10 Movies That Accidentally Filmed Things You Weren't Supposed To See

9. A Stray Cat Interrupts Ryan Gosling In The Middle Of A Scene (Half Nelson)

Mr. Nanny Hulk Hogan
ThinkFilm

Movie scenes that involve animals usually need to be planned out more than most, often with the help of a professional animal trainer - but not in this case.

The 2006 drama Half Nelson stars Ryan Gosling as Dan Dunne, a history teacher struggling with a drug addiction. Dan also owns a cat called Dave, and because this is one of the only meaningful connections in his life, it's absolutely heartbreaking when Dave passes away midway through the movie.

A short while later, Dan is talking with a local drug dealer, Frank (played by a baby-faced Anthony Mackie), when he spots a stray cat on the ground and decides to pick it up. At first, this might just seem like a clever bit of writing - after all, Dan has just lost his own feline friend, so it makes sense that he'd feel sympathetic towards a homeless one - but in reality, this was never supposed to happen.

The cat wasn't just a stray in the movie - it was also a stray in real life. But rather than shooing it away when it wandered into the scene, Gosling decided to pick it up instead, creating a rather profound moment for his character in the process.

Contributor
Contributor

Danny has been with WhatCulture for almost nine years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing for 10+ years, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers and uploading them to YouTube (they're admittedly a bit rusty by today's standards). If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order or to tell you about the making of 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, Danny is the person to ask.