“I was supposed to be the Bond girl that night”: Daniel Craig Had The Best Birthday Gift Ever Thanks To Javier Bardem While Shooting Skyfall

Bardem opened up about how he went drag to make Craig's birthday in 2012 something to remember.

"I was supposed to be the Bond girl that night": Daniel Craig Had The Best Birthday Gift Ever Thanks To Javier Bardem While Shooting Skyfall

SUMMARY

  • Daniel Craig played the role of James Bond in the 2012 film 'Skyfall' in the iconic 007 franchise, alongside his co-star and film's antagonist Javier Bardem.
  • Since Craig's birthday was during the shooting schedule, Bardem decided to surprise his co-star by dressing up in a drag queen getup and hid in the birthday cake that was to be cut.
  • As soon as the celebrations started, Bardem emerged from the cake looking like a Bond girl and started singing Marylin Monroe's version of Happy Birthday to You for Craig.
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Since the public only views the films that are on the screen the majority of the time, the things that happen on the sets of these movies often go unheard or unnoticed to them. But indeed, there are some interesting stories that the audience could love to hear, especially about Daniel Craig’s accounts of his time on the sets of 007 films.

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Among the many memorable experiences he had while filming the Bond films, the incident that happened on his birthday in 2012 might be one of the most wacky.

Daniel Craig in a still from Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Daniel Craig in a still from Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

This was back when he was still shooting for his then-upcoming film Skyfall, where his birthday was celebrated on set with the crew and his co-stars on the project. Thus, to surprise the star, Javier Bardem decided to go in drag and hide in the birthday cake that Craig was to cut during the celebrations.

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Javier Bardem Went In Drag To Surprise Daniel Craig On The Sets Of Skyfall

Daniel Craig and Javier Bardem in a still from Skyfall
Daniel Craig and Javier Bardem in a still from Skyfall

It’s not often the stars of major films and franchises like to share much when it comes to what happens on the sets of their films, mostly because they don’t feel like it’ll be that interesting. But sometimes, incidents like what happened with Daniel Craig on his birthday on the sets of 2012’s Skyfall with co-star Javier Bardem becomes worth telling.

This was the time when both the stars were shooting for their then-upcoming film, and since both of them share birthdays only a day apart from each other, they decided to have a joint celebration on set. But the Dune star had a plan of a surprise gift for his fellow actor, which was to go into drag queen mode and emerge from the birthday cake Craig was supposed to cut.

Recalling this incident with the Knives Out star on Variety’s Actors on Actors segment, Bardem revealed several other things, saying:

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“Coming out of a cake, I was supposed to be the Bond girl that night, and oh, my God, I was. Well, [I’m not musical], apart from coming out of birthday cakes dressed like a Bond girl, I sang ‘Happy Birthday to You’ in my best Marilyn Monroe impersonation.”

Naturally, it came as a hilarious shock to everyone who didn’t know about all of this beforehand, which made it that much more unforgettable.

Who Is The Next Bond?

Aaron Taylor-Johnson in a still from Nowhere Boy
Aaron Taylor-Johnson in a still from Nowhere Boy

Ever since Craig left the franchise as the main protagonist after 2021’s No Time To Die, there was a race at Eon Productions to find a new face for the upcoming Bond films.

But now, recent reports from some trusted industry insiders claim that Aaron Taylor-Johnson will be the face of Agent 007 in the future films of the franchise, something that is still yet to be confirmed by official channels.

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But what makes these claims stick is the fact that only him among the vast list of potential candidates has had a conversation with Eon Productions’ executives, something that is quite significant.

Skyfall, streaming on Max.

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Written by Deepak Bisht

Articles Published: 1394

Deepak Bisht is a writer at FandomWire who has vast expertise in films of many genres, a hardcore anime nerd along with two years of writing experience. After completing his Bachelor's in Business Administration, he became part of the company in hopes of providing accurate, informative, and exciting articles to the world.

Apart from his contributions to FandomWire, the rest of his time is spent either reading quality works of literature, listening to vintage music, or playing any video games he can get his hands on.