Keep ’em guesting
A CAMEO appearance on HBO’s “Girls” is just about the coolest job an actor can put on his or her résumé these days. You can’t badger your agent to harass the producers or corner star Lena Dunham at a party to finagle a walk-on, though. The royal “they”— meaning the producers and/ or casting director Jennifer Euston— have to pick you. And “you” should only be so lucky.
“We make a wish list of who we want,” says executive producer Jenni Konner. “We come up with a character. We ask, ‘Who in our wildest dreams can play this?’ Sometimes we get them. Like Zachary Quinto. We can’t believe he said yes.” Quinto appears in the latter part of Season4— which premieres Sunday— as a love interest of Jessa’s (Jemima Kirke). He plays a video artist, “a New York scenester.”
Along with Quinto, this new season features cameos from Anthony Edwards, Ana Gasteyer, Natasha Lyonne, Gillian Jacobs and Oscarwinning screenwriter and director Spike Jonze. Konner tells The Post that Jonze is another person they never thought they’d get, even though she says he is an old friend.
“I’ve always loved his acting, and let me just say he did not pursue us in any way,” Konner says, laughing. “But he did get the call. We call everybody [and ask], ‘Do you want to hang out with us for a few days?’ We have no shame. We were at an amazing Hillary Clinton event at the Paley Center, and I cornered [‘Zero Dark Thirty’ director] Kathryn Bigelow and said, ‘Please direct our show.’ Which I understood was a long shot.” Bigelow declined. Series coproducer Judd Apatow suggested Patti Lu Pone, who came in Season 3 to play herself. “There’s nothing he loves more than someone playing themselves,” Konner says. “She is one of the greatest improvisers ever.”
Viewers can draw their own conclusions, then, at how Apatow’s daughter Maude, 16, ended up with a role this upcoming season. Konner insists the part was written for the Apatow offspring. “I am so terrified of young actors because of the Disneyification of that group, and when they’re together in a room . . . We probably wouldn’t have done that story line without Maude,” she says.
Not all “Girls” cameos are done by actors, though. Last season J.Crew president and creative director Jenna Lyons did a great job playing the imperious editor of a Condé Nast advertorial product, where Dunham’s Hannah worked for awhile. “That idea was our director Jamie Babbit’s. Wewere all kind of obsessed with her anyway,” Konner says. “She’s maybe the coolest person ever, and she communicates a scary, strong female boss who’s running s - - t. And she turned out to be incredibly funny and dry and great.”
And sometimes a great casting idea comes to the producers just by opening up the paper. Which is how Hannah and her parents ended up at Café Carlyle.
“We wanted Hannah and her parents to be at a live show,” Konner explains of the Season 2 episode. “We looked in a paper and said, ‘Holy s - - t, Judy Collins is playing!’”