10 Real Reactions To Behind-The-Scenes Movie Screw-Ups

Sometimes things just don't go to plan.

Whether you're asking your crush out on a date for the very first time or applying for a job you know you're the perfect fit for, most people can relate to that feeling of having to think on your feet when an anticipated outcome doesn't come to pass.

This also applies to the wonderfully insane world of filmmaking, as there have been countless occasions throughout the decades when an actor or director have found themselves being caught completely off-guard by an unplanned c*ck up mid-scene.

Some gaffs are so unexpected that they render a whole take completely unusable, whereas others add a sense of realism or authentic humour to an exchange and manage to wiggle their way into the final cut of our favourite films.

In a sense, acting - much like football - is a 'play to the whistle' sort of profession, meaning that if your director hasn't yelled 'CUT!' you better keep on trucking regardless of whether things have gone to plan or not.

Broken mirrors, forgotten lines and a ton of fractured bones have all helped bring some very real reactions to life, proving that even your most beloved actors are prone to the odd screw-up from time to time.

They're only human after all... well except maybe Tom Cruise.

When an actor is given the freedom to completely improvise, there's always a chance that a brief moment of cinematic magic will be captured on camera.

In the case of Nightcrawler (2014), Jake Gyllenhaal was given this creative space to produce a powerful beat from his own imagination when he chose to let rip at a mirror in what would become one of the most memorable scenes in the flick.

However, the unplanned action of completely wrecking the bathroom mirror in Lou's apartment led to a very real reaction in the form of Gyllenhaal slicing his hand open. The actor eventually needed 44 stitches to stop the bleeding and sew his hand back together, but that didn't stop the force of nature from working.

Seven hours later, Gyllenhaal returned to shoot a few scenes.

On a second watch, you'll probably notice that the scenes with Lou in the salvage yard see the character keeping his hands behind his back. This was down to the fact that Gyllenhaal was still reeling from the freak injury and disguising the genuine cast his hand was in due to that moment of mirror genius/madness a few hours earlier.

44 stitches and seven years bad luck...hope it was worth it, Jake.