Yahoo News Only Murders in the Building director reveals Meryl Streep's surprising link to character
Only Murders in the Building spoilers follow.
Only Murders in the Building season 3 star Meryl Streep has more in common with her on-screen character than viewers might have thought.
The first two episodes of the third season dropped on Disney+ and Hulu yesterday (August 8), finally introduced fans to Paul Rudd as Ben Glenroy (following his brief season two finale cameo), and Streep as Loretta Durkin.
It's the latter who appears in the opening of the first episode, with the audience shown a backstory sequence of Streep's character, explaining how she came to be an actress and involved in Oliver's (Martin Short) Broadway production of Death Rattle.
Viewers see a young girl and her mother watching a 1962 production of the musical No Strings at a Broadway theatre. The child – who we later learn is Loretta – is clearly taken with the performance and it's this moment of reckoning that prompts Streep's character to pursue a career in the theatre.
Related: Why has Cara Delevingne disappeared from Only Murders in the Building season 3?
In an interview with Variety, show director and co-creator John Hoffman recalled how the Mamma Mia star informed him of a surprising similarity between her and Loretta's backstory.
"In the first moment, I'm walking her [Streep] through the opening of the season, and I say, 'We start on your character, and you're 10 years old, and you're seeing your first Broadway show coming from St. Louis with your mother,'" Hoffman recalls.
"You're watching No Strings, which is a Richard Rogers musical,'" he tells her. "Before I go any further, she cuts me off.
"She says, 'I saw No Strings on Broadway. My mother took me when I was about 10. I'll never forget it. Diahann Carroll was the star! She sang that beautiful song'".
Related: Only Murders in the Building boss kept Meryl Streep in the dark about role
According to Hoffman, Streep went on to sing the same song from the musical that is sung in the opening episode.
Taken aback by the revelation, Hoffman said she told Streep: "'I gotta stop you right now, because this is preposterous. I'm gonna send you the draft of Episode 1 after we get off this Zoom and you're gonna see, the lyric you just sang to me now is on Page 1.'"
The song in question is 'The Sweetest Sounds', written for No Strings the musical by Richard Rodgers, and later covered by Brandy and Paolo Montalban for a 1997 adaption of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella.
Related: Only Murders in the Building's Selena Gomez teases season 3 with sweet cast selfie
Hoffman admitted that his nerves "were off the charts" at the prospect of working with Streep for season three, but that the encounter helped to calm him down and marked the start of a "very faithful, lovely time with her".
Streep's character is certainly one lead suspect in the murder of Ben Glenroy, with it clear that the two did not get along when Ben was alive.
When Ben reappears at the post-show party at Oliver's flat after being presumed dead, he calls Loretta a "snake", who in turn brands him a "f**king arsehole".
Following Ben's untimely and dramatic demise at the end of the first episode, is the real killer already known to Arconia's three crime-solving residents?
Only Murders in the Building is available to watch on Disney+ in the UK and Hulu in the US, with new episodes dropping weekly.
You Might Also Like
