Maybe it was a coincidence for Martin Short that Meryl Streep joined Just the murders in the building as his character’s love interest, but for the series creator, that was always the plan.
John Hoffman, who created the hit comedy series about murders with Steve Martin, revealed that he had long intended for Streep, 75, to play Loretta Durkin – the Broadway star with whom Oliver Putnam (Martin) began a romance in the third season.
Hoffman said The Hollywood Reporter that he knew Oliver would have a “very thin and twisted romance” with the leading lady of his musical, and Streep was his dream choice for the role – an actress who would leave Oliver “dazzled by both the talent and the woman standing before him.”
“I said yes [executive producers] Day [Fogelman] and Jess [Rosenthal]’Well, the perfect person for this role—do you know who that is?’ They’re like, ‘Who?’ And I said, ‘Well, Meryl Streep,'” Hoffman recalled. “And they said, ‘Good luck with that, John.'”
Meryl Streep and Martin Short gaze lovingly into each other’s eyes during filming Just the murders in the building
Hoffman’s dream somehow came true when Martin, 78, and Short, 74, approached him and said that Mamma Mia! the star wanted to work with them.
“And a week later, they called and said, ‘Hey, Meryl just said she’s here if you think we have something for her to do. Do we have anything good?’ And I said, ‘Oh, f—’.”
Meryl Streep as Loretta Durkin, Martin Short as Oliver Putnam in ‘Just Murder in the Building’ season 3.
Patrick Harbron/Hulu
Hoffman was “nervous” when he met Streep via Zoom to discuss the role, and the conversation ended with him thinking, “My head is going to explode.”
After explaining his vision for her character’s opening scene—a flashback to her as a 10-year-old visiting New York City with her mom to see No wires on Broadway – Streep revealed that she watched that very play with her own mother before singing a song from the play.
“I said, ‘OK, I don’t know what the hell is going on, but Meryl, you have to stop because my head is going to explode. Those lines you just sang are on the first page of the script I’m going to send you after we break up,'” he recalled. are. “And she said, ‘What?!'”
Selena Gomez barely ‘spoke’ on the ‘first day’ Meryl Streep was on set ISOMITB: ‘I just admire her’
Short previously told PEOPLE that it was a “coincidence” that Streep joined the show as his love interest — given the real-life romance rumors that swirled around the stars following news of Streep’s split from Don Gummer, which PEOPLE confirmed in October.
“They had already planned that I would have theater experience and that there would be a love interest. It was a coincidence, but she just wanted to be in the show. She didn’t know about it [the love story]”, he said.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(999x0:1001x2)/meryl-streep-apartment-only-murders-in-the-building-083023-1-a3af5660e54543a988a51d5807582b93.jpg)
Meryl Streep as Loretta Durkin, Martin Short as Oliver Putnam in the third season of ‘Just Murder in the Building’.
Patrick Harbron/Hulu
Calling speculation about their relationship “interesting,” he said he didn’t feel weird being asked about it — after all, he had previously denied any romance between the two, insisting they were “just very close friends” on Bill Maher’s podcast in January.
“She’s fantastic,” he added of the actress, who will reprise her role as Loretta Durkin in the upcoming fourth season Only murders. – There is no one who does not adore her.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
4th season Just the murders in the building premieres August 27 on Hulu.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education