10 Actors Who Made Sure They Weren't Seen In Star Wars

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Good luck spotting these devilishly well-hidden Star Wars actors.

Transcript

00:00There are a few movie franchises that just about every actor, no matter how prestigious

00:04and celebrated they might be, may want to appear in. Star Wars is definitely one of them.

00:09But it's also possible to say that many actors are simply too famous or recognisable to play a

00:15major role in Star Wars, because their sheer presence will ultimately just create a significant

00:20distraction from whatever else is happening in the movie. And so filmmakers have playfully skirted

00:25around this by having even some of the biggest A-list stars on the planet show up in Star Wars

00:29while hidden in plain sight, ensuring they couldn't be seen. I'm Ewan, this is WODCulture Star Wars,

00:35and here are 10 actors who made sure they weren't seen in Star Wars.

00:4010. Daniel Craig – Star Wars Episode 7 – The Force Awakens

00:45In recent years in particular, Star Wars has had a habit of placing A-list actors underneath

00:50Stormtrooper helmets in order to grant them sneaky cameo appearances. After all,

00:55it's an easy way to let a beloved actor appear in the movie without distracting the audience

00:59through their sheer presence alone, so why the hell not? And that's absolutely what happened

01:04with Daniel Craig in The Force Awakens. He appears briefly later in the movie as a Stormtrooper who

01:08was Jedi mind-tricked by Rey into releasing her restraints and dropping his weapon. But while

01:13Craig's face categorically cannot be seen, he does indeed have a few speaking lines, as he calls Rey

01:19the scavenger scum before vocally complying with her commands. Even so, the vocal distortion of

01:25the helmet makes it tough to make out Craig's voice unless you really know what he sounds like,

01:30ensuring this passed almost everyone by on a first sit at least.

01:349. John Leguizamo – The Mandalorian

01:38John Leguizamo is an incredibly recognisable actor, but chances are you totally missed him in

01:43The Mandalorian. In the second season's very first episode, Leguizamo lent his voice to the role of

01:49Gore Koresh, an Abyssin gangster who attempts to double-cross Mando and ends up getting strung up

01:54by him as a result. Though Koresh was portrayed on set by puppeteer John Rosengrant, Leguizamo brought

01:59vocal life to the character in post-production.

02:028. Joseph Gordon-Levitt – Star Wars Episode 8 – The Last Jedi

02:08The moment that Rian Johnson was announced to be directing The Last Jedi, it was basically

02:12inevitable that his good friend Joseph Gordon-Levitt would be making an appearance in the movie.

02:17After all, Gordon-Levitt had either starred or cameoed in each of Johnson's films up to that point,

02:22enough that he'd soon become a good-look charm for the director.

02:25But Gordon-Levitt's part in The Last Jedi is one you'll be hard-pressed to spot without knowing

02:29about beforehand, given that it's both a voice-only role and one that sounds nothing like his natural

02:35accent at that. The actor voices a disgruntled alien named Slow and Low on Counter-Bite,

02:40played on set by D-Tails, who can be overheard complaining about Finn and Rose parking their

02:45shuttle on the nearby beach and ignoring his request to move in.

02:497. Zack Braff – Obi-Wan Kenobi

02:53Zack Braff probably isn't among the first actors you'd ever expect to see in Star Wars,

02:58which, combined with this extremely against-type voiceover performance,

03:01ensured you had near zero chance of spawning him in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series on Disney+.

03:07Braff provided the voice for Freck, a conglomerate transport driver who crosses paths with Kenobi

03:12and Young Leia on the planet of Mapuzo. And as much as Braff's natural voice is buried deep into

03:17the brains of anyone who spent nearly a decade watching Scrubs, he's affecting a much deeper,

03:22more alien twang here, which makes him totally unrecognisable in every which way.

03:27As for how Braff of all people landed in the world of Star Wars? Well, he won the part due to his

03:32friendship with director Deborah Chow, who directed him in the 2010 film The High Cost of Living.

03:37And rather than simply contribute voiceover from a sound booth, Braff was actually on set while

03:42Freck's scene was shot, working with Chow and Freck's costume performer, John Rosengrant again,

03:47to ensure the mouth movements matched up with Braff's mode of speech.

03:516. Tom Hardy – The Last Jedi

03:54Tom Hardy made doubly sure he wouldn't be seen in The Last Jedi, even if one of the reasons why

04:00was totally unintentional on his part. Just as Daniel Craig snagged a Stormtrooper cameo for

04:04The Force Awakens, Hardy scored one for the sequel too, playing a Stormtrooper who encounters Finn in

04:10an elevator aboard Snoke's flagship, The Supremacy. Hardy's Stormtrooper is even made out to be an old

04:16pal of Finn's, and apparently, not knowing he is the better to the Resistance, congratulates him on his

04:21promotion, given that he's disguised in the duds of a First Order officer. If you're puzzled that

04:26you don't remember the scene, well that's because Rian Johnson ultimately cut it out of the theatrical

04:30version, and it could only be viewed as a deleted scene on The Last Jedi's home video release.

04:35All the same, even if Hardy's scene did end up making the cut, he's rocking such a ridiculously

04:40exaggerated, cartoonish Southern American accent that few would figure out it was him regardless.

04:455. Bill Hader and Ben Schwartz – The Force Awakens

04:52Comedian actors Bill Hader and Ben Schwartz received rather unorthodox credits on The

04:56Force Awakens, not for voicing alien creatures, but acting as vocal consultants for Droid BB-8.

05:02The pair were called in by JJ Abrams to provide all that

05:06for BB-8, which were then digitally manipulated to sound more droid-like and less, well,

05:11human, literally guaranteeing the pair couldn't be recognised. Hader recently downplayed his work on

05:17the film though, calling Abrams sweet for giving him credit even though none of his original voiceover

05:22work was used in the film, only his vocalisations into a digital talkbox.

05:284. Kevin Smith – The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker

05:33There aren't many bigger Star Wars fans on the planet than the nerd supreme himself Kevin Smith,

05:37who managed to get invited to the set of The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker through his

05:42friendship with JJ Abrams. More to the point, Smith ended up having minor roles in both films,

05:47forever cementing himself within the very mythology he loved so much. In The Force Awakens,

05:52Smith provided a voiceover only role, voicing a stormtrooper who reacts to incoming resistance

05:57fighters by saying, we have incoming at 28.6, move. But for The Rise of Skywalker, Smith got to

06:02actually play a part on screen, and physically appeared in the final movie, albeit under a thick

06:08disguise. Smith portrayed a bundled up resident of Kojimi when Poe skulks around its streets,

06:13getting screen time of around just a second.

06:163. Jason Sudeikis – The Mandalorian

06:20Ted Lasso star Jason Sudeikis snagged a quite brilliant cameo role in the final episode of The

06:25Mandalorian's first season, playing one of two scout troopers tasked with keeping possession of Grogu,

06:30the other trooper being played by comedian Adam Pally. Neither Sudeikis nor Pally removed their

06:35helmets, but spent most of their screen time bantering and bickering, all while each also

06:40delivering a punch to Grogu in an attempt to pacify him. Take that, you goddamn scene-show-stealing

06:46green blob. Their chit-chat during the sequence is hysterical, and adds a welcome dose of personality

06:52to an otherwise anonymous class of characters. While Sudeikis' voice is concealed just enough by the

06:57helmet's microphone, then it's incredibly difficult – if not impossible – to figure out that it's

07:02actually him. Hilariously, Sudeikis shot the scene so far in advance of it being aired that he totally

07:07forgot that he punched Grogu, and was caught totally off guard when he went viral on Twitter the same

07:11day the episode was released. 2. Simon Pegg – The Force Awakens

07:18While every other actor on this list who played an alien creature didn't also perform the part on set,

07:23Simon Pegg both voiced and portrayed Jakku junk dealer Unkar Plutt in The Force Awakens,

07:28but you'd never know it. For starters, Pegg wore a large costume complete with a mask covering his

07:33face, and because the mask wasn't articulated enough, it was also digitally enhanced in post-production,

07:38further erasing any facial features which might make Peg recognisable. And as for the voice,

07:44well, it's totally unrecognisable from Pegg's usual speaking voice, enough to suggest that it was

07:49maybe digitally deepened in post-production. As memorable as Plutt's line of one-quarter

07:54portion to Rey actually is, there are no tells whatsoever that were actually looking at Simon

07:59Pegg sweating his ass off in a giant suit in the Abu Dhabi desert. Oh, and another fun fact,

08:03by the way, Pegg also filmed a scene where Chewbacca rips off one of Plutt's arms, but it was

08:08sadly cut from the final release. It was, however, mercifully included on the home video release, and it is

08:15glorious. And number one, Carl Urban, Star Wars Episode 9, The Rise of Skywalker.

08:22And finally, we have one of the coolest actors working today, the boy star, Carl Urban, who

08:27managed to leverage his longtime friendship with J.J. Abrams from working together on Star Trek to

08:32wrangle apart on Star Wars. According to Urban, Abrams invited him onto the set while shooting the

08:37Rise of Skywalker and dressed him up as a Stormtrooper, which in the modest understatement of the century,

08:42he called a quote, really fun day on set. Specifically, Urban played one of two Stormtroopers

08:47who turned towards the Knights of Ren as they marched through a hallway. And if you listen closely,

08:52he can even be heard saying, Knights of Ren. All the same, it's nowhere near enough for anyone to pick

08:57Urban out in the scene, which was obviously the intention all along. And like that, Urban joined the

09:02small class of actors who've appeared in both Star Trek and Star Wars. Evidently, J.J. Abrams is a cool

09:08friend to have. Especially if you dominate Monaghan, in which case, you'll be in everything.

09:12And those were 10 actors who made sure they weren't seen in Star Wars. One of your favorite

09:17cameos in the galaxy far, far away being. Shout them out down in the comments below,

09:20as I know there were a bunch that didn't make the cut here. Once you've done that,

09:23please be sure to drop the video a like if you enjoyed it, and subscribe to World Culture

09:26Star Wars 2 so you don't miss another upload. Either way, thank you all for watching,

09:29I've been Obi Ewan Kenobi, and until next time, may the force be with you. Bye!

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