Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves Directors Explain How Its Wildest Cameo Happened

Warning: The below story contains a spoiler for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, which hit theaters this past weekend, was filled with Easter Eggs and references for D&D fans, but the most surprising cameo of the film actually had nothing to do with the tabletop RPG.

Early on in the movie, Michelle Rodriguez’s Barbarian character Holga talks about her lost love, an ex who broke her heart after she left her tribe for him. And later, we meet said ex, Marlamin, a hilarious reveal for two reasons: one, at only 3 feet tall, he’s likely a Halfling, absolutely dwarfed (no pun intended) by Holga. 

Secondly, in a surprisingly well-hidden twist, he’s played by an actor who’s no stranger to portraying a character a little shorter than his own size: Bradley Cooper.

Speaking to IGN in a recent interview, directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein explained how it all came about – even though Cooper doesn’t even play D&D.

“We knew we wanted someone that was larger than life in that very small character, and I was friends with Bradley after having done the show Kitchen Confidential with him,” Daley said. “I showed him the movie and he had really nice things to say about it and got very excited about the prospect of doing it and was kind enough to give us his time.”

And it turns out that there was a bit of playing with perspective that added to Cooper’s diminutive appearance in the film: Daley added that all of his scenes were shot in one day in “a giant chair.”

“I think it really added to the fun of that scene,” Daley said.

For more on Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, check out our interview with producer Jeremy Latcham and our 7/10 review.

Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she’s not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.