As the cameras rolled, actor Daniel Craig passed out while pretending to suffocate in a scene for his new film The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

In the Hollywood version of the thriller, based on the writings of late Swedish author Stieg Larsson, the James Bond actor plays journalist Mikael Blomkvist opposite main actress Rooney Mara.

Things went horribly wrong, according to director David Fincher. Despite the fact that Craig had a tiny metal gadget in his hand to pop the plastic bag if it became too difficult for him to breathe, Fincher and the team were unaware that he was having trouble until the piece of metal fell on the floor.

“Our stunt co-ordinator came in and said, ‘Daniel has to hold this little metal thing in his hand so that if he loses consciousness… as he’s gonna be acting like he’s suffocating, which is not very different from actually suffocating,” Fincher remarked, according to the Daily Express.

Daniel Craig will bow out from his role as James Bond in the upcoming film No Time To Die ( Image: PA)

“He was hoisted up and we were rolling and as I’m watching the monitor I hear, ‘Ting, ting, ting’. We rush in to the room and he had passed out!” Flincher said. “On the production report it said, ‘Let Daniel go 15 minutes early due to unconsciousness.’

Craig, on the other hand, claims that the incident was all part of the filming process.

“It was just another day working with David Fincher!” Daniel Craig was reported as saying about the event.

Fincher is notorious for filming up to 40 takes per scene, but Craig seemed unfazed by this.

He responded, “You don’t count. Sometimes you get worse and worse but when someone throws a lot of money at you to do something like this, you’re there to get it right. Sure, things get frustrating during the work day but there are lots of other things to get frustrated about and then there [are] the triumphs at the end of the day, so you just kind of don’t get down about it.”