History EnforcedMethodActing / Film

* In ''Film/TheMummy2017'', when Nick is tied down and Ahmanet starts caressing his chest, Nick's minor freak-out wasn't acting: Creator/TomCruise is extremely ticklish in real life.

** Creator/OliverReed, playing Bill Sikes, always appeared in full costume and makeup before the children in the cast and maintained a distance from them during filming; Mark Lester later reported that all of the kids were legitimately terrified of him. He lightened up after filming was complete. (Despite his reputation, Oliver Reed was a true MeanCharacterNiceActor; the dog playing Bullseye liked him so much that, late in the story when the dog is supposed to have turned on him, they had to tape the dog's tail to his leg to keep it from wagging whenever he saw Reed.)

** While filming ''Film/TheAbyss'', Cameron 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, Harris went up to Cameron and punched him. Harris has said he would never work with Cameron again. Creator/MaryElizabethMastrantonio was forced to go through the resuscitation scene so many times she got angry and stormed off the set when they ran out of film stock. The cast's nervous laughing at her revival was genuine as a result of dealing with the stress.

** In ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}'' the water was much colder than any of the actors expected it to be, causing genuine reactions. The water pressure also left deep bruises on Kate Winslet to the point where the film's makeup artists took reference pictures of them.

** When he made the film version of ''Film/{{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 Creator/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".

*** 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.
* 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 Creator/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.

* Nicholas Meyer apparently discovered this was the best way to get a real performance out of [[LargeHam William Shatner,]] and pulled this on him multiple times.

*** 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.

*** 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 had already had to listen to Kotto talking over her dialogue dozens of times.
** ''Film/{{Aliens}}'': Lance Henriksen (Bishop) played FiveFingerFillet atop Bill Paxton's (Hudson) hand for real, making Bill Paxton's screams quite genuine.

* Robert Mitchum really slapping Jean Simmons in ''Angel Face'' may be a borderline case; supposedly, Creator/OttoPreminger ordered it not because Simmons's reaction was inadequate, but because Mitchum couldn't produce a convincing-looking fake slap.
* At the beginning of ''Film/ApocalypseNow'', Willard is in his hotel room drunk. During the filming of the whole scene Creator/FrancisFordCoppola was telling Sheen he was a worthless actor and father to keep him crying. In the same scene, Sheen started to bleed profusely after breaking a mirror. Coppola told him to work with it.

* According to a long-standing but unconfirmed Hollywood legend, during the shooting of the 1959 remake of ''[[Film/BenHur1959 Ben-Hur]]'', 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 Creator/CharltonHeston of this--the "enforced" aspect was entirely on Heston's part. This is corroborated by Gore Vidal in the documentary film ''Film/TheCelluloidCloset.''

* ''Film/BlackPanther2018'': This was [[Creator/MichaelBJordan Michael B. Jordan's]] first time playing a villain, and he was [[PlayingAgainstType very much aware of his reputation and personality as a really nice guy]]. He intentionally distanced himself from the rest of the cast to preserve the sense of unfamiliarity and hostility appropriate between his character Killmonger and the others.

** Similarly, Georgie Henley had never seen James [=McAvoy=] in his Mr. Tumnus costume before shooting their scenes together.

** 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 Cary Guffey's three-year-old character, Barry, 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.

** 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.

* In ''Film/TheElephantMan'', John Hurt in playing the title role needed to wear extensive prosthetics. They 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.

* 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 Creator/MaxVonSydow 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 ''Film/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.

** 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.

* In ''Film/FarAndAway'', one scene has Creator/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.
* In ''Film/FerrisBuellersDayOff'' there is a scene where Ferris tickles Sloan (played by Mia Sara). Her laughter is real, because Creator/MatthewBroderick and Alan Ruck actually did take off her shoe and tickle her foot.

** The first punch in the first fight between Edward Norton and Creator/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.

* 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!

* Creator/JohnWoo reveals on the commentary track of ''Film/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.
* In ''Film/IndependenceDay'', no one warned Will Smith that the filming location in Utah contained decomposing brine shrimp which smelled absolutely awful. Will clearly noticed and reacted with "AND WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SMELL?!!" This scene was [[ThrowItIn kept in the film]].

** The scene where Bond 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.

*** 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.
*** According to production designer Ken Adam, that was a look of real panic on Barbara Bach's face in the scene where the tunnels of Atlantis are flooding because she didn't expect such a powerful deluge of water.

* ''Kes''
** At the end 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.

* Between takes in ''Film/TheKingOfComedy'', Creator/RobertDeNiro made antisemitic comments around Jerry Lewis in order to make Lewis's anger toward [=DeNiro=]'s character more real.
* ''Film/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.

** 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.

** 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.
** While practicing canoeing for the scene in which the Fellowship leaves Lorien by river, Orlando Bloom and John Rhys-Davies were unable to keep their balance and fell in the water, fueling animosity between elf and dwarf.

** 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 it was left in the movie.

* For ''Film/LorenzosOil'' when recording Lorenzo's dialogue director George Miller would press down on ''Creator/ElizabethDaily''s stomach and ribs to make her voice sound strained.

** 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. She also makes an amusing comment about shooting the scene in question, along the lines of "suddenly a door popped open and this horrible old man came tottering out.."

** Self-inflicted. Thomas Brodie-Sangster put a stone in his shoe to remind him to keep limping.

* In ''Film/MemoirsOfAGeisha'', according to the director's commentary, in the scene in which Mameha (played by Creator/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.

* In the Creator/AdamSandler remake ''Film/MrDeeds'', 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 Creator/JohnTurturro. The end of the movie involves Sandler using that foot to save Creator/WinonaRyder from drowning. See the entry for ''Alien: Resurrection'' above to see why this is significant.

** ''Film/MontyPythonsLifeOfBrian'': The extras who play guards in the "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elH6gBsXOhA 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..." The wife's name was improvised with each take, so the extras didn't know what Palin might say next...

* In ''Film/OnTheWaterfront'' during a pivotal scene between Creator/MarlonBrando 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.

** As the page quote shows, Dolph Lundgren actually punched Sylvester Stallone hard enough to hospitalize him in ''Film/RockyIV''.

** 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.

* ''Film/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 beforehand and her reaction is genuine.

* In the comedy ''Film/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.
* In the comedy ''Film/RushHour2'', Chris Tucker refused to sing like Michael Jackson while filming the karaoke bar scene. Since he ''would'' do it to entertain everyone between takes, director Brett Ratnor ordered the camera operators to film him as discreetly as possible.

* Mike Leigh used this technique in ''Film/SecretsAndLies'' where the actors learn the other characters' secrets in time with the audience.
* In the scene from the movie ''Film/{{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.

* A mild case took place during the filming of ''Film/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".
** If you look closely at the scene where the captain returns you'll see oldest daughter Liesel dragging youngest daughter Gretl to the surface after the canoe flips. This was necessary because six-year-old Kim Karath ''could not swim''! Julie Andrews' look of panic as the canoe rolls over is genuine because she was tasked in advance with protecting Kim but lost her balance and went over the wrong side of the boat. Fortunately Charmian Carr kept her head and a good grip on Kim as the boat went over.
* In ''Film/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.

** To get the appropriate reaction from Creator/WilWheaton and Creator/JerryOConnell, 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.

** ''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.
** ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome'', the scenes set aboard the aircraft carrier used the ship's personnel as "extras." When preparing for the scenes of Chekov's capture and escape, the Marines were sufficiently gung-ho that Leonard Nimoy felt compelled to remind them that Walter Koenig was only ''playing'' a Russian. During the chase, Koenig was concerned enough about what would happen if they caught him that he ''really'' ran.

* In ''Film/StrawDogs'', to get the perfect "shocked reaction" from the villagers when Creator/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.

* The casting of Claire Danes in ''Film/Terminator3RiseOfTheMachines'' as Katherine Brewster was a last minute decision. As a result, Danes had very little time to learn about her character. She later said this ended up being beneficial, since it added authenticity to Kate's confusion of her entire world being turned upside down without warning in the span of a few hours.
* In ''Film/TheThomasCrownAffair1999'', 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.

* 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, Creator/ToshiroMifune's display of blind terror is not entirely acted.

* 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.

** 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.

* For the film ''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).

* In the 1st ''Film/WrongTurn'' film, the actor playing Chris broke his ankle, making the scene where he was shot in the leg more convincing.

** 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.
** Director Bryan Singer convinced each of the main actors that they were Keyser Soze. ''Website/{{Cracked}}'''s [[http://www.cracked.com/article_20791_6-actors-who-thought-they-had-made-totally-different-movie.html 6 Actors Who Thought They Had Made a Totally Different Movie]] explains.

* 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.

** Similarly, when Walter Peck gets deluged with "marshmallow" goo (actually shaving cream) in the climax, the actor William Atherton wasn't warned about what was going to happen.

* In the film adaption of the novel ''Film/{{Eragon}}'', there is a scene where Eragon is snooping around in Brom's house, looking for information on dragons, when Brom himself comes out of the shadows and shouts at him to get out. According to the DVD commentary, Ed Speleers (Eragon) didn't know that Jeremy Irons (Brom) was there until he appeared, to produce a suitably startled response.

** 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.

* The film ''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 ''Film/{{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.

** When Mark Ruffalo scares Creator/KirstenDunst, Mark was asked to hide in a different spot for each take to genuinely scare her.

* 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 first hanging scene, the pyrotechnic severing the rope spooked the horse significantly more than anyone besides Leone expected, and it literally galloped for miles with Wallach tied helplessly to its back. Fortunately Wallach was an expert rider (he never would have agreed to do the stunt otherwise) but he was understandably furious when they found him again. Wallach's look of fear at the beginning of the scene is also genuine because as an avid equestrian he knew there were any number of ways that stunt could have gone wrong, from the horse spooking prematurely to the rope failing to part, any one of which could have have left him with a broken neck.

* While shooting ''Film/SchoolDaze'', 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]].

* ''Film/MeetTheParents''. Creator/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."

** 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).

** 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).

* 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 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 ''Film/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 filming, 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 ''Film/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.

* In ''Film/PlanetOfTheApes1968'', Charlton Heston's famous 'get your stinking paws off me' line was made all the more realistic because Heston was suffering from pneumonia-the director liked it because he felt it made Heston's voice sound more authentic.

* 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.

* 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/YoungFrankenstein'', in the scene where Dr. Frankenstein accidentally stabs himself in the thigh with a scalpel, Gene Wilder accidentally penetrated the protective pad beneath his trousers. That look of pain on his face is genuine.

* In ''Film/ThisIsTheEnd'', Michael Cera asked Rihanna if he could grope her behind, which she allowed if she got to slap him in return. She hit him in the face so hard, he had to lie down from the dizziness. Jason Segel's reaction to it is genuine.

* During the filming of the fountain scene in ''Film/MammaMia'', Meryl Streep, for [[SarcasmMode some unfathomable reason]], decided to rip Pierce Brosnan's shirt off -- without telling Brosnan. His enthusiasm was absolutely genuine.

* In ''Film/SuperMarioBros'', Dennis Hopper's performance as Koopa legitimately scared Mojo Nixon during the scene where Toad de-evolves. Toad freaking out as he's strapped into the chair wasn't acting.

* According to Mary Philbin, she had never seen Lon Chaney in makeup prior to filming the famous DramaticUnmask in ''Film/ThePhantomOfTheOpera1925''. Her horrified reaction to both his appearance and infuriated performance is quite genuine.
* During filming of ''Film/ThePrincessBride'', Cary Elwes unwisely told Christopher Guest to give him a proper TapOnTheHead in the scene where Rugen knocks Westley out. Elwes lost consciousness and was taken to the hospital as a result.

** Likewise Jennifer Lawrence trolled Liam Hemsworth by only eating fish and foods with garlic before their kissing scenes, thus helping with the general awkwardness.

* In thr 1973 crime film ''Film/TheSevenUps'', Richard Lynch's reactions as the passenger in the getaway car (driven by stuntman Bill Hickman) were genuinely panicky.

* In the porno movie ''The Sex Files: A Dark XXX Parody'', the sex scene with the two lead characters was filmed last in order to allow the actors to build up chemistry.

** ''Film/MontyPythonsLifeOfBrian'': The extras who play guards in the "[[https://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..." The wife's name was improvised with each take, so the extras didn't know what Palin might say next...

* At the beginning of ''Film/ApocalypseNow'', Willard is in his hotel room drunk. During the filming of the whole scene Creator/FrancisFordCoppola 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.

* During the filming of scene where Murphy hauls Boddicker into Metro West in ''Film/RoboCop1987'', Creator/KurtwoodSmith (who played Boddicker) suggested to director Creator/PaulVerhoeven that his character spit some blood onto some paperwork as says "Just give me my fucking phone call." Verhoeven liked the idea and agreed to film it as such--without telling anyone else that Smith would do it. It's entirely possible that Sgt. Reed's reaction (stepping back and muttering "Shit!") was Robert [=DoQui=] breaking character.

* In ''Film/KingsmanTheSecretService'', all the cast were really underwater during the flooding of the first test. Hence everyone's scared faces as they tried to get out.

** Star Trek VI has this remarkably cold-blooded exchange, regarding peace with the Klingon empire.

** All of the actors except Creator/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 Creator/RichardOBrien subsequently yelling at her to shut up, were also genuine reactions.

** All of the actors except Creator/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.

** Actor/wrestler/part-time mafia enforcer Lenny Montana, as Luca Brasi, was so nervous about his scene where he gives his regards to Don Vito Corleone (Creator/MarlonBrando) that he stumbled and stuttered over most of his lines. Brando compounded the problem by making funny gestures and having messages 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. Creator/FrancisFordCoppola liked the scene as it was, because it established that it's not the thugs you need to worry about, but the man that gives them their orders. So that this scene would make sense, Coppola wrote and filmed an earlier scene with Brasi nervously practicing his lines to make his awkwardness more natural.

* In ''Film/DraculaDeadAndLovingIt'', when Lucy Westenra is staked after becoming a vampire, "Harker" actor Creator/StevenWeber wasn't told the massive amount of stage blood that would come from the dummy. In the movie, he's clearly [[{{Corpsing}} struggling not to laugh]] as he delivers his lines. The line "She's dead ''enough''" was reportedly ad-libbed by Weber on the spot.

* During the filming of scene where Murphy hauls Boddicker into Metro West in ''Film/RoboCop1987'', Creator/KurtwoodSmith (who plated Boddicker) suggested to director Creator/PaulVerhoeven that his character spit some blood out of some paperwork as says "Just give me my fucking phone call." Verhoeven likes the idea and agreed to film it as such--without telling anyone else that Smith would do it. It's entirely possible that Sgt. Reed's reaction (stepping back and muttering "Shit!") was Robert [=DoQui=] breaking character.

* During filming of ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'', real-life FBI Agent John Douglas, on whom the character of Jack Crawford was based, played audiotapes for actor Creator/ScottGlenn 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 (which Douglas has strongly supported). Glenn also refused to sign on to the sequels, so his character was [[AdaptedOut cut completely]] out of ''Hannibal'' (in a deleted scene, it was revealed that Crawford died between movies, resulting in a combination of type 2 of DeathByAdaptation and KilledOffscreen) and replaced by Creator/HarveyKeitel in ''Film/RedDragon''.

** Actor Lenny Montana, as Luca Brasi, was so nervous about his scene where he gives his regards to Don Vito Corleone (Creator/MarlonBrando) that he stumbled and stuttered over most of his lines. Brando compounded the problem by making funny gestures and having messages 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. Creator/FrancisFordCoppola liked the scene as it was, and so that it would make sense, wrote and filmed an earlier scene with Brasi nervously practicing his lines to make his awkwardness more natural.

*** 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.

* While filming ''Franchise/StarWars Episode 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!" This pissed him off once he saw the actual film, as he believed that his body language would've been entirely different if he knew what the actual line was (which could constitute an example of [[TropesAreTools Tropes Are Not Good]]).

** In ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}'' the water was much colder than any of the actors expected it to be, causing genuine reactions.

* ''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.

* ''RosemarysBaby'' contains a scene where a dazed Rosemary (Creator/MiaFarrow) has a telephone call with one of her husband's former stage rivals. Director Creator/RomanPolanski did not tell Farrow that the person on the other end of the line would be Creator/TonyCurtis, so her look of confusion is real: she was struggling to remember why his voice was so familiar.

* In thr 1973 crime film ''The Seven-Ups'', Richard Lynch's reactions as the passenger in the getaway car (driven by stuntman Bill Hickman) were genuinely panicky.

** 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.