Bradley Cooper’s Cameo in ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Is Adorably Perfect

Warning: This article contains big—well, no, little—spoilers for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.

Who had a Bradley Cooper cameo in the Dungeons and Dragons movie on their 2023 bingo card? If that’s you, come on down to Neverwinter to collect your prize, because Cooper’s appearance in Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves—which is now available to buy or rent on digital platforms—is a critical hit.

Directed by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, aka the guys who directed Game Night, and co-written by Goldstein, Daley, and Michael Gilio, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is a delightful romp of a movie that is sure to entertain, whether or not you’ve ever rolled a D20. Chris Pine stars as a bard named Edgin, who is on a quest with his team of adventurers to rescue his daughter. One of those adventurers is his longtime friend Holga, a skilled barbarian played by Michelle Rodriguez. Holga is by Edgin’s side every step of the way… she just wants to make a quick pitstop to say “What’s up,” to her ex-husband, Marlamin.

And guess who plays Holga’s ex-beau? None other than nine-time Oscar-nominated actor and People Magazine’s 2011 Sexiest Man Alive recipient, Bradley Cooper. But this is not just your average nine-time Oscar-nominated actor and People Magazine’s 2011 Sexiest Man Alive recipient, Bradley Cooper. No, this is Bradley Cooper shrunk down to roughly half his normal size, because Holga’s ex-husband is, in fact, a halfling.

For those who have not rolled for initiative re: Dungeons and Dragons lore, a halfling is a race of people in the DnD universe who, in general, grow not much larger than three feet tall. (They are “half” the size of humans, in other words.) This means that Holga’s ex-husband is quite tiny and adorable. It’s funny, of course, given that Holga is a big, strong barbarian who can single-handedly take down seven guards without blinking. But it’s also funny because that tiny, adorable man is played by a charming and affable Bradley Cooper.

Cooper answers his ex-wife’s knock at the door with a huge smile on his face, as he gazes up at her looming form. Marlamin greets Holga warmly, welcomes her in, and tells her he’s been gardening, recently. (Just imagine a tiny Bradley Cooper in his garden, and tell me that image doesn’t bring you joy.) Then he introduces his new partner, Gwinn (played by actor Hayley-Marie Axe, which is frankly a fantastic DnD name already). And his new partner Gwinn is… another human barbarian woman, who’s even taller and beefier than Holga. Apparently, Marlamin has a type.

Gwinn gives her tiny husband a peck on the forehead and leaves to get washed up. It is, again, adorable, and it’s all the evidence Holga needs to realize that her ex has moved on, and her marriage is truly over. When she asks Marlamin if Gwinn makes him happy, he responds somberly, “She doesn’t make me weep in the small hours, wondering where she is.” It would be far more heartbreaking to hear Cooper deliver that line if he weren’t sitting in a chair twice his size. The ex-spouses part ways with a handshake, in a shot that I can only assume is Michelle Rodriguez shaking hands with an actual child.

So how did this cameo come to be? Co-director John Francis Daley, who himself was a young actor in the early 2000s, got to know Cooper when the two were cast members on the 2005 Fox sitcom Kitchen Confidential. In an interview with IndieWire, Daley said he immediately thought of Cooper for the role of Holga’s ex. “We always knew that we wanted Marlamin to be this larger-than-life figure—this incredible actor that’s got vulnerability and humor, but also this earnest dramaticism, that I think only Bradley can bring to the role.”

And of course, it was also an opportunity for Daley to shrink an A-list movie star down to three feet, with the power of visual effects. “What was so great was being able to shrink him down,” the director said. “See him in this very vulnerable position that you wouldn’t normally see in most of the movies he’s in.”

Plus, it cannot be emphasized enough how gosh-darned cute that teensy little Cooper is. I just want to put him in my pocket!