Mark Strong's drunk villainy helped Daniel Craig land James Bond role

Mark Strong is partly responsible for the casting of Daniel Craig as James Bond, rather than himself as a villain.

The Kingsman: The Secret Service star was in line to potentially land a villainous role opposite Pierce Brosnan as 007, but he decided to head out for a drink on the eve of the try-out.

Recalling the incident on U.K. TV show There's Something About Movies, Strong said, "I learned the lines... and to celebrate I went out for a drink, and I got p**sed (drunk). I overdid it and the next day I was severely hung over."

As can be expected, the audition was a waste of time: "I started, then I just forgot my lines, couldn't remember what they were and they all just kind of fell apar, I was sweating, it was a terrible experience - but I really learned from it."

Finally he added: “The irony was, the guy I was out the night before getting p**sed with was Daniel Craig. So I blame him!”

Strong famously starred alongside Craig and Christopher Eccleston in the seminal BBC drama Our Friends in the North - a show on which they became firm friends.

Yet now he finds it hilarious that the man he was getting drunk with the person who would become James Bond - especially as they starred as very different characters in the BBC drama.

It's unclear which Bond movie Strong was auditioning for, but Brosnan portrayed 007 in three films in the 1990s - GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, and The World Is Not Enough, as well as Die Another Day, which was released in 2002.

Craig made his debut as the famed undercover agent in 2006's Casino Royale, and will make his fifth outing as Bond in No Time to Die, which is set to launch in October.