Question: I know actors improvise their lines all the time in comedies, but recently I learned that Anthony Hopkins improvised many of Hannibal's lines. I also recently learned from the documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse that Marlon Brando improvised much of his dialogue in Apocalypse Now. So now I'm curious: How often do actors, outside of comedies, improvise their lines?
Answer: All the time. OK, not all actors all the time, but the practice of ad-libbing or altering lines is an entrenched part of film acting and one of the things that drives screenwriters out of their minds. Especially if they come from the theater: In theater, the script is sacrosanct and no one messes with it except with the express consent of the playwright (assuming someone dares to ask). In film, scripts are usually treated as a kind of outline — not
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