10 Movie Mistakes Directors Refused To Fix Because The Acting Was Too Good

4. Donald Glover Slips Over Spilled Coffee - The Martian

The Mistake

Donald Glover has a small role in Ridley Scott's sci-fi hit The Martian as astrodynamicist Rich Purnell, and he makes a seemingly take-derailing mistake in his introductory scene.

Purnell wakes up in his office and immediately sips some coffee, only to realise it's gone cold and spit it out into a nearby basket. Except, the basket has holes in it, causing the coffee to simply drip through it.

Later in the scene as Purnell walks across the room, he ends up slipping on the puddle of coffee he created, before recovering and telling his colleague, "It's fine!"

Despite how clumsy-on-purpose this might've seemed, it was a genuine slip-up on Glover's part.

The Awesome Acting

Between spitting the coffee into a bottomless basket and then slipping on it, Glover somewhat accidentally provided greater character shade for Purnell, painting him as a brilliant yet mentally busy man who doesn't have much time to think about fancies like tidiness.

Glover's fast recovery and snappy retort gave Scott enough of a laugh that he felt it merited inclusion in the final movie, helping accentuate the broadly accessible sci-fi tone.

It may not be a particularly big or showy role for Glover, but it's low-key fantastic all the same.