A High-Profile Cameo for The Waldorf-Astoria, Co-Starring with Matt Damon in “The Adjustment Bureau”

It isn’t easy to steal a scene from Matt Damon and Emily Blunt. But the Waldorf-Astoria in all its Art Deco glory does precisely that during the early scenes of The Adjustment Bureau, the new sci-fi-tinged thriller that opened this weekend. After all, there’s not a lot, living or inanimate, that can compete with the Waldorf’s vaunted Hall of Mirrors, patterned after the original in Versailles.

It gives away none of the twisty-turny plot to tell you the early scenes are set at the hotel – its elevator bank, carpeted staircases on the Lexington Avenue side, ballroom and, of course, the Hall of Mirrors.

Damon plays Dave Norris, a smart, ambitious Congressman running for Senate, and the Waldorf provides the setting for a pivotal speech in his career (we won’t say if it’s a victory or concession).

From Weekend at the Waldorf in 1945, the first movie ever filmed at a hotel, to Scent of a Woman, The Out-of-Towners, Coming to America and Serendipity, the Waldorf has shown it loves star turns. It still does.