{"id":119688,"date":"2025-10-13T17:19:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T17:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/119688\/"},"modified":"2025-10-13T17:19:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T17:19:14","slug":"i-genuinely-cannot-watch-only-murders-in-the-building-the-same-way-after-learning-these-23-fascinating-facts-and-details","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/119688\/","title":{"rendered":"I Genuinely Cannot Watch “Only Murders In The Building” The Same Way After Learning These 23 Fascinating Facts And Details"},"content":{"rendered":"

1. Steve Martin<\/a> created<\/a> the series with John Hoffman, and originally, the series was meant to feature three older actors. While mapping out the show, they realized they didn’t want the three main characters to be too similar and wanted to bring in someone “unexpected.”\"Selena<\/p>\n

Craig Blankenhorn \/ \u00a9Hulu \/ Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

“The idea came almost immediately that they lived in a building, and they all were interested in crime. But they didn\u2019t have the energy to go downtown, so they would only do murders in the building,” Steve said.<\/p>\n

John, who previously worked on the series Grace and Frankie<\/a>, didn’t want to do another show focused on aging. He said, \u201cOn that show, there was already a lot about growing older and issues around that. I very consciously said, I don\u2019t want to do that again.\u201d\u00a0He added that he didn’t want the three main characters to be so alike and said,\u00a0\u201cDon\u2019t we want an alien in their world? The thing that we\u2019re not expecting that doesn\u2019t make sense?\u201d<\/p>\n

2. Steve initially had no interest in starring in the series<\/a>, but Martin Short urged him to do it. He later told producers that he might appear in the show if Martin did too.\"Martin<\/p>\n

Craig Blankenhorn \/ \u00a9Hulu \/ Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

\u201cMarty said, \u2018You know, you\u2019re old \u2014 we could do this,\u2019\u201d Steve said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think Steve operates from a place of, what\u2019s a vehicle I can create for myself?\u201d producer Dan Fogelman said. \u201cHe thinks, \u2018What\u2019s an idea that I find funny or interesting?\u2019 Then it probably takes somebody nudging him to do it himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

3. Steve was always certain he wanted Selena Gomez<\/a> to star<\/a> as Mabel, even though he’d never seen her act on Disney<\/a> Channel.\"Young<\/p>\n

Craig Blankenhorn \/ \u00a9Hulu \/ Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

\u201cYou get a list of names, you know, you\u2019re thinking, \u2018Sure, they\u2019d be good, they\u2019d be good,\u2019\u201d\u00a0he once explained,<\/a>\u00a0\u201cand then they say, \u2018What about Selena Gomez?\u2019 and it\u2019s just \u2014 yes, of course. There was no question except, \u2018Can we get her?\u2019 We knew she would enhance the show in so many ways, the number one being talent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Selena was also the archetype<\/a> they used when creating the character of Mabel, and it was even more exciting when she said yes to doing the show.<\/p>\n

4. Steve and Martin were unsure of how Selena would vibe with them before meeting on set. Before filming, they’d only ever chatted on Zoom<\/a>, but once they got going they realized they’re a perfect trio.\"Selena<\/p>\n

Craig Blankenhorn \/ \u00a9Hulu \/ Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

“Marty and I joke around constantly, and we weren\u2019t sure if she\u2019d be game for it. But now we think of ourselves as the Three Musketeers,\u201d Steve said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“I remember when I was leaving LA to go and shoot the first season, I was worried that I\u2019d be a little lonely because I\u2019d be on set and most of the time I would be with Steve and Marty, who I had only met briefly on Zoom…And the moment I got on set they made me feel included,” Selena said<\/a>. “They asked questions about my character and they valued my opinion. Eventually they kind of just took me under their wing and picked on me and made me laugh and had words of wisdom when I needed them. All of the fear of me feeling like I would be alone went away, and now they\u2019re my guys. I was just watching videos of them and I got emotional because I\u2019m like, ‘Those are my guys.’ Some of my best friends<\/a> are 70-year-olds.”<\/p>\n

5. Selena is also a major true crime<\/a> fan in real life. She’d even just gotten home from CrimeCon<\/a> right before she started on OMITB.\"Selena<\/p>\n

\u00a9Hulu \/ Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

“When we had the first discussion of who [Mabel] was, I had just gotten back from CrimeCon, which is basically a convention where we\u2019re trying to help solve a real cold case. It\u2019s a three-day weekend and I went with my mom. And we just ended up talking about all these different stories of mysteries and the idea of me being into (true crime) as a character,” she said.<\/p>\n

She added, “My mom and I used to watch true crime shows all the time, so I was very aware of all of these types of shows. It wasn\u2019t about the incident so much as it was about the forensics. I\u2019m interested in how people are able to figure things out. And that just so happens to be my job on the show as well.”<\/p>\n

6. Da’Vine Joy Randolph got hired<\/a> after Steve Martin saw her in Dolemite Is My Name.\"Michael<\/p>\n

\u00a9Hulu \/ Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

“Steve Martin told me he saw\u00a0Dolemite,\u00a0was very impressed \u2014 \u2018You held your own,\u2019 that whole thing \u2014 and that was a straight offer from him and the showrunner,\u201d she\u00a0said<\/a>.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s such a wonderful working environment. Lovely hours. You\u2019re out by like six, seven o\u2019clock. You go have dinner, a life. And just to be around Steve Martin and Martin Short \u2014 they still have this childlike anticipation and excitement, like it was their first project. That blows me away every single time.”<\/p>\n

7. While the Arconia was made up for the series, several outdoor scenes were filmed at the Belnord<\/a>, an actual luxury apartment building in NYC.\"Steve<\/p>\n

Mega \/ GC Images<\/p>\n

The building was built in 1908, has 13 floors, and has archways that lead to its courtyard \u2014 similar to the Arconia. It’s located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan at 86th and Broadway.<\/p>\n

However, all of the indoor scenes are filmed on a soundstage.<\/p>\n

8. Nathan Lane, who plays Teddy Dimas, had about six weeks to learn American Sign Language (ASL)<\/a> with his interpreter Doug Ridloff. All of his dialogue with his onscreen son James Caverly, who is deaf in real life, was done through ASL.\"Nathan<\/p>\n

\u00a9Hulu \/ Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

\u201cI did not know ASL, and when I was asked to do it, I thought, \u2018Oh, this will be a blast; I get to hang out with Steve and Marty.\u2019 And there\u2019ll be high jinks, and we\u2019ll just laugh and laugh \u2014 which, you know, all happened,\u201d he said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“Sometimes they would change things and you would go, ‘Oh, don\u2019t do that. It took me long enough to learn the first version,'” Nathan explained<\/a>. “Very often, they wrote things that were hard to translate to American Sign Language and Doug had to reinterpret certain things. You don\u2019t want to embarrass yourself and you want to make it look as if you\u2019ve been doing this for a while, but one of the helpful things about the character of Teddy Dimas was he was someone who was ashamed he had a deaf son and didn\u2019t learn American Sign Language for a long time, so he\u2019s not supposed to be so great at it.”<\/p>\n

9. During Season 2, Howard and Jonathan’s first date ends in disaster when we learn that Jonathan is allergic to Howard’s cat, Sevelyn. But the same thing<\/a> actually happened to Michael Cyril Creighton in real life, except he was the one allergic to cats.\"Nathan<\/p>\n

\u00a9Hulu \/ Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think I ever mentioned this to John [Hoffman], but when I met my husband, I was allergic to cats. I didn\u2019t know it, but the first time I went to his apartment, he made me dinner, and I broke out in like the worst hives ever. And it was because he had a cat,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

10. During Season 1, Charles plays the concertina in several scenes along with Jan and her bassoon. In real life, Steve Martin actually knows how to play the concertina, along with several other instruments<\/a> like the banjo, guitar, mandolin, and upright bass.\"Steve<\/p>\n

Hulu<\/p>\n

11. In 2022, Steve shared that OMITB would probably be his last acting role in his six-decades-long career. “When this television show is done, I’m not going to seek others,” he said<\/a>. “I’m not going to seek other movies. I don’t want to do cameos. This is, weirdly, it.”\"Steve<\/p>\n

Craig Blankenhorn \/ \u00a9Hulu \/ Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

12. The music for Oliver’s musical Death Rattle Dazzle was written by Broadway songwriters and composers<\/a> like Sara Bareilles, Pasek and Paul, Michael R. Jackson, Marc Shaiman, and Scott Wittman.\"Meryl<\/p>\n

\u00a9Hulu \/ Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

Sara Bareilles, who wrote the music for\u00a0Waitress,\u00a0wrote \u201cLook for the Light,<\/a>\u201d which is sung by Meryl Streep and Ashley Park.\u00a0Michael R. Jackson, who composed A Strange Loop, co-wrote \u201cFor the Sake of a Child<\/a>,\u201d sung by Meryl and Paul Rudd.\u00a0Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, who collaborated on Hairspray and Smash, co-wrote Charles’ song \u201cWhich of the Pickwick Triplets Did It?<\/a>” with Pasek and Paul.<\/p>\n

13. During the filming of Season 1, Sting performed an impromptu private concert<\/a> for the cast.\"Sting<\/p>\n

\u00a9Hulu \/ Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s the moment when he gets up with his guitar and sings sort of an impromptu song about Tim Kono,\u201d\u00a0John explained.\u00a0\u201cAnd when we were doing takes of that, he would get up, and each time he would \u2014 instead of playing the impromptu song, because we\u2019d already gotten it \u2014 play one of his famous songs, and it was different each time. So literally, we had like a Sting concert happening, unplugged, on our set. We were just in love with him. He was just brilliant.\u201d<\/p>\n

14. This year, composing duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul won an Emmy for their work on the song \u201cWhich of the Pickwick Triplets Did It?\u201d earning them EGOT<\/a> status.\"Three<\/p>\n

\u00a9Hulu \/ Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

They’re best known for their work on The Greatest Showman,\u00a0La La Land, and Dear Evan Hansen.<\/p>\n

15. The character Cinda Canning is based on real-life podcaster Sarah Koenig<\/a>. Sarah is best known for her critically acclaimed true-crime podcast Serial.\"Selena<\/p>\n

Patrick Harbron \/ \u00a9Hulu \/ Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

16. A running joke in the series is that Cinda Canning only hires assistants who look just like her. One of her assistants is played by Steve Martin’s wife, Anne Stringfield, who many people \u2014 including Steve<\/a> and Tina \u2014 have pointed out looks like Tina.<\/p>\n

Patrick Harbron \/ \u00a9Hulu \/ Courtesy Everett Collection, Michael Kovac \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

17. Andrea Martin plays Charles’ hair and makeup artist, Joy. She is actually Martin Short’s ex-sister-in-law. Andrea’s ex-husband, Bob Dolman, was Martin’s late wife Nancy’s brother.\"Andrea<\/p>\n

Patrick Harbron \/ \u00a9Hulu \/ Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

18. There are also several jokes thrown in that reference Steve Martin, Martin Short, and their decades-long careers. In Season 1, Jan serenades Charles with the song “Under the Bamboo Tree,” and in the 1983 movie The Man With Two Brains, Steve sings that song to a brain.\"Laurie<\/p>\n

Hulu \/ Warner Bros. \/ Everett Collection<\/p>\n

19. Another joke thrown in is during Season 3, Loretta (Meryl Streep) mentions losing a role in Little Shop of Horrors to Ellen Greene. Steve Martin starred alongside Ellen in the film adaptation of the musical in 1986.\"Meryl<\/p>\n

Hulu \/ Everett Collection \/ Warner Bros. \/ Everett Collection<\/p>\n

20. In Season 3, Charles and Oliver lie their way into a courtroom, saying they’re “fathers of the bride.” Steve and Martin both starred in the 1991 film Father of the Bride.\"Top<\/p>\n

Hulu \/ Buena Vista Pictures \/ Everett Collection<\/p>\n

21. In Season 2, there’s an exterior shot of the building of Alice’s art gallery. That building exterior is the same one used throughout the entirety of New Girl. \"Exterior<\/p>\n

Hulu<\/p>\n

22. It took four days to film the moment in the Season 2 finale where Charles, Oliver, and Mabel map out who murdered Bunny. The writers kept the murderer a secret, so most people learned of the big reveal<\/a> while filming the scene.\"Martin<\/p>\n

\u00a9Hulu \/ Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

“It was exciting to watch people on set, the camera crew, and other people who hadn’t known where all of this was going, watching it get filmed and read through the stuff until it became clear when Poppy steps forward,” showrunner John Hoffman explained. “There were still people on the day when we were shooting that went, ‘Oh, my God. I had no idea. I thought the script had changed because of certain things happening, and now I think Alice did it.'”<\/p>\n

23. Finally, Dana Covarrubias, the show’s costume designer, said that Charles, Oliver, and Mabel’s clothing is symbolic<\/a> of who they are as characters. Charles is “the kind of guy who wants to wear the same thing essentially every day” and is obsessed with repetition. Oliver “knows how to get what he wants and uses his clothing to do it.” And Mabel “uses her clothing as armor” and for hiding secrets.\"Selena<\/p>\n

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