Being a huge Star Wars fan helped former James Bond franchise star Daniel Craig land his cameo in The Force Awakens.
Speaking to Josh Horowitz on his Happy Sad Confused podcast, Craig said his love for Star Wars led him to ask for a part in the 2015 film, where he eventually played a Stormtrooper. The British actor reached out to an assistant director on The Force Awakens about potentially appearing in the movie. "I love Star Wars -- I wouldn't have asked to be in it otherwise," Craig said. "Ben Dixon, who's an assistant director on those movies and he was an AD on [Spectre] as well, and I was doing fittings. I asked him, 'Could I get a part in this?' And he just said, 'Let me go and ask.' The next day, I was in a fucking stormtrooper suit."
Though Craig was elated to land the Stormtrooper cameo, he struggled to adapt to being in the suit for extended periods. "I had to wear the thing all day and I couldn't feel my hands by the end of the day," he said. "These poor people have to wear them in the desert -- I wouldn't have done it if I had to go to Tunisia."
Craig's cameo was initially meant to be a secret, but it was accidentally unveiled by fellow The Force Awakens actor Simon Pegg. Months ahead of the film's release, Pegg let slip to The Sun that the most recent 007 played a Stormtrooper. "I wasn't a Stormtrooper. Daniel Craig, he was a Stormtrooper," Pegg said, quickly backtracking with, "I shouldn't have said that."
Daniel Craig Is More Than Just James Bond
Craig became a staple in Hollywood and beyond thanks to his 15-year stint as James Bond, which began with 2006's Casino Royale. This led to his acclaimed run in the franchise spanning Quantum of Solace, Skyfall, Spectre and No Time to Die, in which his character dies. He won multiple awards for his performances throughout the action series and starred in a recent Belvedere Vodka commercial that played up his suave super-spy image.
While Craig is done with Bond, he's still up to his adventurous ways as Detective Benoit Blanc in Rian Johnson's Knives Out film series. The recently released second film, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, sees Detective Blanc hired by Helen Brand (Janelle Monae) to investigate the death of her twin sister Cassandra "Andi" Brand. The detective and Helen end up on a mysterious private island owned by tech tycoon Miles Bron (Edward Norton), where they start piecing together clues that point to who killed Andi. The film also stars Kate Hudson, Madelyn Cline, and Dave Bautista alongside cameos from sports legends Serena Williams and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is currently available to stream on Netflix.
Source: YouTube