Some actors realize that the script isn’t working before they even step on set. In these cases, these actors often take the opportunity to rewrite the script – whether they’re asked to or not. Although it can be controversial to have an actor work on the script, these changes are often for the better.

Find out which actors made big changes to their scripts.

1. Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds

Blake Lively played the lead role and produced It ends with us but also helped edit the script. She says it was actually her husband, Ryan Reynolds, who helped her rewrite the film’s roof scene after screenwriter Christy Hall had worked it through in a first pass.

“The iconic rooftop scene was actually written by my husband. Now, no one knows that except you,” Blake told E! News. “We help each other out. He works on everything I do and I work on everything he does. So his victories and his celebrations are mine and mine are his.”

Looking back on writing the screenplay, Christy says she tried to “honor” the work of author Colleen Hoover and was proud of her work on the film. She didn’t find out there would be changes to the script until filming began – and even then, she attributed all of the changes to improvisation.

“There were a few little flourishes that I didn’t write, but I assumed they were improvised on set. But… the moments that I thought needed to be honored are there. So I recognize the scene and I’m proud of it. And if those flourishes came from Ryan, I think that’s wonderful,” Christy told People.

2. Jenna Ortega

As Jenna Ortega Tim Burton’s Wednesday Netflix series, she became very protective of her character. She admitted that she sometimes became “almost unprofessional” on set, often rewriting lines in her script without consulting the writers.

“Everything she does, everything I had to play, made no sense at all for her character. That she’s in a love triangle? That made no sense,” she explained on the Armchair Expert Podcast. “There was a line about a dress she has to wear to a school dance, and she goes, ‘Oh my God, I love it. Ugh, I can’t believe I said that. I literally hate myself.’ I had to say, ‘No.’ There were moments on set where I even almost became unprofessional in some ways and just started changing the lines.”

Although Jenna faced harsh reactions for her comments, she later said she should have explained it differently and presented the situation better.

3. Paul Rudd

While Paul Rudd is Ant ManHe stepped in to help rewrite the script after Edgar Wright, the original director and co-writer, left the project. Paul teamed up with writer Adam McKay and took several weeks to rework the first draft of the script.

“I always knew Paul Rudd was a really good writer because I’d improvised with him on set, but I had no idea he was that good – he’s really great with dialogue,” Adam told Collider. “So the two of us holed ourselves up in hotel rooms on the east and west coasts and I think we spent six to eight weeks just going through the motions and completely rewriting the script. I was really proud of what we did. I really thought we put in some great stuff and built on an already strong script by Edgar Wright and kind of improved on some things.”

4. Reese Witherspoon

Reese Witherspoon says when she started working on Ice Cold Angelsshe felt that her character Annette Hargrove was portrayed as “too reserved and too influenced by a man’s manipulations.” When she raised the issue with writer-director Roger Kumble, they ended up spending a lot of time rewriting Annette’s dialogue.

“Annette was the character that was most alien to me. The film would never have been as successful without Reese’s talent as a screenwriter,” Roger told Entertainment Weekly.

5. Edward Norton

When Edward Norton agreed to play the lead role in The Incredible Hulkhe reportedly only did so if he was allowed to rewrite Zak Penn’s script. Edward eventually made changes to the script, but most of them never made it into the final cut. Edward and Zak eventually got into a falling out after realizing they couldn’t work together.

“Yeah, (the falling out between Edward and I) prevented me from working with him (during production). I don’t really know the guy, he has his own way of doing things and he decided to do it the way he wanted to. Still, I stayed in touch with the people who were making the movie – but he has, you know, his own way of working and… it was unusual. I really don’t know, I wasn’t there, I was shooting another movie, so it wasn’t a situation where I knocked on the door and said, ‘Let me come to the set.’ But that was disappointing, I won’t deny that. I wasn’t happy about him coming to Comic-Con and saying he wrote the script,” Zak told EW.

6. Tom Cruise

According to reports, Tom Cruise exercised a lot of creative control when it came to working on The Mummy. In particular, Tom wanted to rework much of the script and hired two outside writers to help him create the film he envisioned. These changes reportedly gave Tom more screen time and gave his character a dramatic arc.

“This is a film of two halves: before Tom and after Tom. I’ve heard the stories about how he keeps pushing things forward and pushing them forward, but he was incredible to work with,” supervising art director Frank Walsh told Variety. “The guy is a great filmmaker and knows his craft. He comes on set and tells the director what to do, says ‘That’s not the right lens,’ asks about the sets, and as long as you don’t let anything slip that you tell him… he’s easy to work with.”

7. Jeff Bridges and Robert Downey Jr.

Jeff Bridges says that during the first rehearsals for Iron-Man He and Robert Downey Jr. and director Jon Favreau realized the script wasn’t what they wanted. They spent the next two weeks rewriting the film – and were still working out the details when shooting began.

“Iron-Manwe read the script and it wasn’t quite right, you know? We had two weeks of rehearsals and we basically rewrote the script. And the day before we shot, we got a call from the Marvel guy who said, ‘Oh, no, no, no. None of this is right.’ So we gathered in my trailer and rehearsed while the guys in the studio were tapping their feet and saying, ‘When are they coming?’ We were still trying to plan the (scenes) we were going to shoot,” Jeff told The Hollywood Reporter.

8. Russell Crowe

When Russell Crowe started working on gladiatorThe script was far from finished. At the time, according to Russell, it was only 21 pages long, just a fifth of the usual length of a film. Russell teamed up with director Ridley Scott to finish the script.

“When we started shooting, it was 21 pages. An average script is about 110 pages,” Russell told BBC Radio 1. “So, Ridley and I work together, but it’s also – you know, it’s the stupidest way to make a film… We didn’t know what we were going to shoot, so we had to go to my house – you know, me, him and David Franzoni, one of the producers, who was also the original writer – and try to sort it out.”

9. Alan Rickman

Alan Rickman was not a fan of the original script for Robin Hood – Prince of Thieves so he decided to take matters into his own hands. He enlisted the help of his friends Ruby Wax and Peter Barnes, who helped him rewrite the script. Alan says he eventually met Peter at a Pizza Express to work on the film.

“I said, ‘Look at this script because it’s terrible and I need some good dialogue.’ So he did, and, you know, all over the script was like pizza and bacon and egg,” Alan told the Times.

10. Daniel Day Lewis

For Daniel Day-Lewis, writing is The silk thread was a collaborative experience. Director Paul Thomas Anderson decided to write only part of the film rather than a full script and then let Daniel edit and rewrite things as he saw fit.

“I gave him things as I was writing. Instead of going off and writing a script and trying to impress him, I worked with him every step of the way as I did it, which was very helpful in terms of developing the story and the characters,” Paul told EW.