11 Movies That Made It Up As They Went Along (But Were Awesome Anyway)

4. Blue Valentine

Considering the intricacies of Blue Valentine's heart-breaking, visceral story, you'd think it was intimately crafted at the writing stage. The fact that it was also in various states of production for more than 8 years BEFORE it began filming (as director Derek Cianfrance struggled to get the finances) should have allowed for ample scripting time too. So it should come as no surprise that there were more than 60 drafts of the script.

But the script wasn't at all key to establishing the real emotion of the relationship between Ryan Gosling's Dean and Michelle Williams' Cindy as it begins with passion and ends in pain. That came from Cianfrance's decision to allow his leads to improvise their dialogue and not only that he had them prepare. They lived together in an apartment on a budget based on their characters' income, living moments of family happiness (like a family portrait at Sears) and arguments.

At one point the director told Gosling to go into Williams' bedroom and try to seduce her to raise the tension. She rejected him inevitably, which was the whole point. And that really shows on the screen in an incredibly captivating, but difficult movie to watch.