From Three Amigos to Father Of The Bride, to their recent Netflix special An Evening You Will Forget For The Rest Of Your Life, Steve Martin and Martin Short remain an enduring comedy duo. For the new Celebration Of Cinema issue of Empire, the pair got together on a call in lockdown to talk about their close friendship, their double-act origins, their comedic inspirations and more. Not only that, but they opened up about their upcoming Hulu series, about two true-crime-obsessed New York residents, which is currently in pre-production.
“Who knows who we’re ever gonna shoot it, but the script is being written,” Martin tells Empire. “The title is Only Murders In The Building, and it’s about two people who live in an apartment building in New York. One of those higher-end apartments. They don’t know each other, but they have an interest in true crime, and they decide to work together to try to solve true-crime cases. And because we’re old and tired we say, ‘Well, only murders in the building.’”
When Martin pitched the idea to producers, he initially didn’t intend for himself and Short to star. “I didn’t even think about it for Marty and me,” he admits. “I thought about it for three older actors. And then the producers I pitched it to said, ‘Would you consider it?’ I said I would, only if Marty was in it. I didn’t realise how broke Marty was and he said he’d do it,” he jokes.
Read Empire’s full interview with Steve Martin and Martin Short in the Celebration Of Cinema issue, on sale now. Find it on newsstands, order a copy online, or read the digital edition via the Empire Magazine app on iOS and Android.