In this building, Martin Short and Meryl Streep\u2019s chemistry is evident \u2014\u00a0 just ask \u201cOnly Murders in the Building\u201d creator, John Hoffman.<\/p>\n
The writer shared an inside look into how Short\u2019s Oliver Putnam and Streep\u2019s Loretta Durkin <\/a>came to be as the Season 5 premiere kicked off<\/a> on Tuesday, Sept. 9.<\/p>\n \u201cThis show has miracles all around us, truthfully,\u201d Hoffman exclusively told The Post. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what I just loved. We wrote Loretta first, and then Meryl said, \u2018Is there anything there?\u2019 And I was like, \u2018Well, we just are writing a part that you\u2019re perfect for, in my mind. And it includes a romantic interest for Oliver.\u2019 We hadn\u2019t done any romance stories for Oliver by that time in Season 3, so there it was. I can only say it\u2019s like that thing of just watching brilliant actors, first of all.\u201d<\/p>\n Meryl Streep and Martin Short at the Season 4 premiere of Hulu\u2019s \u201cOnly Murders In The Building\u201d on August 22, 2024. Variety via Getty Images<\/p>\n Even behind-the-scenes, the director was in awe of Streep, 76, and Short, 75.<\/p>\n \u201cMeryl was always doing things. We\u2019d be sitting in the green room and I wouldn\u2019t realize they were running lines,\u201d explained Hoffman. \u201cI thought she was just saying things in the green room that were not even in the script. And I\u2019m like, \u2018Oh, wait. Oh, we\u2019re running lines because it\u2019s so real.’\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn that first moment in Season 3, when she\u2019s onstage giving them an audition and they look at each other for the first time and he says, \u2018Where have you been?\u2019 And it means as an actress that he hasn\u2019t seen [her] before but also knows there\u2019s something way more, and their careers are very different.\u201d<\/p>\n Martin Short and Meryl Streep on the set of \u201cOnly Murders in the Building\u201d in NYC on May 7, 2025. GC Images<\/p>\n As Hoffman described, Short is \u201ca clown like no other and so versatile and so wildly funny.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd she is sort of this expert dramatic actress. Virtuoso, versatile, also [a] comedic actress. But just like, what can\u2019t she do?\u201d he mused of Streep. \u201cThe two of them as a love interest couple was unexpected, but then it made perfect sense in that moment. And then every step along the way.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I\u2019ve gotten to know each of them as well as I have now, which has been a gift, it just makes you so happy when you see the way in which the ease they find within working with each other. And the unexpected is all you want. You want something unexpected. Always. And I find that that\u2019s always happening with them.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoffman saw magic between the real-life couple in the very first scene they shot together for Season 3.<\/p>\n John Hoffman talks \u2018OMITB\u2019 with New York Post\u2019s Alexandra Bellusci.<\/p>\n Meryl Streep and Martin Short in Season 4 of \u201cOMITB.\u201d \u00a9Hulu\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n \u201cThey are at the piano in Oliver\u2019s apartment. She is singing a song, and he joins in on it and the camera is moving around them. And I was directing that episode, and it was the first day with Meryl on set,\u201d he told The Post. \u201cShe, I later found out, was nervous. And I was like, \u2018She was nervous?\u2019 And my butterflies were crazy. Marty said he was nervous.\u201d<\/p>\n In the scene, Loretta asks Oliver to check her earring. The camera then turns in such a way \u201csuggesting something\u2019s going on\u201d between the pair. J. Roy Helland, Streep\u2019s hair and makeup artist for well over 30 years, later told Hoffman that the shot was \u201cgorgeous.\u201d<\/p>\n He noted he will \u201cnever forget\u201d what came next.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the electricity around their connection just is visceral,\u201d Hoffman said. \u201cYou feel it.\u201d<\/p>\n Martin Short as Oliver Putnam and Meryl Streep as Loretta Durkin. Disney<\/p>\n Short and Streep sparked romance rumors after getting cozy at the\u00a0Golden Globes in Jan. 2024<\/a>, but the \u201cFather of the Bride\u201d actor\u2019s rep shut down the speculation at the time.<\/p>\n Short was previously married to actress Nancy Dolman until her death from cancer in 2010.\u00a0The pair shared three kids: Katherine, 41, Oliver, 39, and Henry, 36.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, sources\u00a0told Page Six\u00a0<\/a>in 2023\u00a0<\/a>that Streep and Don Gummer \u2014 whom she married in 1978 and had four children with: Henry, 45, Mamie, 42, Grace, 39, and Louisa, 34\u00a0 \u2014 had been quietly \u201cseparated for more than six years.\u201d<\/p>\n In March, Page Six confirmed that Short and Streep had been dating for \u201cwell over a year\u201d at that point.<\/p>\n John Hoffman, Meryl Streep and Martin Short. Disney<\/p>\n Martin Short and Meryl Streep on set of Season 5. GC Images<\/p>\n \u201cOnly Murders in the Building\u201d has gone on to win Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series at the 2025 Screen Actors Guild Awards. Short also picked up a win for Best Male Actor in a Comedy Series at the ceremony.<\/p>\n Hoffman was at his New York home when he started getting texts about Short\u2019s win.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he was sick. So I called him and he was home. I said, \u2018Marty.\u2019 And he\u2019s like, \u2018Can you even believe it? And I\u2019m not there.\u2019 I\u2019m like, \u2018I know.\u2019 He said, \u2018I would kill to make a speech on the show and for the show.\u2019 And I was like, \u2018We all want to hear it.’\u201d<\/p>\n The two were even on the phone when they learned live that the cast won Best Ensemble, too.<\/p>\n Martin Short and Meryl Streep pose backstage at \u201cIt\u2019s Only a Play\u201d on Broadway. FilmMagic<\/p>\n Meryl Streep and Martin Short with FIJI Water at The AFI Awards Luncheon 2023. Getty Images for FIJI Water<\/p>\n Short asked for his trophies to be sent to his LA home \u2014 but they ended up lost in Indiana. <\/p>\n \u201cThen he got two replacements for the awards, and then they found the original two. And so Marty has four SAG Awards when he only got two!\u201d Hoffman said. <\/p>\n \u201cThey were lost in transit, but they were lost for a long period of time,\u201d he explained. \u201cI don\u2019t know if he ended up giving the other two back. I\u2019m sure he did.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In this building, Martin Short and Meryl Streep\u2019s chemistry is evident \u2014\u00a0 just ask \u201cOnly Murders in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":137453,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[49,48,361,13904,5864,75,282,4700,47538,12945,1788,348],"class_list":{"0":"post-137452","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-celebrities","11":"tag-celebrity-friendships","12":"tag-comedy","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-exclusive","15":"tag-hulu","16":"tag-martin-short","17":"tag-meryl-streep","18":"tag-television","19":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}