When you portray one of the most famous characters in all of movie history, surely that would be enough to keep you happy? Everyone wants a piece of you. You’re recognised immediately wherever you go, getting 5-star treatment and fans begging for autographs.
However, for Daniel Craig, clearly, everything that comes with being James Bond, 007, appears to have not been quite enough. And so he used his connection with the famous British secret agent to land himself a cameo role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens – the 2015 movie that sparked a brand new trilogy in the Star Wars franchise – as none other than a Stormtrooper.
It would probably have been out of the question for Craig to be given a cameo role which would reveal his face, as fans may have become confused as to why he would be appearing in such a movie without so much of a backstory. The only route was to place a helmet over his head.
Speaking to BBC Radio 1 recently (via Screenrant) while on the promotional tour for No Time To Die – the last time Daniel Craig will don the suit and tie and be gifted gadgets from Q-branch – he said it was due to his “hutzpah” – and a second assistant director that happened to work on both movies – that he was able to secure his Stormtrooper cameo.
Craig told BBC Radio 1: “I don’t think I could’ve done that if I hadn’t have been James Bond. Yeah, there are lovely, lovely things like that. And having the hutzpah to do that is because I’m James Bond. I wouldn’t have done that any other way.”
“But I asked the second AD on Star Wars, who’s our second AD, a lovely guy called Ben Dixon. And I said, ‘Ben, come on. Come on. Get me in. I can be a stormtrooper. He was like, ‘Ask JJ’. JJ was like, ‘Get him in’. He gave me a scene. I just thought I was just going to stand at the back holding a gun. I would’ve been happy with that but he actually gave me a scene.”
No Time To Die is finally due to be released in the US on 8th October, and Australia on November 11th 2021. Originally scheduled for release in November 2019, but was delayed due to the departure of director Danny Boyle. With a new release date of April 2020 penned into calendars, the film was delayed once again due to the Covid-19 pandemic. A new date of November 2020 was agreed upon, but it had to be rescheduled once more, and after a few more dates were planned, it will finally get the outing it deserves at the world premiere on 28th September at the Royal Albert Hall, in London, England.