‘Only Murders in the Building’ Star Martin Short Remembers ‘Nervous’ First Day Filming With Meryl Streep
She might be a Hollywood GOAT, but Meryl Streep isn’t immune to first-day jitters. Her Only Murders in the Building co-star, Martin Short, revealed they were both “nervous” on their first day of filming together for the Hulu original series. Ahead, why Streep only became “cool[er]” for it in Short’s eyes.
Martin felt nervous heading to the ‘Only Murders in the Building’ set to film with Meryl
“The first day of shooting with her,” Short told E! News at a gala marking 20 years of The Goldie Hawn Foundation and MindUP, “I was going to work. And—you know, I’m not new to show business—and I thought, ‘I am nervous today. Why? Oh yeah, I’m working with Meryl.’”
Streep joined Only Murders in the Building in season 3 as Loretta Durkin, an actor who’d spent her life trying to make it big. Everything changed when she got cast in Oliver Putnam’s (Short) musical.
Initially co-workers Loretta and Oliver eventually started dating. Now in season 4, Oliver finds himself struggling with Loretta’s newfound fame amid questions of what it will do to their relationship.
Streep admitted to Short she’d been nervous too
Short continued, saying that after completing a scene, some of Streep’s nerves went away, and she told him so. “We finished a two-person scene at a piano, and they have to set up for [an] angle,” the 74-year-old recalled. “And we went into a holding area, and she said, ‘OK, my nerves are to half.’”
Her comment impressed the comedian and actor. “I went, ‘Oh, OK, that’s, that’s pretty cool,’” Short said. “‘Maybe that’s why you’re the greatest actress, because you’ve never taken anything for granted.’”
In an Extra interview alongside his co-stars Selena Gomez and Steve Martin, Short discussed how his relationship with Streep has changed for the better since she joined the show. “It’s been a friendship that always grows if you work with someone and love that person,” he said.
“Meryl is a friend to all of us,” Martin added. “If I don’t see her for two years, you get back together and you’re already laughing and talking.” Gomez, for her part, described Short and Streep’s bond as “so sweet.”
Streep and Short are ‘just friends’ amid romance rumors
“Just friends” is how the Only Murders in the Building stars have described their relationship amid ongoing rumors there’s a romance blossoming between them. Numerous times during the year, they—or their reps—have pushed back against the dating rumors.
“We are not a couple, we are just very close friends,” Short said on the “Club Random with Bill Maher” podcast after being spotted with Streep at the 2024 Golden Globes in January.
Rumors swirled again in August when Streep and Short were at an Only Murders in the Building event ahead of the show’s season 4 premiere. They quickly dismissed a Page Six report suggesting they were anything more, yet again insisting they were “just friends.”
So, while they play love interests on TV, sparks aren’t flying between Short and Streep in real life.
