13 Movie Mistakes That Made The Final Cut

1.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Star-Lord wasn't actually supposed to drop the all-powerful orb of universal destruction. Director James Gunn confirmed that Pratt really did drop the orb on accident, but stayed in character to finish the shot so it could still be used.

2.

Red Dragon: When Agent Will Graham goes through the Leeds’ house, he opens a drawer full of movies. There’s a copy of Mrs. Doubtfire inside, and even though we all love Robin Williams, Mrs. Doubtfire was released in 1993, and Red Dragon takes place in the 1980s.

3.

Star Wars: One of the most famous mistakes of the franchise occurs on the Death Star when Storm Troopers enter a room looking for Luke, Han and Chewbacca. If you look closely, the door to the room never opened enough and one Stormtrooper smacks his head. Unable to use CGI to edit the goof out, Lucas embraced the mistake by adding an audible ‘thunk’ in future releases of the film.

4.

Terminator 2: In the script, Arnold Schwarzenegger had no lines after saving John from the T-1000. The script said "he emerges looking like he needs a vacation" and after filming the scene several times Arnold decided to give the director a laugh, turning his description into the line " I need a vacation".

5.

The Wizard of Oz: The villain of the classic movie meets her end by melting in water, but the actress who played her got it much worse. When the Wicked Witch of the West first exits from Munchkin Land, she does so in a puff of red smoke and a burst of fire. It’s memorable, but flawed. Not only can the trap door releasing the smoke be seen opening from the set’s floor, but it begins to pour out before the witch even begins her mark. So why was it left in the movie? In a later take, actress Margaret Hamilton was severely burned when the fire erupted early, taking her out of action for almost 2 months. When she returned, she refused any more fire stunts.

6.

Days of Thunder: Tom Cruise plays the part of NASCAR driver Cole Trickle whose head injury leads to a love affair with his doctor. When the couple spends the weekend with Trickle’s former rival Rowdy Burns, introductions are made with Rowdy’s wife Jenny, who accidentally responds with “Hi Tom.”

7.

Star Wars (again): When Luke Skywalker succeeds in destroying the Death Star, he gets a hero’s welcome at the base. Princess Leia is so relieved that she screams out Luke’s name. But it isn’t Leia that Luke shouts back in response. He actually calls her Carrie, which is her real name, Carrie Fisher.

8.

The Shining: The opening shot of the Overlook Hotel contains no hedge maze, just a parking lot. Yet in the film, the maze is clearly right beside the main building.

9.

Cabin in the Woods: One of the biggest laughs of this horror-comedy comes when one of the technicians gets killed by his favorite monster, the merman. The prop was rigged to pump out thick streams of blood as it consumed him. With the effect working properly the crew decided they might as well let the blood tank empty out before stopping the camera. However, when the tank started to run dry the flowing blood turned into erratic spraying and every crew member began uncontrollably laughing. The tone changed immediately and the director decided the joke was too good to leave out.

10.

North By Northwest: When the star Cary Grant rides in the back of a police car, the actors rely on old-fashioned tricks to make the ride seem more realistic. When the driver takes a hard left, Grant slides to the right like he’s supposed to, but the other policeman misses the cue. Grant gives him a push, and it’s really obvious. No one’s really sure why Hitchcock decided to use this take in the final cut.

11.

Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers: In the scene where Pippin and Merry escape from the Uruk-Hai there is one big continuity error. While crawling away from the fighting behind him, their hands are firmly tied. Then, when a horse almost comes crashing down on Pippin his hands are magically free.

12.

Spy Kids: When director Robert Rodriguez is filming a shot of actress Carla Gugina in front of some mirrors, he accidentally makes a cameo on the side. What should have made for a good laugh and a reshoot was left in because Rodgriguez thought his mistake was too funny to edit out.

13.

Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events: When the children meet their villainous uncle (Jim Carrey), he greets them and then asks for a second take. However, that line was not in the script. Carrey actually wanted to try his line again, but stayed in character when asking his co-stars. Since the strange moment fit the tone of the film, the director decided to leave it in.