If you happened to tune in for The Gilded Age Sunday night, chances are you might have noticed a certain bearded talk show host and Academy Award-winning thespian show up on your television screen. Yes, that’s correct: underneath their 19th-century overcoats
and hats, Matt Damon and David Letterman (briefly) appeared as uncredited background actors on the HBO historical drama’s Season Four premiere.
About eight minutes into the episode, Damon and Letterman swiftly cross the street just outside of George Russell’s home. The gig fulfilled a longtime dream for Letterman, according to a Vulture interview with My Next Guest Needs No Introduction showrunner Isabel Richardson and Gilded Age executive producer Kate Churchill. Letterman first had the idea to be a background actor after seeing his friend, comedian Gary Mule Deer, appear in the background of Annie Hall in the Seventies.
“[He] was tickled by the fact that this guy was recognizable to him in the shot, but that most people probably didn’t recognize him,” Richardson said. She went on to describe how Letterman nearly got the gig to appear in Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme and Michael B. Jordan’s upcoming remake of The Thomas Crown Affair, but timing constraints squashed those chances. He even made it on the set of the Jason Bateman-starring series Black Rabbit, but couldn’t get a PA to get him into a shot.
Later on, the My Next Guest Needs No Introduction research team gathered on Damon for an upcoming episode of Letterman’s series and discovered the Bostonian began his acting career as a background extra. When they presented Damon with the opportunity to appear alongside Letterman as an extra, he was down to help him on his mission.
“Dave was like a kid in a candy shop on the set. He was so excited and curious about everything,” Churchill said. “I have to really give credit to our studios because a simple idea was actually quite complicated … People really locked arms, and both studios saw that it was a fun collaboration where we could help each other.” She also went on to say Letterman was a breeze in the makeup and wardrobe department: “He has this fabulous beard,” she mused, though they had to work harder with Damon, creating a period-specific mustache after he had unfortunately shaved his beard he had filming The Odyssey.
The Gilded Age follows high society in New York City in the 1880s and stars Carrie Coon and Christine Baranski as new money matriarch Bertha Russell and old money widow Agnes van Rhijn. The show is currently in its fourth season on HBO. During the 78th Emmys, the series’ third season was nominated for eight total Emmys across major and Creative Arts categories, including Best Lead Actress for Coon and Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for the season’s finale.
The seventh season of David Letterman’s My Next Guest Needs No Introduction will feature interviews with Damon, Julia Roberts, Jimmy Kimmel, and rock climber Alex Honnold. It will premiere later this year on Netflix.
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