Trending badgeTrendingPosted 55 minutes agoSubscribe to Screen Time NewsletterCaret DownI Genuinely Cannot Watch "Only Murders In The Building" The Same Way After Learning These 23 Fascinating Facts And DetailsSteve Martin didn't even want to star on the show originally, and Martin Short encouraged him to do it.by Lauren GarafanoBuzzFeed StaffFacebookPinterestLink 1. Steve Martin created 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." Craig Blankenhorn / (C)Hulu / Courtesy Everett Collection "The idea came almost immediately that they lived in a building, and they all were interested in crime. But they didn't have the energy to go downtown, so they would only do murders in the building," Steve said. John, who previously worked on the series Grace and Frankie, didn't want to do another show focused on aging. He said, "On that show, there was already a lot about growing older and issues around that. I very consciously said, I don't want to do that again." He added that he didn't want the three main characters to be so alike and said, "Don't we want an alien in their world? The thing that we're not expecting that doesn't make sense?" 2. Steve initially had no interest in starring in the series, but Martin Short urged him to do it. He later told producers that he might appear in the show if Martin did too. Craig Blankenhorn / (C)Hulu / Courtesy Everett Collection "Marty said, 'You know, you're old - we could do this,'" Steve said."I don't think Steve operates from a place of, what's a vehicle I can create for myself?" producer Dan Fogelman said. "He thinks, 'What's an idea that I find funny or interesting?' Then it probably takes somebody nudging him to do it himself." 3. Steve was always certain he wanted Selena Gomez to star as Mabel, even though he'd never seen her act on Disney Channel. Craig Blankenhorn / (C)Hulu / Courtesy Everett Collection "You get a list of names, you know, you're thinking, 'Sure, they'd be good, they'd be good,'" he once explained, "and then they say, 'What about Selena Gomez?' and it's just - yes, of course. There was no question except, 'Can we get her?' We knew she would enhance the show in so many ways, the number one being talent."Selena was also the archetype they used when creating the character of Mabel, and it was even more exciting when she said yes to doing the show. 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, but once they got going they realized they're a perfect trio. Craig Blankenhorn / (C)Hulu / Courtesy Everett Collection "Marty and I joke around constantly, and we weren't sure if she'd be game for it. But now we think of ourselves as the Three Musketeers," Steve said. "I remember when I was leaving LA to go and shoot the first season, I was worried that I'd be a little lonely because I'd 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. "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're my guys. I was just watching videos of them and I got emotional because I'm like, 'Those are my guys.' Some of my best friends are 70-year-olds." 5. Selena is also a major true crime fan in real life. She'd even just gotten home from CrimeCon right before she started on OMITB. (C)Hulu / Courtesy Everett Collection "When we had the first discussion of who [Mabel] was, I had just gotten back from CrimeCon, which is basically a convention where we're trying to help solve a real cold case. It's 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.
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't about the incident so much as it was about the forensics. I'm interested in how people are able to figure things out. And that just so happens to be my job on the show as well." 6. Da'Vine Joy Randolph got hired after Steve Martin saw her in Dolemite Is My Name. (C)Hulu / Courtesy Everett Collection "Steve Martin told me he saw Dolemite, was very impressed - 'You held your own,' that whole thing - and that was a straight offer from him and the showrunner," she said. "It's such a wonderful working environment. Lovely hours. You're out by like six, seven o'clock. You go have dinner, a life. And just to be around Steve Martin and Martin Short - they still have this