D&D: Honor Among Thieves Directors Detail Late-Addition of A-List Cameo

In the recently released Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Bradley Cooper makes a surprising cameo as the love interest of Michelle Rodriguez’s Holga Kilgore. According to the film’s directors, Cooper was immediately on board with joining the film.

Speaking to Variety, co-director John Francis Daley recalled how he and Cooper worked on the 2005 FOX series Kitchen Confidential, and how he ended up sending a letter to Cooper after the studio behind Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves reached out to his agent.

“We had thought about a really fun cameo for this part,” said Daley. “It was sent to his agent, but I sent him a letter saying like, ‘It’d be fun to play again.’ I got a text from him from a number I didn’t recognize saying, ‘Yo, is this still John?’ And I said, ‘Who’s this?’ Because I’ve gotten weird texts before from strangers. He said, ‘BC from KC.’ I’m like, ‘What?’ ‘Kitchen Confidential!’ I’m like, ‘Oh, sh–!’ I immediately called him. He had just seen the film. He called it a triumph, which almost made me cry, because it had been a real long process working on this thing. And he was like, ‘I’m on board. Sign me up.’”

Daley also went on to reveal that Cooper actually wasn’t on set with the rest of the cast, but instead filmed his scene in a blue screen room alongside Daley reading Rodriguez’s part.

“So we rebuilt the chair, which was massive. Then I acclimated myself to Holga’s performance. We didn’t want to change too many takes on her side, because we’re really happy with how she played it,” Daley said. “But we also wanted there to be some chemistry and rapport between them. And so it was Bradley’s idea that I’d read with him for old times sake. So that’s what I did.”

The live-action Dungeons & Dragons film is written and directed by Game Night duo Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley. The film stars Chris Pine (Wonder Woman 1984), Michelle Rodriguez (F9), Justice Smith (Detective Pikachu), Hugh Grant (Four Weddings and a Funeral), Sophia Lillis (It films), Chloe Coleman (My Spy), and Bridgerton breakout Regé-Jean Page.

The Dungeons & Dragons movie is co-produced and co-financed by Hasbro, eOne, and Paramount Pictures. eOne handles distribution in the UK and Canada, while Paramount distributes everywhere else. It will also be produced by Hasbro’s Brian Goldner and Jeremy Latcham as part of his deal with eOne, Hasbro’s entertainment arm.

This marks the fourth time that the popular game is being adapted for the big screen, following Courtney Solomon’s 2000 live-action version, 2005’s telefilm sequel Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath of the Dragon God, and 2012’s direct-to-DVD follow-up Dungeons & Dragons: The Book of Vile Darkness.