“Well, I must say I’d hoped for better.”
The scene: Voldemort’s speech announcing Harry Potter is dead. One of the most famous lines is when Voldemort announces Harry Potter’s death. That speech was rehearsed by Ralph Fiennes many times, but the actor never said it in the same way twice.
The cast and crew were always waiting excitedly for the definitive line. Finally, as Voldemort declares that whoever doesn’t join him will die, the only person to step forward is Neville Longbottom, and so Voldemort cruelly says, “Well, I must say I’d hoped for better.” Of course, apart from the actual scene, everybody on set laughed.
Julie and Julia
“And you are so good at it. Look at you!”
The scene: Julia Childs and her husband are eating at a restaurant. That improvised line gave them both a good laugh! In this scene, Paul and Julia are sitting at a restaurant as they talk about their move to Paris since Paul is a diplomat and gets relocated often.
When Julia (played by Meryl Streep) asks her husband what she’ll do in Paris, Tucci asks, “What is it that you like to do?” and Julia immediately says, “Eat.” However, the following line is completely off-script, as Tucci replies, “And you are so good at it. Look at you!”
Mean Girls
“I want my pink shirt back!”
The scene: Damian and Janis yell at Cady from the car. Mean Girls is the ultimate teenage comedy flick with a great script, which isn’t surprising since Tina Fey wrote it about it.
But, of course, you wouldn’t e One of these improvisations was Damian’s yelling out, “I want my pink shirt back!” to Cady (Lindsay Lohan), as he’s driving around with Janis (Lizzy Caplan), angry about not getting invited to Cady’s party. Damian, played by Daniel Franzese, said he was given free rein when improvising. So, he decided to scream out the shirt line twice!
His Girl Friday
“The last man who said that to me was Archie Leach.”
The scene: The Mayor tells Walter Burns that he’s through. “His Girl Friday” is a classic from all the way back in the 30s.
When murderer Earl Williams (played by John Qualen) is found at the desk, the Mayor says to Walter Burns (played by Cary Grant) that “whistling in the dark isn’t going to help him this time. You’re through.” Walter replies, “Listen, the last man that said that to me was Archie Leach just a wee before he cut his throat.” Grant completely improvised this line, which was particularly funny since Archie Leach was Cary Grant’s birth name!
When Harry Met Sally
“I’ll have what she’s having.”
The scene: Sally screams out as if she were having a climax while eating with Harry at dinner. The “When Harry Met Sally” movie produced many famous lines that are still quoted to this day.
Everybody remembers that infamous scream that Sally, played by Meg Ryan, busts out, making every single dinner turn their head in awe, with an old lady even saying to the waiter, “I’ll have what she’s having.” You’d think that was definitely in the script, but no! It was completely improvised at the suggestion of Billy Crystal, and it worked like a charm.