Only Murders in the Building Creator Knew Meryl Streep Was the ‘Perfect Person’ to Play Martin Short’s Love Interest

Meryl Streep joins the fun during filming “Only Murders In The Building”.

Martin Short may have thought it was a coincidence that Meryl Streep joined Only Murders in the Building as his character’s love interest, but the show’s creator had always intended it that way.

John Hoffman, who co-created the classic murder comedy series with Steve Martin, claimed that he had long wanted to cast Streep, 75, as Loretta Durkin, the Broadway singer with whom Oliver Putnam (Martin) fell in love in season 3.

Hoffman told The Hollywood Reporter that he knew Oliver would have a “very tenuous and twisty romance” with the main lady of his musical, and Streep was his dream casting for the role, leaving Oliver “thunderstruck by both the talent and the woman standing before him.”

“I told [executive producers] Dan [Fogelman] and Jess [Rosenthal], ‘Well, the perfect person to play this part—you know who that is?'” They ask, ‘Who?’ “And I was like, ‘Well, Meryl Streep,'” Hoffman said. “And they were like, ‘Good luck with that, John.'”
Meryl Streep and Martin Short gaze lovingly into one other’s eyes while filming Only Murders in the Building.
Hoffman’s desire came true when Martin, 78, and Short, 74, contacted him and said the Mamma Mia! actress wanted to work with them.

“And a week later, they called and said, ‘Hey, Meryl just said she’s available if you have anything for her to do. ‘Do we have anything good?’ And I said, ‘Oh, f—.'”

Only murders in the building.
Season 3 of ‘Only Murders in the Building’ stars Meryl Streep as Loretta Durkin and Martin Short as Oliver Putnam. Patrick Harbron/Hulu Hoffman was “nervous” when he met Streep over Zoom to discuss the role. The meeting finished with him thinking, “My head is going to explode.”

After expressing his vision for her character’s opening scene, a flashback to her as a 10-year-old visiting New York City with her mother to see No Strings on Broadway, Streep revealed that she had attended the same show with her own mother before singing a song from it.

“I said, ‘OK, I don’t know what the hell is going on right now, but Meryl, you need to stop because my head is about to explode. “Those lyrics you just sang are on page one of the script I’ll send you after we hang up,” he recalled. “And she said, ‘What?!'”
Selena Gomez Meryl Streep barely’spoke’ the ‘first day’ she arrived on the set of OMITB. Short previously told PEOPLE that Streep joining the series as his love interest was “coincidental” given the real-life romance rumors that were flying around the actors following the news of Streep’s separation from Don Gummer, which PEOPLE confirmed in October.

“They already planned for me to have a theatrical experience with a love interest. So it was a coincidence, but she really wanted to be on the show. “She had no idea [about the love story],” he claimed.

Only Murders in the Building, Episode 305 Date night! Martin Short and Meryl Streep
Season 3 of ‘Only Murders in the Building’ stars Meryl Streep as Loretta Durkin and Martin Short as Oliver Putnam. Patrick Harbron / Hulu
He called the conjecture about their connection “interesting,” and said he didn’t mind being asked about it – after all, he had previously rejected any romance between them, stating they are “just very close friends” on Bill Maher’s podcast in January.

“She’s fabulous,” he said of the actress, who will return as Loretta Durkin in the fourth season of Only Murders. “There’s no one who doesn’t adore her.”