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{{trope}}
{{quote|
{{quote|
* The director is trying to make a performance more
* Another actor does or says something that causes the actors he's working with to react in an unplanned
* [[Real Life Writes the Plot]] and an unforeseen accident results in a scene that is appropriate to the plot.
Compare with [[Throw It In]] and [[Acting in the Dark]]. This often requires a [[Jerkass]] director, or at least one who doesn't mind their actors hating them. [[Fatal Method Acting]] is a lethal case of this. Contrast [[Lost in Character]].
{{examples}}
== Anime ==
* [[Hideaki Anno]], the eccentric director of ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'', infamously told Megumi Ogata to ''literally'' strangle Yuko Miyamura during the recording of the scene where Shinji tries to strangle Asuka in ''End
* In general, the directors of English dubs of anime seem to do this ''a lot'' to the actors, particularly when you consider that most anime is finished before the dub is even started on. If you read interviews with the actors and watch extras on the discs pertaining to how the dub was recorded, you'll find all sorts of anecdotes such as [[Vic Mignogna]] actually crying in reaction to things that happened in the final episode of ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', to Chris Patton in the audio commentaries in ''[[Princess Tutu]]'' wondering aloud "why I'm being such a bastard" to many, many actors ''not'' being told that a character dies until they record the scene in which it happens, even when it's ''their'' character.
** Speaking of ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', Vic Mignogna was also not informed of what lay on the other side of the Gate prior to dubbing the scene in which Edward Elric passes through it. The surprise in Edward's voice upon seeing {{spoiler|Zeppelins}}, therefore, is quite real.
*** [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 [[Tear Jerker]].
*** It's more striking than that,
*** 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."
* [[Shinichi Watanabe]] reportedly required, during the recording of ''[[Excel Saga (anime)|Excel Saga]]'', that Menchi's voice actress crouch on all fours to address a microphone 6 inches off the floor, and that the "Excel Girls" actresses actually wear costumes based on those worn by their animated counterparts.
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* [[Gen Urobuchi]] went right for the jugular with his cast in [[Magical Girl]] [[Deconstruction]] ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'', not telling them beforehand how harsh things would get. It was especially hard for {{spoiler|[[Emiri Katou]], who ended up playing the alleged [[Alternate Character Interpretation|main]] villain}}.
* It's long been rumoured that female voice actors in both English and Japanese hentai are encouraged to masturbate while on mike. Of course, it could easily just be [[The Immodest Orgasm|really good acting]].
* An in-universe example: ''Ten Little Gall Force'' is a [[Super-Deformed]] OVA that reimagines the cast of ''[[Gall Force]]'' as actors making a movie. At one stage, they're shooting the scene where Catty fries herself acting as the conductor for a broken power cable. Catty asks the director if he's sure the wire's not live, and the director shrugs, so she grabs the wire... and then the director activates it, electrocuting her for real. He seems thrilled with the "reality" of the scene. She [[Shock and Awe|gets her revenge]] at the end of the scene.
== Fan Works ==
* ''[[Harry Potter and
{{quote|
== Film ==
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* In ''[[Alien (franchise)|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.
** In the same film, director Ridley Scott placed a veiled cage with a German Shepherd in front of
** In a lesser known example, Ridley Scott made sure that Bolaji Bedejo ([[People in Rubber Suits|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.
** ''Alien Resurrection'' has a semi-example as well. 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.
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* In ''[[An American Werewolf in London]]'', 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 ''[[On the Waterfront]]'' 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 procede to toy 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 ''[[Medium Cool]]'', a film
* 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 ''[[White Heat]]'', 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 ''[[Apocalypse Now]]'', 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
* [[Winona Ryder]] said in an interview that, when filming ''[[Bram Stoker's
* While shooting ''[[At Close Range]]'' in 1986, Sean Penn became aware of [[Christopher Walken]]'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 [[Matthew Broderick]] 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 ''[[Thor (film)|Thor]]'', there is a scene where Loki ([[Tom Hiddleston]]) briefly tries to confess something he's done, but his father Odin ([[Anthony Hopkins]]) 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. Akira Kurosawa didn't even bother to film the second take. The nervousness and awkward mistakes in Tatsuo Iwabuchi's wedding toast are all genuine.
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** In ''[[The Godfather]] Part II'', 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 ''[[Bad Boys]] 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 [[Michael Bay]], 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 [[Will Smith]].
* According to a long-standing but unconfirmed Hollywood legend, during the shooting of the 1959 remake of ''[[Ben-Hur]]'', scriptwriter [[Gore Vidal]] and director William Wyler convinced Stephen Boyd to play the role of Messala as if he and Judah were estranged lovers, without informing Heston of
* 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 ''[[The Blair Witch Project]]'' 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:
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* Attempted in ''[[The Descent (film)|The Descent]]''. The crawlers were kept hidden from the cast until [[The Reveal]] 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 ''[[Die Hard]]'' where Hans Gruber falls out the building. [[Alan Rickman]] 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 [[Oh Crap|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 ''[[The Elephant Man]]'', John Hurt in playing the title role needed to wear extensive prosthetics. This was before latex, let alone lightweight foam latex, came into much
* In ''[[Far And Away]]'', one scene has [[Nicole Kidman]] 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.
* ''[[The Goonies]]''
** 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.!"
* ''[[D.O.A.
* The scene in ''[[Rocky (film)|Rocky]]'' where he runs around Philadelphia was shot on the fly. People are staring at him because they were wondering who was that guy jogging.
* In the movie ''[[M*A*S*H (film)|
* At the end of ''[[Kes]]'', 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.
* In ''[[Memoirs of a Geisha]]'', according to the director's commentary, in the scene in which Mameha (played by [[Michelle Yeoh]]) 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.''
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* While filming ''[[Star Wars|Star Wars V]]: [[The Empire Strikes Back]]'', [[Mark Hamill]] 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 ''[[Straw Dogs]]'', to get the perfect "shocked reaction" from the villagers when [[Dustin Hoffman]]'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.
* ''[[
** None of the cast, child or adult, was allowed to see or even know about the "candy gardens" room until the filming
** In the documentary on the same disc, [[Gene Wilder]] 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.
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* 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 ''[[Transformers (film)|Transformers]]''
**
** 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.
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** Also ''X-Men'': 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 [[Groin Attack|a very uncomfortable place]], as a result his screams of rage are actually genuine screams of pain.
** In the above-mentioned scene, Hugh Jackman 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.
* In ''[[E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
* ''[[Close Encounters of the Third Kind]]''
** 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.
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** The commentary track to ''[[Jurassic Park]] III'', 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 ''[[Stripes]]'', director Ivan Reitman quietly told the actors to pull Warren Oates, who played their drill sergeant Sgt. Hulka, down into the mud with
* 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 ''[[The Celebration]]'', 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 ''[[The Rocky Horror Picture Show]]'',
** All of the actors except [[Tim Curry]] 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
** Janet knees
* In Garry Marshall's 1991 film ''[[Frankie and Johnny]]'', Marshall wanted [[Al Pacino]] 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 [[William Shatner]] and [[Leonard Nimoy]] (who were shooting the sixth ''[[Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country|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 ''[[Monty Python's Life of Brian]]''
** 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 [[Oh Crap]] look on the guards' faces when he says, "He has a wife, you know..."
* In the "burn the witch" scene from ''[[Monty Python and
* In
* In ''[[Star Trek: Nemesis]]'', in the scene where Riker is fighting the Reman [[The Dragon|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 ''[[Star Trek II: The
* In the German movie ''[[Das Boot]]'', 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.
* [[Alfred Hitchcock]] was fond of this type of acting.
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* When directing [[Shirley Temple]], ruthless Western director [[John Ford]] 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.
* [[John Woo]] reveals on the commentary track of ''[[Hard Boiled]]'' 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.
* [[James Bond (film)|James Bond]] films:
** The scene where
** In ''[[Tomorrow Never Dies]]'', 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 ''[[The World Is Not Enough]]'', 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.
** ''[[Goldfinger]]'':
*** When
*** 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. [[Sean Connery]]'s distress is extremely obvious and he was apparently furious once filming was over.
** In ''[[Octopussy]]'', 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 ''[[REC (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 ''[[Mary Poppins]]''
** The young actors playing Michael and Jane weren't told that it was
** 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.
** The children were also not told that Mary Poppins was going to be pulling hatracks and floor lamps and large potted plants out of her carpetbag. Although since this was done as a split-screen effect it might have been hard to conceal the trick while shooting.
* ''[[Roman Holiday]]'' 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 [[Incredibly Lame Pun|beforehand]] and her reaction is genuine.
* From [https://web.archive.org/web/20090520164457/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. "
* [[Stanley Kubrick]] was apparently a fan of this technique.
** When filming his adaptation of [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[The Shining]]'', he verbally abused Shelley Duvall and notoriously made her do 127 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.
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** 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.
* ''[[Scream (film)|Scream]]''
** In order to get the appropriate fear reaction from [[Drew Barrymore]]
** 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 heart- right after he had heart surgery. The screams of pain from him are real.
*
** Another enforced method acting moment was when Cleavon Little [[Corpsing|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 [[James Cameron]]."
** While filming ''[[The Abyss]]'', [[James 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, [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|Harris went up to Cameron and punched him.]] Harris has said he would never work with Cameron again.
* [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]]'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 [[Goofy Print Underwear|gaudy boxer shorts]] to draw their gaze.
* In the [[Adam Sandler]] 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 [[Winona Ryder]] from drowning. See the entry for ''Alien: Resurrection'' above to see why this is significant.
* ''[[Back to The Future]]'' films:
** In his memoir ''Lucky Man'', [[Michael J. Fox]] recounts that while filming the scene where Marty is lynched in ''[[Back to The Future]] 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. [[Robert Zemeckis]] is apparently big on real reactions, and runs the mantra "Pain is temporary, film is forever" with his actors.
* In ''[[Empire of the Sun (novel)|Empire of the Sun]]'', there was a scene where a maid smacks [[Christian Bale]]'s character across the face. They had practiced the scene with a fake slap, but [[Steven Spielberg]] 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 ''[[Withnail and I]]'' where Withnail drinks lighter fluid, the liquid in the bottle was vinegar, not water as previously rehearsed. The look on [[Richard E. Grant]]'s face is completely unfeigned.
* Between takes in ''The King Of Comedy'', [[Robert De Niro]] made antisemitic comments around Jerry Lewis in order to make Lewis's anger toward DeNiro's character more real.
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** 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 ''[[Fight Club]]'', the first punch in the first fight between Edward Norton and [[Brad Pitt]] 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.
{{quote|
* In the film version of ''[[The Cat in the Hat]]'', 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 ''[[When Harry Met Sally...]]'', 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 [[Throw It In|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).
* [[Akira Kurosawa]] did this in ''[[Throne of Blood]]'', in the climactic sequence where his [[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, [[Toshiro Mifune]]'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.
** ''[[The Adventures of Robin Hood (film)|The Adventures of Robin Hood]]'' used the same technique with a professional stunt archer.
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** 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 [[The Unfavorite|Faramir]] the lousiest horse, [[Butt Monkey|no one]] [[The Woobie|loves him anyway.]]
* While filming ''[[The Fall (film)|The Fall]]'', 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
** Also, the scene when five
*** He also cast her after meeting her, at which point she barely spoke a word of English and telling a fellow crew member
**** Also, in the scene depicting the finale, {{spoiler|where Roy tries to kill off the hero of the
* An accidental case of this occurred during the filming of the original ''[[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.
* ''[[Stand by Me]]''
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** 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.
* 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 ''[[M]]''; star [[Peter Lorre]] 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.
{{quote|
* In ''[[
** The moral of this story, kids: If [[Gary Oldman]] 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 ''[[Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (
*** Also
* [[Dustin Hoffman]] tells a story that when they were filming ''[[Marathon Man]]'', [[Laurence Olivier]]'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
* In ''[[Soylent Green]]'', 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 ''[[Twilight (novel)|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", [[Fan Nickname|RPattz]] actually breaks into a broad smile as if he's about to laugh. But that's the take they used.
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* During filming of the climactic dinner scene from ''[[The Texas Chainsaw Massacre]]'', 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.
** 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
* According to the interviews in the BONUSVIEW content of the ''[[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.
* In ''[[The Last King of Scotland]]'', 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.
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* ''[[American Pie]] 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 ''[[Shattered Glass]]'' 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 ''[[Mystery Men]]'', The Bowler ([[Janeane Garofalo]]) 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
* In the film adaption of the novel ''[[Inheritance Cycle|Eragon]]'', there is a scene where [[Farm Boy|Eragon]] (Ed Speleers) is snooping around in [[The Obi-Wan|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 ''[[It's a Wonderful Life]]'', 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
** 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 ''[[Lucky Number Slevin]]'' 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.
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*** 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
* It's quite alarming the number of times the actors in ''[[The Good, the Bad and the Ugly]]'' [[Fatal Method Acting|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.
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** 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 ''[[Starship Troopers (film)|Starship Troopers]]'' 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 ''[[Finding Neverland]]'', the boys are supposed to be
* 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 ''[[The Amityville Horror]]'', [[Ryan Reynolds]] 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.
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* In ''[[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 ''[[Flash Gordon (film)|Flash Gordon]]'' when Dale looks shocked after [[Brian Blessed|Prince Vultan]] walks past and gooses her? [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pa5L8YjsiSk Brian's idea].
* According to the [[DVD Commentary|director's commentary]] on the ''[[Sleepy Hollow (Film)|Sleepy Hollow]]'' 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 ''[[Phantasm (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 ''[[The Quiet Man]]'', there's a bit where [[
** Only three people ever knew what was said: John Ford, Maureen O'Hara, and John Wayne.
** 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, ''[[The Shootist]]'', involves an aging cowboy dying of cancer. Sadly, this required no acting on Wayne's part.
* During the filming of ''[[Black Swan]]'', Director [[Darren Aronofsky]] would try to pit [[Natalie Portman]] and [[Mila Kunis]] 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.
* [[Alejandro Jodorowsky]] 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 [https://web.archive.org/web/20130408124520/http://www.subcin.com/jod01.html this interview] he claims that the scene in ''[[El Topo]]'' where {{spoiler|Mara hits El Topo, and then he rapes her}} was not acted.
* In ''[[Pretty Woman]]'', [[Julia Roberts]]' hysterical laughter while watching old ''[[I Love Lucy]]'' 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.
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* While filming ''[[Carrie]]'', Sissy Spacek deliberately did not fraternize with the rest of the cast.
* During the famous chase scene in ''[[The French Connection]]'', prior permission for filming wasn't obtained, which meant that the panicked reactions from passers-by were genuine.
* An early scene in [[Holiday Inn]] shows
* According to actor Sean Patrick Flanery, David Della Rocco's reaction to the gunshot on the table in the first [[Boondock Saints]] 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 ''[[Come and See]]'', director Elem Klimov fired live gunshots over the heads of the actors to get genuine looks of terror in the battle scene.
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* ''[[Aguirre, the Wrath of God]]''. [[Werner Herzog]] wanted Aguirre to be the epitome of [[Tranquil Fury]], 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 ''[[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 ''[[A Clockwork Orange (film)|A Clockwork Orange]]'' Malcolm
* The zit scene in ''[[Animal House]]'', only known by John Belushi. John Landis noticed this and requested the camera man to just keep filming, knowing something classic will happen. Due to this, the reactions of the other cast members were real.
* Jake's reaction upon first seeing ''[[Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (film)|Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children]]'' is genuine—Asa Butterworth had not seen the house in which much of the film was shot before the moment in the film in which his character sees it for the first time.
==
* In the ''[[
▲* [[Harry Potter and The Methods of Rationality]] author Eliezer Yudkowsky enforces a form of method acting on his writing, to distinguish the mental recall of Harry (fairly smart but without perfect recall of everything he has learned) and Hermione (perfect recall):
▲{{quote| When Harry thinks about something scientific, I require myself to write the description from memory, so that I’m not giving him an unrealistic degree of recall. For example, in Ch. 2 Harry quotes Feynman talking about what philosophers say is absolutely required. The original quote in the Feynman lectures uses the phrase ‘absolutely necessary’. I fact-check afterward to make sure there’s no invalidating errors, but not while writing the first draft. When I’m writing Hermione’s point-of-view, I look up the original beforehand to simulate her perfect recall.}}
== Live Action Television ==▼
▲* In the ''[[MASH]]'' (TV series) episode "Abyssinia, Henry," the final page of the script, in which Radar comes into the operating room and announces that [[McLeaned|Col. Blake's plane was shot down with no survivors]], was handed to the cast a few minutes before the scene began. The scene in question was so [[Wham! Episode|shocking]], an [http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/mash.asp urban legend] sprang up that the cast didn't know about the death until Gary Burghoff read his lines on the air. What ''really'' happened was that, with the exception of the director, none of the ''crew'' knew about the death, and their gasps of shock upon hearing the line ruined the first take.
* ''[[The Brady Bunch]]'': In the episode "Bobby's Hero," where Bobby took up outlaw Jesse James as a role model, the episode ends with a dream sequence where Jesse James shows up and shoots Bobby's entire family (even ''Alice''!) to death (in an extremely silly-looking way, of course). To counteract the silly action, Lloyd Schwartz took actor Mike Lookinland alone to a closed set and began to describe to him how the scene would look in graphic, horrid detail, using Lookinland's real-life family as an example. The looks of terror you see in Bobby's eyes are from Schwartz screaming at him about how his real-life parents and siblings (even his ''pets''!) were screaming in pain, suffering, bleeding, and dying. Schwartz, in his memoir about the series, says he and his father, Sherwood, were proud of how the episode came off as a non-preachy "anti-gun" episode.
* The famous ''[[Sesame Street]]'' scene announcing the death of Mr. Hooper subverts this trope, hard. Everyone in the cast loved actor Will Lee, so they all fought back genuine tears. They barely got through it. One line didn't come out quite right, so a second take was attempted. The cast didn't make it through the second try. As a result, the first take was used, in an unusual application of [[Throw It In]].
* Speaking of the Muppets, in the TV special ''The Muppets Remember Jim Henson'' Steve Whitmire had only recently taken over the role of Kermit The Frog from the recently deceased Henson. He was told prior to filming that there would only be a small group of the core Muppet performers there with their signature characters. The rehearsals were emotional and difficult for everyone involved so when filming finally came around [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|every single living Muppet performer and almost every character they could cram in at the time (including ''Sesame Street'' characters) crowded into the tiny set in a show of support for Steve.]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olHV1o9TE-8 Here it is in all its glory.]
* In ''[[Mad Men]]'' Season 3 episode titled "Guy Walks into an Advertising Agency" when {{spoiler|Mr. Ford's foot is run over by the lawnmower}} blood is sprayed into the face of several onlookers. The director told them they would be sprayed on the count of 3, but instead went on 2. The shocked looks on their faces is a real reaction.
* Sort of subverted in the ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' episode "Urgo", where Dom
** Subverted in another scene, where Carter surprises O'Neill by humming to herself. Amanda Tapping had originally wanted to surprise her costar by humming the ''[[MacGyver]]'' theme. Unfortunately, no one on set could remember what it was.
*** Instead, she hums the [[Theme Tune Cameo|''SG-1'' theme tune]].
* In the ''[[Red Dwarf]]'' episode "D.N.A.", Lister is handed a photo of a man's genitals and reacts accordingly. During rehearsal, the photo was always something mundane, but when they actually shot the scene, Craig was given a photo of a guy's crotch without warning.
** Another scene has the cast pushed against a metal grate with freezing cold water pouring over them, their screams at this point were genuine.
* In ''[[I'm Alan Partridge]]'', every character looks genuinely shocked when they see the contents of Alan's drawer, suggesting this trope.
* In the ''[[Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|Battlestar Galactica]]'' remake episode "Act of Contrition", when {{spoiler|Starbuck tells Commander Adama she's responsible for the death of his son, Zak}}, [[Edward James Olmos]] scared actress [[Katee Sackhoff]] into thinking he was actually going to hit her, which is why she puts her hands over her head as she walks out of his cabin.
** Olmos enjoys doing this sort of thing. The kiss in "Resurrection Ship part II" was also unscripted, as was {{spoiler|the business with the wedding ring}} in "The Hub". Good thing Mary McDonnell is used to him.
* During the pilot of ''[[Firefly]]'', Mal and Jayne throw a body out the ship's airlock and rush back inside as the door closes with a fraction of an inch to spare. This isn't just feigned: Nathan Fillion and Adam Baldwin had no idea that [[Joss Whedon]] started closing the doors the moment they went out, to simulate how fast these characters had to act in their escape from the world.
* In ''[[24]]'', Kiefer Sutherland changed the line of the famous "Jack whispering to Nina" scene from Day 2 from its scripted one to a declaration of love for Sarah Clarke in order to get a shocked reaction from her.
* In the episode "Waking Moments" of ''[[Star Trek:
** The actors talk about that scene [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alpr6_66hiw here.]
* Geordi LaForge, blind engineer on ''[[Star Trek: The
* ''[[Star Trek:
* In the ''[[Babylon 5]]'' episode "The Hour Of The Wolf", one of the reasons that actor Peter Jurasik looks as he does when talking to the severed heads is that one of the heads was based on fellow actor Andreas Katsulas. They avoided telling him about it in advance.
** In the episode "In the Shadow of Z'Ha'Dum", Andrea Thompson really slapped Bruce Boxleitner, very hard. Not only his reaction but the sound the slap makes is real.
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** In "Silence In The Library", new character River Song is introduced. [[David Tennant]]'s confusion during his scenes with her is absolutely genuine, because [[Steven Moffat]] refused to tell anyone where he was going with the character.
** In "The Time of Angels" [[Crazy Awesome|Matt Smith really bit Karen Gillan's hand]] during every take just so he could get a proper reaction.
** In the classic series serial ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S19
* Arguably, this was often the case in ''[[Mork and Mindy]].'' Much of Mork's dialogue and antics were ad-libbed by [[Robin Williams]], 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 [[Corpsing|visibly struggling to keep a straight face]].
* On ''[[Top Gear]]'', the basic ideas for challenges often come from the presenters themselves, but the details come from "the producers". Clarkson, Hammond, and May are frequently pleasantly (or not-so-pleasantly) surprised on-camera by the contents of the infamous gold envelope telling them what they need to do next.
* [http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-april-3-2008/britain-s-fallen-soldiers This clip] from ''[[The Daily Show]]'', in which John Oliver reads out a list of funny names. Between rehearsal and the final recording, the list was changed. Nobody told Jon Stewart.
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** Specific example: One teaser has Elliot telling old jokes and having everyone else finish them for her. She finally squeals [http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=PEliTwhqtHw#t=24s "STOP FINISHING MY AWESOME JOKES!"] Sarah Chalke didn't tell anyone she was going to play the line like that, and J.D.'s holding his ear and yelling "Oh my God!" was a real reaction on Zach Braff's part.
* In ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'', the shot of the kangaroo-hopping Freemasons with their trousers down and spotted boxer shorts displayed (part of the "How to recognise a Freemason" sequence) was filmed on a real London street with the then largely unknown Pythons dressed up in their banking suits and blending in. At a prearranged signal, they dropped their trousers and started hopping, and the shot was taken by a camera in a passing vehicle. The reactions from the passers-by are all completely genuine.
* ''[[
* The scripts for ''[[Curb Your Enthusiasm]]'' are just outlines directing the flow of the conversation, and the actors are only allowed to read their own scenes. According to [[Larry David]], Richard Lewis's knowledge of his scenes is even more restricted than this, because once David heard him use a line that he knew Lewis had planned.
* In the pilot episode of ''[[Lost]]'', Jack, Kate, and Charlie come across the plane's cockpit angled upright in the jungle. The cast members had not yet seen the set before filming began, so the looks of wonder on their faces were legitimate.
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* In series 3 of ''[[Skins]]'', there's a scene where magician JJ breathes fire. Kaya Scodelario, Luke Pasqualino and Jack O'Connell (Effy, Freddie and Cook) were all told that the fire would be added in post-production as a special effect - nobody told them that they'd actually taught Ollie Barbieri how to perform the stunt. Kaya's scream is completely genuine.
** And there's a failed example in series 4, in the scene where Naomi and Emily discover Sophia's shrine to Naomi in her army cadet locker. The plan was to prevent Lily Loveless and Kathryn Prescott seeing the shrine until it was opened during filming, so that they could play the characters as weirded out by [[The Reveal]] as possible; unfortunately, Lily ended up having a monumental job to stop herself laughing at the sheer crazy of what they found.
* In the ''[[
* 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, [[Andy Kaufman]] taught her their country's "language" by inviting her to dinner and refusing to speak English or let her do so.
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** Playing Malcolm Tucker means Peter Capaldi has the most lines to learn, and he often stays up all night learning them only to arrive on set the next morning to find they've all been rewritten. The resulting stress and sleep deprivation help to make him look the part- off-screen he looks about ten years younger.
*** 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.
* This is the reason why the actors in ''[[Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!]]'' seem really awkward at times. For instance, [https://web.archive.org/web/20130627045310/http://www.avclub.com/articles/tim-and-eric,22902/2/ they tell Steve Brule's actor what to do right before they say "action" so he doesn't have enough time to process the directions. And while they were filming a commercial for season 4, they told the cameraman to zoom in, but the woman on screen didn't know where the camera was, so she kept making funny faces.]
* ''[[Blake's
* The creators/director of ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'' decided to make use of this regularly. They noticed that sitcom characters rarely laugh at each other's jokes or other funny bits, which is unrealistic, and so allow the actors to react naturally to each other by laughing when something is funny, etc rather than needing a straight-faced retake.
** Of particular note is the final scene of "Bad News". Jason Segal was not told what the titular "news" was. [[Alyson Hannigan]]'s line of {{spoiler|"Your father had a heart attack. He didn't make it."}} prompts a brilliant reaction from Segal, who causes the entire audience to cry at his voice breaking.
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* In an episode of ''[[The Adventures of Superman]]'' called "Night of Terror," [[Lois Lane]] is supposed to be knocked out when a thug punches her. Unfortunately, the actor accidentally missed his "air punch" and really did hit her, knocking Phyllis Coates unconscious. She had to go to the hospital, and he felt incredibly guilty.
* In the episode of ''[[Home and Away]]'' with Sally's first wedding, Gypsy stands up and interrupts Kieran's vows to reveal that he had been hitting on her since he arrived. While filming this scene, Kimberly Cooper hit her legs on the pew in front of her, meaning that the tears in her eyes were "''reeeeeal'' pain tears."
* Occasionally happens with the actors on the hidden camera show ''[[What Would You Do]]''. For example, in one episode, a [[Teen Pregnancy|pregnant teenager]] denies her unborn child to some expectant adoptive parents.<ref>All an act, of course, to see how people would react.</ref> During the scenario, two ladies approach the actress playing the sobbing mom-to-be. [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|The women comfort her]], and one of the ladies says a prayer about motherhood, moving the
* This was more or less the complete case in ''[[Whose Line Is It Anyway?]]''.
** Two notable cases happened in the Hollywood Director where Colin Mochrie would pretend to be an overly-picky Hollywood director, and always angrily yell "CUT CUT CUT CUT!". In one occasion, Chip Esten jumps onto Ryan's back and Colin actually means it when he says "CUT CUT CUT CUT!" because Ryan has a bad back. In another one, he asks the performers to do the scene backward and when he comes on, he's surprised they actually did it.
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* ''[[Dick and Dom in da Bungalow]]'' was unscripted anyway, but the producers liked to try and surprise the presenters- for example, by having somebody unexpectedly burst in through the door. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7W9-hhoQCo That is,] actually [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|through]] [[We Have the Keys|the door.]] The hosts manage to turn genuine surprise into [[Played for Laughs]] collapsing in shock. (On another occasion, however, they are reduced to silence for a good thirty seconds simply by a lovely girl turning up when they expected a nice motherly cleaning lady, in a game of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mw9UQGtmJ4Q&t=1m17s Make Dick Sick].)
* [[In-Universe]]: In ''[[Victorious]]'' Sikowitz threw himself down a flight of stairs to realistically portray a person in pain.
== Music ==
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* [[Weezer]]'s video "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHQqqM5sr7g Undone - The Sweater Song]" was a [[The Oner|one-take]] shot 20 times. The one that was used was between the 15th and 20th, when the band was tired and simply not caring anymore (things such as a dog defecating on a drum pedal helped).
* When [[Miles Davis]] 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.
* [[Bruce Springsteen]] wanted his folk album ''We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions
* [[Captain Beefheart]] And His Magic Band's [[Trout Mask Replica]] was intended to sound uncomfortable and on the brink of falling apart. That's because the band really was uncomfortable and on the brink of falling apart. There are many reasons why but Antennae Jimmy Semens' performance of Pena sounds hysterical, and he probably was at the time. In a similar manner The Blimp, which is recited in a similar voice, over the phone to Frank Zappa.
* On their album ''Pooping Like Dogs'', The Pennock Bridge Collective had a handful of experimental tracks where they deliberately made sure no one in the band knew how a song was going to turn out: Mainly, they'd have members pull instruments and track numbers out of a hat, then have each member write and record a part based only on whatever had been recorded before they got their turn. The most extreme case of this was "The CCH Pounder Blues", where everyone was instructed to improvise wildly for exactly 30 seconds without being able to hear what anyone else was playing.
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== Professional Wrestling ==
* During the 2008 [[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWE]] Draft, none of the draftees were told that they'd be switching shows until just ''seconds'' before the announcement was made. Most notably seen with the announcer switch between ''Smackdown!'' and ''RAW''... the looks of confusion and anger on [[Michael Cole]] and [[Jim Ross]]' faces as they switched chairs following the announcement of the change were completely real, and [[Jim Ross]] actually considered retiring the day after it happened.
** Speaking of [[Jim Ross]], he intentionally did not read the set notes for the shows he was announcing in order to make his on-air calls more realistic. His pleas for trying to get someone to stop the famous [[Mick Foley|Mankind]] vs. [[The Undertaker|Undertaker]] Hell in a Cell match is one of the many legitimate results of this practice (moreso because some of the damage [[Mick Foley]] took in the match was unintentional and damn near killed him.)
* Also draft-related - in order to properly keep up the air of shock (as well as downplay spoilers) in the 2005 draft's opening pick, [[John Cena]] apparently arrived at the arena very late and stayed in his car until it was time for him to come out at the start of the show. Only Cena and the people he had a segment and a match with that night - [[Chris Jericho]], [[Christian]], and Tyson Tomko - were informed of it in advance.
* Rumor has it that the ring crew for June 7, 2010's RAW were only told that [[Wade Barrett]] would come down to the ring to interrupt [[John Cena]] vs. [[CM Punk]]... not that he'd then get the other "rookies" from the recently-concluded NXT show to jump and beat down [[John Cena]], then attack Matt Striker, [[Jerry Lawler]], ([[Michael Cole]] promptly fleeing), the ring announcer Justin Roberts ''and'' ringside crew, and literally wreck the ringside and even tear at the ring itself.
* Then there's [[WCW]] which, per its usual, managed to screw this up. They had backstage segments aplenty, but at one point decided that to increase spontaneity the announce team was not allowed to see and were not told about. This naturally led to [[
* No one knew Eric Bischoff was coming the night he joined WWE. Similar to the [[John Cena]] example, he kept hidden in a limo. Supposedly [[Booker T (wrestler)|Booker T]], one of the few to spot Bischoff summed it up by saying, "Tell me I didn't just see that".
* Even [[Scott Hall|Hall]] and [[Kevin Nash|Nash]] weren't told who third man was at the Bash of the Beach. The two struggle to not look confused as [[Hulk Hogan|Hogan]] goes Hollywood.
* [[Dwayne Johnson|The Rock]]'s return in 2011 was hidden even from the scripts of that episode which all told that [[Justin Bieber]] would be the host. (The Rock briefly alludes to this in his monologue.)
* Unfortunate example: Sting's obvious anger as he crushes [[Jeff Hardy]] at [[TNA]] ''Victory Road 2011''? Real anger - Jeff was so strung out on drugs that Eric Bischoff had to come down and tell Sting to get it over with fast. Jeff can be seen trying to escape Sting's winning pinfall, and as Sting walks out, he answers a fan's "THAT WAS BULLSHIT!" with a loud (and on-camera) "I AGREE!"
* [[The Undertaker]] losing at ''Wrestlemania XXX'' caught the audience, commentators, and [[Paul Heyman]] by surprised because only Taker, [[Brock Lesnar|his opponent]], The McMahons, and [[Triple H]] knew the outcome but didn't tell anyone else. In fact, the referee was only told to do the pin regardless of who was being pinned, and yes… even the other wrestlers and divas were all caught off guard as it was seen in ''Total Divas''. Considering the fact [[Wade Barrett|a certain someone]] mocked about the event long before the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjhisAvCfOY decision] and he wasn't told either, it makes one think in [[Accidentally Accurate|hindsight]].
* On a 2009 episode of Raw, [[Triple H]] was in the ring in his DX outfit when he had to call [[Shawn Michaels]]. When he decides to call Shawn, Triple H appears that he had no idea that about Shawn’s message and [http://youtu.be/whv8541Y3BE?t=4m53s his reaction] was priceless.
* The night after 2014 of ''PayBack'', Seth Rollins turned his back on both Roman Regins and Dean Ambrose, the only knowledge that anyone of this move was the results. However, Ambrose wasn't told when much move [http://fansided.com/2014/12/13/dean-ambrose-shield-told-break-right-raw-aired/ would happen], making his expression real. That was because the men originally thought it would be too soon, but...
* In ''[[Paranoia (game)|Paranoia]]'', combat is intended to be portrayed as fast, confused, and entertainingly deadly, rather than tactically optimal - so the GM is encouraged to give the ''players'' only a few seconds to decide what their characters are doing each round.▼
▲== Tabletop Games ==
▲* In ''[[Paranoia]]'', combat is intended to be portrayed as fast, confused, and entertainingly deadly, rather than tactically optimal - so the GM is encouraged to give the ''players'' only a few seconds to decide what their characters are doing each round.
** The rulebook contains an example of play that runs something like this:
{{quote|
'''Fred:''' Wait, what?
'''GM:''' Right. John, how about you? }}
* This can apply to any tabletop game, depending on how the
** The problem with this method is that whatever the DM does, his sudden description does not contain all the information a person actually there would be able to gather and process, leading to something like "an orc is running at you, what do you do?" and the player tries to ask something he would be able to tell immediately in a real situation , is he armed? is he being chased?, and the DM interprets this as him wasting his few seconds to respond.
* Extending this beyond combat, some games even suggest in the guidebook that in order to keep the players on their toes, the GM should make rolls for no reason at all, [[Magnificent Bastard|and occasionally pass private notes to players saying things like "just smile and nod".]]
== Theater ==
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== Video Games ==
* During the scene where Big Boss meets Granin in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater]]'', [[Hideo Kojima]] had Granin's motion actor drink real whiskey to the point where he was absolutely smashed and kept forgetting his lines.
** He also deliberately switched the casting of Big Boss's two motion actors - the man who played him during talking scenes was a motion actor who specialized in acrobatics, and the man who played him during action scenes was a motion actor who specialized in talking scenes. This resulted in a lot of serendipitous responses, particularly during the love scenes with Eva - for instance, when Eva leans in to kiss him in the mountaintop bolthole, his motion actor, unused to doing love scenes, froze up and pulled back nervously. It was very in character for Snake, so it was kept and Kojima later said it was one of his favourite touches.
== Web Original ==
* In the film [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcUTVxhMxcw Surviving Evidence,] [[One of Us|Kayla]] [http://www.youtube.com/user/ILoveShinyMonkeys?feature=watch Bashe] <ref>
** Additionally, the dialogue in the scene where Taylor and Erica put on a play was improvised to highlight the play's [[Stylistic Suck]].
* [[The Spoony Experiment|Spoony]] actually did this in reverse during his ''[[E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (video game)|ET]]'' videogame review. At his fans' behest, he filmed a review right after having excruciating dental surgery to remove his wisdom teeth (and then another to fix complications from the first surgery) while spitting blood and drugged out of his mind on painkillers. In a fit of inspiration he decided to take his own messed-up-ness and communicate it by doing a trippy ''[[Apocalypse Now]]'' homage, all the more awesome for how very real his pained expressions are.
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== Fictional Examples ==
=== Anime and Manga ===
* The first chapter of the manga ''[[Gundam Sousei]]'' (a [[Dramatization]] of the production of ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'') does this with the infamous '[[Bright Slap]]' scene by having [[Yoshiyuki Tomino]] punch [[Tohru Furuya]] in the face after several unimpressive line reads.▼
* In ''[[Bleach]]'' episode 298, Ichigo is filming a movie directed by Abarai Renji, with special effects provided by Kuchiki Byakuya. Said special effects include Byakuya ''attacking Ichigo with his Bankai''. Ouch.▼
=== Films - Animated ===
* The fictional director in ''[[Bolt]]'' ran Bolt's ''life'' this way. The words "method acting" are even mentioned by the exec who came to evaluate the show.
{{quote|
=== Films - Live-Action ===
* In ''[[Superman Returns]]'', [[Magnificent Bastard|Lex Luthor]] cuts the brakes on his assistant's car so that her screams for help will be authentic. When she confronts him later, he explains that if she hadn't really been terrified, Superman would be able to tell.
* ''[[Tropic Thunder]]'' uses this trope in the plot, which involves a director filming a movie about [[The Vietnam War]] dropping his five actors into the Golden Triangle of Asia while riddling the jungle with hidden cameras as advised by [[Shell Shocked Senior]] Four Leaf Tayback.
* ''[[The Truman Show]]'' takes this concept, and [[Deconstruction|runs it into the ground]].
* In ''[[
* In-universe examples for the animated band [[Gorillaz]]: according to their biography, ''Rise of the Ogre'', the band weren't told by their [[Literary Agent Hypothesis|director Jamie Hewlett]] about the [[Attack of the 50 Foot Whatever|300-foot elk]] that appears at the end of the "19/2000" video, so they'd look appropriately surprised. Also, the [[Groin Attack]] Murdoc suffers at the hands of the zombie ape in "Clint Eastwood" was apparently real, and caused his genitals to "swell up like big purple melons".▼
* 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.▼
* The opening-night production of ''[[Macbeth]]'' in ''[[Slings and Arrows]]'' includes an [[In-Universe]] version; ''[[Slings and Arrows]]'' is a story about a theater company, and director Geoffrey Tennant is not above manipulating his performers to get results. In order to get the performance he wants out of his recalcitrant Macbeth, Geoffrey changes all the blocking at the last minute, inserts a small tree at a strategic location, and gives secret instructions to Macbeth's opponents in fight scenes.▼
▲* The first chapter of the manga ''[[Gundam Sousei]]'' (a [[Dramatization]] of the production of ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'') does this with the infamous '[[Bright Slap]]' scene by having [[Yoshiyuki Tomino]] punch [[Tohru Furuya]] in the face after several unimpressive line reads.
=== Literature ===
* In [[Barbara Hambley]]'s ''[[Search the Seven Hills]]'', a troupe of girls playing nymphs is entertaining a Roman banquet when a troupe of actors as satyrs burst out on them. Marcus notes that either the girls were consummate actresses, or they had not expected to be actually molested by the satyrs.
* In ''[[The Simpsons]]'', when filming the Radioactive Man movie, the director informs Rainier Wolfcastle at the last second that the acid being used in one of the scenes is real. What follows is one of the most memorable [[Goggles Do Nothing|moments]] in Simpsons history.▼
* One [[Sherlock Holmes]] story, "The Dying Detective", has Holmes appear to be dying. Of course, it turns out that he's perfectly fine and was only acting so that Watson's reactions to it (and subsequent conversation with the suspect who had tried to poison him) would be genuine enough to convince said suspect.
** Of course the method in which Holmes "acts" sick qualifies under the trope as well: he spends three days without eating or drinking, literally putting himself to death's door to make the deception as authentic as possible!
** A far crueler example is when Holmes fakes his own death for ''three years'', leaving Watson alone even though his wife has died. Upon Holmes's return, Watson is quick to reprimand him for this. Holmes states that it was essential the world believed him dead, and Watson's behavior wouldn't be convincing enough if it was an act.
* The desperate haphazard plan Fisk comes up with in the first book of the ''[[Knight and Rogue Series]]'', to drug the [[Mad Scientist]] Ceciel they're escaping from and pretend that he and she are going out to perform some sacrifice or another with Michael, nearly falls apart when a guard see's Ceciel's rather vacant face and bad actor Michael's fairly unconcerned expression. There's nothing to be done about the drugged look, so Fisk gets Michael to panic by beginning to talk about how they're sacrificing his 'fertility'.▼
▲* In ''[[Seltzer and Friedberg|Epic Movie]]'', while trying to escape a prison cell, Captain Swallows stabs Edward in the abdomen to ensure his pain is realistic enough to get the guards in.
* In ''[[The Hunger Games]],'' this happens repeatedly with Katniss. She can't act, and so is never warned about Peeta's interview strategies so her reactions will be genuine. {{spoiler|By the third book, this has escalated to dropping her into a war zone in order to film propaganda because the studio shoots never work.}}▼
▲* In ''[[Bleach]]'' episode 298, Ichigo is filming a movie directed by Abarai Renji, with special effects provided by Kuchiki Byakuya. Said special effects include Byakuya ''attacking Ichigo with his Bankai''. Ouch.
▲* The opening-night production of ''[[Macbeth]]'' in ''[[Slings and Arrows]]'' includes an [[In-Universe]] version; ''[[Slings and Arrows]]'' is a story about a theater company, and director Geoffrey Tennant is not above manipulating his performers to get results. In order to get the performance he wants out of his recalcitrant Macbeth, Geoffrey changes all the blocking at the last minute, inserts a small tree at a strategic location, and gives secret instructions to Macbeth's opponents in fight scenes.
* The Conspiracy Theories episode of ''[[Community]]'' takes this [[Up to Eleven]], with Jeff, Annie, the Dean, a police officer, and the theater professor all shooting each other with fake guns in order to prove a point. Each the time, ''someone'' thinks that the gun is real and freaks out.
* In the ''[[Futurama]]'' episode "My Three Suns", Bender tries this in order to make Fry cry [[It Makes Sense in Context|to free the emperor trapped inside of him.]] Bender loudly exclaims about seeing Leela being captured and killed by rioters. It works, but only just so. Then Leela breaks the illusion by showing that she was entirely unharmed. [[Cutting the Knot|They get Fry to cry by beating the crap out of him.]]▼
* In one of the bonus strips from ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]'', Elan is trying to gain roleplaying XP by bemoaning a light wound. Belkar decides to help him with his motivation. Injury and Stabbing Ensue.▼
* In ''[[Malcolm in the Middle]]'' Reese breaks a leg when he sneaked out in the minibike Lois had under lock. They try to make it look like Craig ran over his leg with the car. When Reese's screams don't sound very believable Dewey proceeds to [[Squick|punch him in the bump that is his broken bone]].
* In ''[[Breakout Kings]]'', Ray forces this upon Lloyd when he enacts a plan that involves {{spoiler|letting their captive crook swipe his keys and his (unloaded) gun so that she'll take them straight to her partner as hostages}}. Needless to say, Lloyd is less than thrilled.
▲* 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.
=== Web Comics ===
▲* The desperate haphazard plan Fisk comes up with in the first book of the ''[[Knight and Rogue Series]]'', to drug the [[Mad Scientist]] Ceciel they're escaping from and pretend that he and she are going out to perform some sacrifice or another with Michael, nearly falls apart when a guard see's Ceciel's rather vacant face and bad actor Michael's fairly unconcerned expression. There's nothing to be done about the drugged look, so Fisk gets Michael to panic by beginning to talk about how they're sacrificing his 'fertility'.
▲* In one of the bonus strips from ''[[The
▲* In ''[[The Hunger Games]],'' this happens repeatedly with Katniss. She can't act, and so is never warned about Peeta's interview strategies so her reactions will be genuine. {{spoiler|By the third book, this has escalated to dropping her into a war zone in order to film propaganda because the studio shoots never work.}}
=== Western Animation ===
▲* In-universe examples for the animated band [[Gorillaz]]: according to their biography, ''Rise of the Ogre'', the band weren't told by their [[Literary Agent Hypothesis|director Jamie Hewlett]] about the [[Attack of the 50
▲* In ''[[The Simpsons]]'', when filming the Radioactive Man movie, the director informs Rainier Wolfcastle at the last second that the acid being used in one of the scenes is real. What follows is one of the most memorable [[Goggles Do Nothing|moments]] in ''Simpsons'' history.
▲* In the ''[[Futurama]]'' episode "My Three Suns", Bender tries this in order to make Fry cry [[It Makes Sense in Context|to free the emperor trapped inside of him.]] Bender loudly exclaims about seeing Leela being captured and killed by rioters. It works, but only just so. Then Leela breaks the illusion by showing that she was entirely unharmed. [[Cutting the Knot|They get Fry to cry by beating the crap out of him.]]
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Trivia Trope]]▼
[[Category:Creator Speak]]
[[Category:Film Tropes]]
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▲[[Category:Trivia Trope]]
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