Improvisation is an innate part of acting. While it’s not universally applicable, some actors express their spontaneity by lifting their characters off the scripts and taking full control for a moment. Many times, it’s these moments that make the audience wonder whether what just happened was really meant to happen.
Such improvisations mostly (but not always) appear when a character is having a reflexive moment, such as an angry slap, emotional outburst, or an impromptu kiss. When one actor improvises, the co-actor follows the lead.
In a business such as filmmaking, where everything is meticulously planned far in advance, there isn’t a lot of room for doing things off the cuff—except for acting. This is one aspect of filmmaking where speaking off the top of your head can actually pay off.
Having said that, there is one very important thing to be noted: physical intimacy, including a kiss, must always be consensual, regardless of whether it’s scripted or otherwise. There are many instances mentioned in this article where one actor kissed another without her or his knowledge. The ethicalness of this can be subject to the personal and professional dynamic between the actors, but these atypical incidents must never be ritualized. Whatever “authentic” cinematic impact it may create will never be worth the trauma it may cause.
Now, let’s dive (conscientiously) into these unscripted kisses.
1. Justin Sands and Helena Bonham Carter (A Room With a View, 1985)
Sometimes directors ask actors to carry out a certain performance without informing the other actors involved in the scene. This is done to bring out the real, authentic reaction from the unaware actors. Something similar happened in A Room with a View. Carter (just like her character, Lucy) was only 18 at the time and had no idea her co-actor was going to kiss her. When the kiss happened, it looked the same on screen as it was in real life—authentic.
2. Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation, 2003)
The kiss was neither in the script nor in the creative vision of the director, Sofia Coppola. It was 100% the product of Bill Murray’s interpretation of his character and the scene. In fact, it wasn’t only the kiss that he improvised; he also mumbled an inaudible goodbye in Scarlett Johansson’s ears before kissing her. This combination of inaudible mumbling and the kiss gave the scene a poignant and wistful quality.
3. Steve Carell and Oscar Nuñez (The Office, 2006)
In the Gay Witch Hunt episode, Michael Scott (Steve Carell) and Oscar Martinez (Oscar Nuñez) were meant to embrace awkwardly, and that’s it. It was Carell’s creative interpretation that prompted him to bring in the series’ typical cringe-comic flavor by making Michael Scott do something that would make others very uncomfortable. And that’s exactly what happened. On the set, it was the unsuspecting Nuñez (and others) who was shocked. They were unsure of what to do or how to react. On screen, however, the audience saw a typical Michael Scott moment—cringeworthy yet hilarious. The kiss has ever since become one of the most iconic visuals from The Office.
4. Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Adams (American Hustle, 2013)
In the script, the tense confrontation between Rosalyn Rosenfeld (Jennifer Lawrence) and Edith Greensly (Amy Adams) was a regular ladies’ room confrontation between two women warring over a man. However, right before the filming, both actresses decided a kiss would give the scene a unique quality. And the kiss indeed gave a touch of chaotic femininity and tension to the scene that was never seen before. Director David O. Russell liked this spontaneous and intense power play and kept the kiss.
5. Max Greenfield and Jake Johnson (New Girl, 2013)
In this case, it was mostly improvisation-cum-horseplay on Max Greenfield’s part. As they explain the nature of this improvisation (at 02:50 into the video), it would cause fun energy on the set and between the co-actors. After a few such “improvisations,” the show creators decided to use it, and it was an instant hit with the audience. The spontaneous kisses between the actors brought to light the ridiculous yet sincere energy between the characters.
6. Emily Blunt and Tom Cruise (Edge of Tomorrow, 2014)
Director Doug Liman and writer Christopher McQuarrie wanted Major William Cage (Tom Cruise) and Sergeant Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt) to kiss somewhere in the film. However, a kiss didn’t stand a chance against the high-stakes aliens drama unfolding around them; it just wouldn’t look like a natural fit. The kiss was almost forgotten when Blunt improvised it during a goodbye scene near the end. The kiss gave this highly technical and action-driven film a soft, vulnerable, and relatable moment.
7. Elizabeth Banks and Woody Harrelson (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, 2015)
The kiss was as much a surprise to director Francis Lawrence as it was to the audience. And that’s because it was an impromptu moment. Considering Harrelson’s crush on Banks, there is room to believe he devised the kiss due to more than just his creative interpretation. There was an “unkissed” version of the scene as well, and it was upon the director to choose which one he thought suited better. His decision to keep the kiss gave the film one of its memorable moments.
8. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard (Jurassic World, 2015)
The kiss happened on the last day of the shoot. According to Bryce Dallas Howard, she was surprised when Chris Pratt kissed her in front of 200 crew members, but went on with it as an improvised bit of acting. However, according to director Colin Trevorrow, the kiss was only 50% improvised because he had instructed Pratt to kiss Howard to bring a genuine surprise out of her character. Well, it paid off.
9. Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher (Star Wars: The Last Jedi, 2017)
Regardless of how heart-rending Luke’s (Mark Hamill) loving kiss on his twin sister’s (Carrie Fisher) forehead is, it was not the director’s vision. It was all Hamill. That kiss was loaded with sibling love and years of history. It also got a saddening quality as soon after the filming, Fisher passed away. This kiss is now immortalized in the collective Star Wars memorabilia.
10. Indira Varma and Gemma Whelan (Game of Thrones, 2017)
The kiss between Ellaria (Indira Varma) and Yara (Gemma Whelan) takes place on a ship, just before the naval battle. The scene had no kiss written in it. It was meant to be just flirty, aimed at teasing Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen). The actresses, however, added the kiss and pushed the scene’s teasing boundary a bit farther. It was perfectly in keeping with the personalities of the characters they were portraying. The scene worked and has been one of the several indelible moments of Game of Thrones.