The perk of being one of the most famous pop-culture phenomenons of all time is famous celebrities lining up for a short cameo role which is mostly recognized by eagle-eyed fans. Since Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars is known for casting popular movie stars in memorable cameos. When the franchise was reinvigorated back in 2015 with the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the trend continued when English actor Daniel Craig made his cameo in a Stormtrooper suit.
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Directed by J.J. Abrams, Star Wars: The Force Awakens picks up the saga set in a galaxy far, far away thirty years after the Galactic Civil War. While the movie was criticized by a few for being too similar to A New Hope, it was nonetheless received well by fans and critics alike for its spectacular visual effects and for bringing back the original trio of Luke, Leia, and Han to the big screen. As a continuation of the Skywalker saga, The Force Awakens introduced new protagonists who rose to fight the First Order. Rey (Daisy Ridley) is the major protagonist with a mysterious connection to the Force who gets dragged into the adventure when a rogue Stormtrooper (John Boyega) lands on the desert planet of Jakku. As the story progresses, Rey’s connection with the Force is discovered by Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), who kidnaps her to learn about the New Republic and turn her into the Dark Side. But being aware of her connection to the Force, Rey uses the Jedi mind trick on a Stormtrooper who is stationed to guard her. The scene becomes much more enjoyable when it was revealed that the Stormtrooper in the scene was the 007 Agent himself, Daniel Craig.
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In a recent interview with BBC Radio 1 as a part of his promo for No Time To Die, the English actor revealed his interesting story of getting the scene in The Force Awakens. According to Craig, his popularity as James Bond played an integral role in landing up the Stormtrooper role in the movie.
“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.”
After Daniel Craig, casting famous actors in the sequel movies became a popular trend with the likes of Tom Hardy, Karl Urban, Joseph Gordon-Levitt joining the squad. John Williams, who has provided the score for Star Wars for over four decades now also appeared in The Rise of Skywalker. While numerous actors have sneaked in either with suits or unrecognizable make-up, Craig’s cameo will surely remain the most unforgettable one for years to come.
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No Time To Die is now playing in theaters.
