Meryl Streep, John Hoffman, and Martin Short. Disney/Patrick Harbron
Meryl Streep “had tears in her eyes” while talking with Only Murders in the Building cocreator John Hoffman about her onscreen romance with Martin Short.
“It is one of the most unexpected turns,” Hoffman told Decider of Streep’s character, Loretta, falling in love with Short’s character, Oliver, in an interview published on Thursday, October 24. “As I got to know Meryl, as I’ve known Marty and as I watched the two of them work together in season 3, I just — it was unbelievable.”
Hoffman said the duo “just delighted in each other on screen, off screen in every way.”
Loretta and Oliver shared their first kiss during a season 3 episode of Only Murders in the Building, which premiered via Hulu in August 2023. Despite Loretta moving to Los Angeles at the end of the season, the duo’s onscreen romance has stayed strong throughout season 4. Fans even think the season finale, airing later this month, will showcase Loretta and Oliver’s wedding.
“I remember one night we were shooting on the ferry in episode 5 of season 3. We shot until about two in the morning on the most gorgeous night in Manhattan,” Hoffman recalled. “I got off to gangplank there and Meryl was waiting, and she had tears in her eyes, and she said, ‘I just had to wait here for you to get off the boat to say thank you.’”
Meryl Streep and Martin Short Disney/Patrick Harbron
He added: “I was like, ‘What?’ and she said, ‘I just got to play a scene I really thought that the likes of which I wouldn’t have a chance to do. To play romantic scenes at this age with this band in this way, it’s just the greatest thing ever.’”
Hoffman said it was “one of the most gratifying things” to hear because he felt like “the luckiest guy in the world” to even have Streep on set to begin with.
“I kept on thinking, like, ‘I hope the world falls in love with this couple the way we all are.’ And that is so due to the magic that they create together,” Hoffman added.
Despite acting for more than 40 years, Martin Short said he still gets anxious working with Hollywood royalty like Meryl Streep. “It was one of the great thrills of my life,” Short, 73, said of working alongside Streep, 74, on Only Murders in the Building at a For Your Consideration event captured by The Hollywood […]
The pair’s love is so palpable on screen that Streep and Short have also been the subject of romance rumors in real life. Speculation began in January when they were spotted sitting next to each other at the 2024 Golden Globes. (At the time, a rep for Short denied they were dating.)
Only Murders in the Building costar Steve Martin recently appeared to hint at the rumors in a playful Instagram post.
Martin uploaded a screenshot of himself, Short and Streep. He edited the photo, which was originally taken in February 2023, to cross out his face with an emoji, leaving only Streep and Short visible.
