying he was unable to do the required shot and finally picking up the prop frisbee and challenging Bruce to prove it. He did, and the director yelled cut, having filmed the whole thing.
* While filming ''Film/{{Carrie|1976}}'', Sissy Spacek deliberately did not fraternize with the rest of the cast.
** Also, during the prom the actors are really being shot in the face with the fire hose (one even ruptured her eardrum and passed out when the water entered her ear).
* During the famous chase scene in ''Film/TheFrenchConnection'', prior permission for filming wasn't obtained, which meant that the panicked reactions from passers-by were genuine.
* An early scene in ''HolidayInn'' shows BingCrosby drunk at a party, stumbling around in the crowd. Before each take he snuck a shot of whiskey - The film used take ''seven''.
* According to actor Sean Patrick Flanery, David Della Rocco's reaction to the gunshot on the table in the first BoondockSaints is real. He'd purposely been told by Flanery and director Troy Duffy that it would make no sound and that he would have to improvise his reaction. It's stated that on the original take, which ended up being used in the film, he panicked because he thought something went wrong.
* In ''ComeAndSee'', director Elem Klimov fired live gunshots over the heads of the actors to get genuine looks of terror in the battle scene.
* ''Film/TheGiantClaw'': Be sure to check out the ''furious'' look on Jeff Morrow's face when huge chunks of flaming debris land inches from his head.
* The Creator/LaurelAndHardy shorts have a RunningGag where Ollie reacts to Stan's stupidity by looking exasperated into the camera. Apparently these shots were always filmed as the last shots of the day, when Oliver Hardy was dead tired and just wanted to get out on the golf course. They rarely needed more than one take.
* In ''GrandPrix'' director John Frankenheimer was not satisfied with the crowd's reaction to a dramatic on-track incident and realised that they were looking forward to their tea break. He reshot the scene and at the critical moment had the special effects man ''blow up the tea van''. Result: a convincingly shocked and stunned crowd.
** Another one for Frankenheimer: In ''Literature/SevenDaysInMay'', the script called for a shot of Col. Jiggs Casey (played by KirkDouglas) entering into the Pentagon. The problem was, the film was not BackedByThePentagon due to the major plot thread of a rogue United States Air Force general and so they had no clearance to film near the Pentagon. So, Frankenheimer had Douglas go in full Marine uniform up the main steps of the Pentagon, while he had a hidden camera in a car filming. Coming down the steps at the same time were two junior officers were exiting the building. Their salutes? Absolutely completely genuine.
* You know all that weed they smoked in ''TenaciousDInThePickOfDestiny''? Yeah, that wasn't fake.
* The three lead actors in ''Film/ProjectX'' were sent to {{Disney|ThemeParks}}land together and spent a weekend up at a cabin in Big Bear City so as to make a more believable friendship between them. Also, during filming of [[WildTeenParty the party scenes]], the music kept playing even when cameras weren't rolling so as to maintain the party atmosphere among the extras.
* There's an iconic scene in ''Film/{{Casablanca}}'' where the Nazis at the bar start singing "Die Wacht am Rhein," a German patriotic song, but are drowned out by a singing of "La Marseillaise," the national anthem of France. To make sure the bar was authentic in the film, actual French refugees were cast as extras, and the song ends with some very real crying that wasn't in the script, but was left in the film. Keep in mind this was filmed in 1941, when the Nazis had the upper hand and French refugees were unsure if they'd ever see home again.
* J-horror director Koji Shiraishi (of ''Film/NoroiTheCurse'' fame) shot the entirety of his 2010 {{Mockumentary}} ''Shirome'' this way. It purports to be a collection of shelved footage from a ''MostHaunted''-style TV program, in which real-life IdolSinger group [[Music/MomoiroCloverZ Momoiro Clover]] are sent to a supposedly haunted location and apparently encounter genuine supernatural phenomena. None of the group were told the real nature of the shoot until filming finally wrapped, and the bad case of nerves exhibited by the cast throughout most of the film is real.
* In ''Miracle'', to make the scene where coach Herb Brooks drills the team all night (after their 3-3 tie with Norway) as realistic as possible, the director filmed the real actors skating the drills for three 12-hour days. Their reactions (including collapsing from exhaustion and experiencing dry heaves) were genuine.
* In ''Film/{{Apollo 13}}'', the scenes where the spacecraft had become very cold were shot on a soundstage that was actually made freezing cold via the use of massive fans and refrigeration units. The visible breath onscreen is real. And a few of the space scenes were actually shot in NASA's KC-135 'Vomit Comet' to depict weightlessness.
* In ''PlanetOfTheApes'', Charlton Heston's famous 'get your stinking paws off me' line was made all the more realistic because Heston was suffering from a nasty cold-the director liked it because he felt it made Heston's voice sound more authentic.
* Speaking of Heston, his costume in ''Film/TheTenCommandments'' resulted in many of the local extras thinking he *was* Moses...they were heard saying "Mosiah! Mosiah!".
* ''Film/AguirreTheWrathOfGod''. Creator/WernerHerzog wanted Aguirre to be the epitome of TranquilFury, but actor Klaus Kinski wanted to produce a raving madman more akin to his actual personality. To get his wish, Herzog would intentionally provoke Kinski into unleashing all his fury off-camera. By the time shooting began, Kinsky was exhausted, creating the performance that Herzog desired.
* An accidental case in ''Film/{{Saw}}''. In Saw 4, when Riggs (Lyriq Bent) is exploring the school and finds the man and wife suspended from the ceiling with spikes poking through their major (the man) and minor (the wife) arteries, they're still with their heads down. When Lyriq approaches, the woman jerks her head up and begs him for mercy, to which Lyriq admitted in the commentary a genuine shocked reaction occurred. Lyriq hadn't expected her to do that.
* During ''Film/AClockworkOrange'' Malcolm [=McDowell=] had scratched his Cornea during filming. The man with the eye drops during the [[EyeScream Ludovico Technique]] was an actual doctor.
** [=McDowell=] also cracked his ribs during the scene where the results of said technique were demonstrated, as was really being stomped in the chest by another actor.
** The doctor was also there because they really did put McDowell in the device that kept his eyes open. Had he moved wrong, the prongs holding his eyelids could have damaged his eyes.
* A {{Website/Cracked}} [[http://www.cracked.com/article_19901_5-great-movie-scenes-made-possible-by-reckless-endangerment_p2.html?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=fanpage&utm_campaign=new+article&wa_ibsrc=fanpage list of five truly abusive moments]] is topped by ''The Franchise/EvilDead'', which due to NoBudget was basically the actors being scared shitless (real windows being broken, real daggers being wielded).
* In Disney's animated ''Disney/AliceinWonderland'', Kathryn Beaumont once admitted to an interview that her laughter during the scene where Alice is tickled by the flamingo wasn't believable. So during one later take, the director tickled Kathryn at the moment and the resulting fit of giggles during that scene is entirely genuine.
* In ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', Creator/GeorgeLucas intentionally put extra weight into the Darth Vader helmet, so that when Hayden Christensen first walks around in the Vader suit, he almost stumbles, since Anakin/Vader's not used to the suit yet.
* In TheDiamondArm, a scene was being filmed where a man pushes a boy into shallow water. Since during the rehearsals [[NeverWorkWithChildrenOrAnimals the boy was seen to visibly brace himself]], he was told next time the adult will only pretend to push him, but the adult himself was told to push for real. The ensuing unscripted exclamation "Hey, what are you doing?" was good enough to ThrowItIn.
* When she met AnneHathaway for their first scene in ''TheDevilWearsPrada'', Meryl Streep congratulated her on getting the part and then told her that this would be the last time they talked as equals until the wrap party ... she kept her distance to make Miranda all the more intimidating. And for the scene in question, where Andrea brings The Book over to Miranda's apartment, her anxiety and tenseness isn't acting. According to the DVD commentary, Hathaway was nervous to the point of being terrified about working with Streep.
* Adrian Lyne supposedly did this to great effect in ''[[NineAndAHalfWeeks 9½ Weeks]]''. He kept Kim Basinger and Mickey Rourke isolated from each other off the set, gave Rourke performance notes but not her (not an easy thing for Basinger, who was newer to film acting than he was and craved the feedback), and then filmed the movie in sequence so that Elizabeth's distressed emotional state later on was more real. Basinger does not recall the experience fondly despite the movie's cult success, and refused to ever do any sequel to it.
* The scenes with Michael Dorsey arguing with his agent in ''Film/{{Tootsie}}'' reflect the tensions that had grown between Sydney Pollack and Dustin Hoffman during filming, tensions that were resolved somewhat by creating the part of the agent for Pollack to play so he could berate his star on camera.
* When Mapache says "You want Angel? I give you Angel" and then cuts his throat, setting off the climax of ''Film/TheWildBunch'', the tube delivering the fake blood to the actor's throat malfunctioned, spouting much more fluid than expected. Peckinpah kept the take because of the horrified and shocked reactions it got.
* The actress who played the peasant girl who is tied up on a bed and tickled on her feet by Fyodor in ''TheBrothersKaramazov'' said that she got the job because she was tickled at her audition and her reactions were the best. The scene took eight hours to shoot and her reactions are 100% real.
* In ''Film/OutOfAfrica'', Meryl Streep was falsely told that a lion would be tethered so it couldn't attack her. It came too close for her comfort, generating real fear.
* In ''Film/TheFifthElement'': BruceWillis' reaction at the end of the Diva's performance was real. Even though the actress playing the Diva had practiced her scene 30 times a day every day for 3 months before filming, nobody told Bruce what was going to happen, and that the actual filming was the first time that both actors had met each other.
* A common issue in filming BruceLee movies amongst actors that are not BruceLee, but fighting BruceLee's character is that he was just a dynamic and powerful martial artist, that he would regularly hit people ''for real''.
* In ''Film/BeingJohnMalkovich'', after Schwartz and the title character walk up the hill from the drainage pipe (and Malkovich threatens to take the former to court for planning to exploit it), Malkovich angrily walks away. As he does so, a car passes by and a drunken passenger yells, "Hey, Malkovich! THINK FAST!" and lobs a beer can that hits him squarely in the head. The passenger who threw the can was an extra who got drunk and inadvertantly intruded on the shot. Malkovich's anguished cry and reaction (gripping his head in pain and swearing) was real. Spike Jonze loved the shot so much that he put in the film, bumped the extra's salary and gave him a credit for the scene.
* In ''YoungFrankenstein'', in the scene where Dr. Frankenstein accidentally stabs himself in the hand with a scalpel, Gene Wilder accidentally did it for real. That look of pain on his face is genuine.
* In ''TheBeguiled'', there's a scene where Clint Eastwood's character kisses a twelve-year-old girl to keep her quiet. According to the actress, the script had it written for him to cover her mouth with his hand and it had been rehearsed that way. The director suggested the change without telling her about it.
* In ''Film/DjangoUnchained'', Candie (LeonardoDiCaprio) smearing blood on Broomhilda's face was apparently ad-libbed. [=DiCaprio=] actually injured his hand while smacking it on the table (and the glass). He just kept on going and bloodied KerryWashington's face without her knowledge. Her look of horror is quite real.
* In ''Film/{{Jaws}}'', the attack on Chrissie Watkins was simulated by tying two ropes to Susan Backlinie and pulling them to and fro. Unfortunately, one of the ropes was pulled too hard, breaking a rib. Those screams of pain and terror are real.

* The Avatar in ''FireEmblemAwakening'' hears about how [[spoiler: Walhart will kill Basilio after he and Flavia attack the conquerer. Knowing that the Fire Emblem might be stolen by the Grimleal (Namely Validar) s/he and Basilio devise a plan for Basilio to fake death to the Conqueror, and not actually tell Flavia so her cries when catching up with Chrom are legit.]] Later on, [[spoiler: The avatar proves correct - the Fire Emblem ''is'' stolen, but the green gem was replaced with a fake and Basilio was not actually dead. Just as Validar (and Lucina) had thought, Grima tries to possess the avatar... but the avatar attacks Chrom anyways and weakens the attack so Chrom survives... but s/he does ''not'' tell Chrom ''or'' Lucina that they'll do that, so their BigNo and reactions will genuinely fool Validar. Cue Basilio walking in talking about how they fooled them all.]]