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An unlikely team are bridging generations.
Steve Martin, Selena Gomez, and Martin Short are on the new cover of Variety. Inside they discuss their new TV series “Only Murders in the Building”.
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“There were movies I made — a quiet, sort of emotional film like ‘Father of the Bride’. But that got pushed out by superhero movies. It’s beautiful timing for me now, to find a place for the kind of movie we make, in a different form. Television — and I never thought it would happen — became a wonderful place to do gentler stories,” Martin says of the choice to go into TV.
Talking about shooting the series during the pandemic, Martin adds, “Adversity can create camaraderie. The only thing I missed is when you’re rehearsing, you usually hear these titters from the crew laughing. So we were kind of in a vacuum… We were tested three times a week. We all were responsible. A couple people on the crew got sick, but they didn’t transmit it among the crew. They were contact-traced; they isolated for two weeks.”
For Gomez, working with legends like Martin and Short became a learning opportunity.
“I’ll just ask them random questions. It means so much to me, and allows me to want to be as good as them,” she says.
The singer adds, “I’ve played the show for people from my little sister to my grandparents, and they laugh when they need to laugh. They’re upset and confused when they need to be. It’s something that leaves you feeling intrigued, but not heavy and down and sad or stressed.”
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Says Short, “All three of us like to work in a similar way. As loose as the set is, as many laughs in between takes, equals a better show. Some actors believe you have to create World War III — not us.”
The comedian also talks about keeping a positive attitude on set, explaining, “The reality is, if there’s one bad apple, or one grumpy actor, and let’s say they’re named Steve, it changes the entire dynamic. The only thing you can protect when you do a show like this is the fun of making it. You can’t be in control.”
Asked if there will be more seasons of the show in the future, Martin says, “As long as there is murder, we will have another story to tell.”
“Only Murders in the Building” premieres August 31.