On set, an actor's job is usually very different from a screenwriter's job. One creates the character and the other brings it to life. However, sometimes the lines become blurred and the actors end up bringing a lot to the script - and sometimes even rewriting parts of it.
For example, during the filming of Apocalypse Now, Marlon Brando almost completely changed the image of his character and replaced the vision of director Francis Ford Coppola with his own improvisation. And there are many such examples.
1. While filming the first season of Wednesday, Jenna Ortega changed or decided not to say lines that she felt didn't fit the character's personality.
In the second season, she was promoted to producer.
2. After reading the original Cruel Intentions script, Reese Witherspoon found her character, Annette Hargrove, “too coy and too much like a woman under the influence of a manipulative guy.”
She spent a week rewriting Annette's dialogue with writer-director Roger Kumble.
Roger told Entertainment Weekly: “Annette was the character I connected with the most. The film would not have been successful if not for Reese's talent as a screenwriter."
3. Jeff Bridges said he, lead actor Robert Downey Jr. and director Jon Favreau "essentially rewrote the script" for Iron Man during two weeks of rehearsals.
Speaking at the Hollywood Reporter's cast roundtable, he said: "And the day before we started filming, the Marvel guy called us and said, 'Oh no, no, no. This is all wrong." So we'd get together in my trailer and rehearse while the guys in the studio were tapping their feet and saying, "When are they coming?" And we were still trying to figure out the scenes that we were going to shoot.”
4. While working on Iron Man 3, Robert Downey Jr., known for his improvisations, often stopped filming scenes to rewrite dialogue.
Director Shane Black told CinemaBlend: "Downey said, 'It's time!' and I was like, “We’re filming!” and he said, 'No, turn off the cameras,' and we'd go back to the trailer and write everything because he wanted new lines."
5. After original director and co-writer Edgar Wright left Ant-Man, Paul Rudd teamed up with Adam McKay to rewrite the script.
“I always knew Paul Rudd was good with text because I improvised with it on set,” McKay said, “but I had no idea he was that good. He's really great at dialogue. The two of us locked ourselves in hotel rooms and in about six to eight weeks we rewrote and polished the script. I was proud of what we did. Edgar Wright's script was quite strong, but we improved a few things."
6. When Meryl Streep first read Kramer vs. Kramer, which Avery Korman deliberately wrote as anti-feminist, she thought Joanna came across as too "cannibalistic" and nasty.
The actress agreed to star in the film adaptation, but only if Joanna became a more likable, realistic and fully developed character. The script was rewritten to accommodate these requirements. Meryl Streep also wrote Joanna's powerful speech for the court scene.
7. When Alan Rickman read the original script for Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, he thought it was terrible.
So he decided to go behind the writers' back and ask his friends Ruby Wax and Peter Barnes to help him write new lines for his character. He only informed the film's director, Kevin Reynolds, about this. No one else on the set knew what was happening, and only during filming did everything become clear. “I knew it worked because I saw about 80 crew members who could hardly contain their laughter,” Rickman later recalled.
8. When Crispin Glover was offered the role of the Thin Man in Charlie's Angels, he refused to deliver "creepy" and "stilted" dialogue, but made an interesting proposal to the writers
He suggested making his character have no dialogue at all and remain silent all the time. And it worked much better.
9. When director Bassam Tariq left the upcoming Blade film, actor Mahershala Ali (who plays the title character) was reportedly disappointed with the script
Marvel Studios hired a new writer, but Mahershala reportedly demanded further rewrites, which he himself is involved in. He is very interested in the project and was the one who called Kevin Feige to pitch himself for the role.
10. When The Mummy (2017) was still in production, Tom Cruise had almost complete creative control, including things like script approval (this right is written into his contract)
He didn't like the original script, so he brought in two more writers and they helped rewrite the script and create exactly the story Tom Cruise wanted to tell.
11. During the filming of Apocalypse Now, Marlon Brando completely abandoned the way director Francis Ford Coppola saw his character
He decided to use method acting, refused to memorize most of his lines, and improvised most of the time. The director worked with the actor, recording his improvised lines over five days, typing out the parts he wanted to keep, recording them on tape, and giving him headphones.
12. When Jack Nicholson was first offered the role of Frank Costello in The Departed, he turned it down because the character wasn't even in the script yet.
However, after director Martin Scorsese and lead actor Leonardo DiCaprio convinced him to star in the film, the trio worked together to create Frank.
13. Edward Norton only agreed to star in The Incredible Hulk if he was allowed to rewrite Zak Penn's script, but most of the scenes he wrote were left on the cutting room floor.
Zack, who has sole script writing credits, told Entertainment Weekly: “Yes, differences between Edward and I prevented me from collaborating with him on the film. I don't really know the guy, he has his own process and he decided to do it the way he wanted... I didn't like that he came to Comic-Con and said he wrote the script. I can't say it made me go back and watch Fight Club."
14. Sylvester Stallone was originally cast as the lead in Beverly Hills Cop. But since he was known as an action star, he rewrote the script into an action movie
Because his version pushed the budget higher than Paramount was willing to, he agreed to leave the project, remove everything from his script that had been written before him by screenwriter Daniel Petrie Jr., and direct his own film.
“By that time the film was so different that he could actually do it, and he was extremely gracious and accepted the offer. He used almost all of his material and included it in his film Cobra. In fact, Stallone renamed our main character Axel Cobretti in his Beverly Hills Cop script,” Daniel said. Sylvester was replaced by Eddie Murphy.