In the original “Guardians of the Galaxy,” Peter Quill (aka Star-Lord, the legendary outlaw) finds himself in the middle of MacGuffin mayhem. On the planet Morag, he’s trying to retrieve a mysterious orb that he plans to sell to an unknown buyer through a business broker. But he’s not the only one trying to get the orb. Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace) is also after the orb, and he’s sent henchmen after it, including the deadly Gamora (Zoe Saldana), whose father Thanos just so happens to be pulling Ronan’s strings. It’s clear the orb is important, which makes one of Chris Pratt’s brilliant improv choices all the more hilarious.
Eventually, Star-Lord and Gamora, now accompanied by the vengeful Drax, the giant tree creature Groot, and a talking raccoon called Rocket, meet up with The Collector to sell the orb into his massive vault of collectibles and keep it out of the hands of Ronan and Thanos. As Star-Lord hands over the orb to The Collector for inspection, he flat-out drops it on the floor and scrambles to pick it up.
Not only was this moment improvised by Chris Pratt, but he did it unexpectedly and convinced James Gunn that it wasn’t intentional.