Viewers tuning in to the season premiere of “The Gilded Age” on Sunday night may have noticed two unusually familiar faces blending into the 19th-century background. Academy Award winner Matt Damon and veteran talk show host David Letterman made silent, blink-and-you-missed-it cameos as 19th-century gentlemen during the episode, Vulture reported.
The brief appearance happens roughly eight and a half minutes into the Season 4 premiere. As the camera pans along the street toward the residence of rail magnate George Russell, Damon and Letterman can be seen strolling across the cobblestones together in period attire. The scene lasts just six seconds, and neither man speaks a single line of dialogue.
A decades-long quest to play an extra
The unusual cameo originated from Letterman’s long-standing desire to work as an uncredited background extra, according to an account given to Vulture by Isabel Richardson, the showrunner of Letterman’s Netflix interview series “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction.” Richardson explained that Letterman had coveted background work ever since spotting his comedian friend Gary Mule Deer in the 1977 film “Annie Hall.”
Over the years, Letterman came close to appearing in Wes Anderson’s “The Phoenician Scheme,” an upcoming remake of “The Thomas Crown Affair,” and Jason Bateman’s series “Black Rabbit,” but scheduling issues kept him from appearing. The opportunity finally aligned when Richardson’s team began prepping an episode featuring Damon, who began his own screen career decades ago working as a background extra alongside Ben Affleck.
Presented with multiple comedic field segment concepts for “My Next Guest,” Damon eagerly endorsed the extra gig as his favorite option, Richardson said. A line producer on the Netflix program contacted an acquaintance on “The Gilded Age,” carrying the proposal directly to executive producer Kate Churchill.
Transformations on the Long Island set
Churchill brought the proposal to series creator Julian Fellowes, HBO Head of Drama Francesca Orsi and HBO Chief Executive Officer Casey Bloys, who all approved the idea provided it was filmed carefully without pulling focus from the narrative. Filming took place in May on the drama’s permanent exterior backlot set in Old Bethpage, Long Island, Vulture reported.
Letterman, 79, arrived on set sporting his established full gray beard and wore an all-black ensemble topped with a personal bowler hat he had previously acquired from an English hat shop. Damon, 56, required more assistance from the hair and makeup crew. Having recently shaved a beard he wore for the film “The Odyssey” while hosting “Saturday Night Live,” the production team fitted Damon with sideburns and a bushy mustache to match his top hat, ascot and frock coat.
Richardson recalled that Damon spent much of the shoot holding his prosthetic mustache in place because he was laughing so hard at the setup, while Churchill described Letterman as thrilled to explore the bustling set. Both men were treated like regular extras for the sequence, undergoing standard costume fittings beforehand.
Despite their fame, HBO confirmed to Vulture that neither Damon nor Letterman received an on-screen credit for their fleeting appearance. Audiences curious to see behind-the-scenes footage of how the crossover came together will be able to watch the process unfold when Damon’s upcoming episode of “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction” streams on Netflix later this year.
