The 54-year-old actor also paid tribute to the late royal, “She leaves an incomparable legacy and will be profoundly missed.”
After the Royal Family announced the death of Britain’s longest-reigning Monarch, Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday at age 96, many of her various pop culture moments have resurfaced to celebrate her impact.
One standout appearance is the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Summer Olympics where she filmed a three-minute film to be played ahead of the broadcast with Daniel Craig as James Bond.
In the skit, the two meet at Buckingham Palace and parachute out of a helicopter into the Olympic Stadium. According to production stage manager Sam Hunter, the project was kept under tight wraps with the Queen even keeping it a secret from her family.
“The queen never told her family she was doing it,” Hunter said while celebrating the 10th anniversary of the moment on BBC Radio 4’s The Reunion. “That was one of the stipulations, that she agreed to be part of it. So, if you actually see when she comes and she takes her seat, you can see her family go, ‘Ah, nice one.'”
Upon the news of her passing, Craig expressed his condolences in a statement to Yahoo Entertainment.
“I, like so many, was deeply saddened by the news today and my thoughts are with The Royal Family, those she loved and all those who loved her,” he said. “She leaves an incomparable legacy and will be profoundly missed.”
While appearing on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” back in February, the “No Time to Die” star opened up about his relationship with her Majesty and the dry sense of humor she brought while filming their sketch all those years ago.
Craig revealed the monarch was “fun” and “incredibly game” during filming. “It wasn’t supposed to be funny. It was supposed to be serious,” he said.
“She was fun, incredibly game. We had a short space of time and I was a bit grumpy as it was my day off and suddenly I am at the Palace with the Queen at her private chamber,” Daniel recalled. “And she improvises a little bit. She was supposed to be sitting at the desk and she asked if she could write, so she pretended to write.”