Trailer for season 3 of "Only Murders in the Building"

She's playing a bad actress! Hulu has released the trailer for their upcoming third season of Only Murders in the Building. We've known for some time that Meryl's character, Loretta Durkin, is a theater actress. There was a hint that she may be a bit ditzy based on teasers, but I think based on the full trailer that she's portraying someone who is genuinely a bad actor. This may turn out to be her most challenging role of all time. 

There's not a ton of Meryl in the trailer, but of course she's not part of the main cast from seasons 1-2. I have a feeling that she'll feature rather prominently though, hopefully in every episode. I think the trailer looks good, moderately funny. Prior to knowing Meryl was cast for season 3, I had been meaning to check out the first few episodes of the series. I certainly enjoy the show, but I'm not a rabid fan. Martin Short is by far the best thing about the program for me. Meryl being in it of course brings it to a new level. I just hope this season isn't all of a sudden the stinker season, after scores of 100% and 98% on Rotten Tomatoes for seasons 1-2, respectively. I see nothing in the trailer to suggest that that would be the case, however. And as an aside...Jesse Williams is very handsome. 

I could've sworn that we were going to get the first three episodes starting on August 8, but it appears that I may have mistakenly reported that in previous posts, as Wikipedia lists only the first two, with the remaining eight released weekly through October 3. Can't wait!

...and character posters revealed

I should've been more patient. In my lamenting that Hulu didn't include Meryl in the season 3 promotional poster yesterday, today they've revealed character posters that also include Meryl and Paul Rudd. 

                      

Posters of the three individual lead performers (Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez) can be seen here.  

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but I wonder if part of the reason Meryl ended up passing on Places, Please was because it would be too similar a character to Loretta in Murders. Murders will be comedic, while I expect Places, Please to very much be a drama. But both Loretta and Lillian are stage actresses who are obviously veterans. It might have just been a little too close of a characterization back to back for Meryl to want to do both. Who knows how long it's been brewing that she'd star in this third season, or what happened with the delays with Places, Please. But it seems reasonable that she wouldn't want to repeat stuff, as she's been open in the past about not wanting to do things that are too similar to each other, particularly in close proximity. 

Season 3 poster revealed for "Only Murders in the Building"

This isn't exactly major news, but they've revealed the poster for season 3 of Hulu's Only Murders in the Building.

I was sort of expecting to maybe see Meryl or Paul Rudd in the photo, but I suppose since they're only temporary members of the cast it's natural to only include the mains. Season 3 debuts with the first three episodes on August 8. 

Looking forward to finally seeing some new material from Meryl in a few weeks!

One month from "Only Murders in the Building"

The third season of Only Murders in the Building premieres on Hulu one month from today. It'll be the first substantial role in which we'll see Meryl in a year and a half. I don't really count Extrapolations because she was barely in it. I suppose I'm making some assumptions in regard to how much we'll actually see her in Murders, but with the minimal amount of promotion we've seen and comments from her co-stars thus far, I think we can expect that Meryl will be a major part of the plot this season. Elle Magazine recently quoted Nathan Lane from an earlier interview:

If I can, on a day off, they've asked me to pop in. But the plot is set to go in a different direction: It's Meryl, Paul Rudd and Jesse Williams. It's a whole new murder mystery.

Lane's description is promising. I have to imagine they'll release a longer trailer in the next couple of weeks. Episodes 1-3 will be released on August 8, with the following seven released weekly until the season wraps up on October 3. 

Still hoping for some news on new projects soon! 

Accents Mastered updated

I don't know what made me recently think of Meryl's participation in the 2014 PBS docuseries, The Roosevelts. I remembered how distinct her vocal portrayal of former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt was, and I realized I should probably have included it in my Accents Mastered tab of this blog. I'm guilty of often disregarding or forgetting about Meryl's voice work, but this was a great performance in its own right, so thought I should remedy my omisssion of it in the below list.  

The Seduction of Joe Tynan (1979)--Tennessean
The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981)--British (specifically Received Pronunciation)
Sophie's Choice (1982)--Polish (in English and German)
Silkwood (1983)--Texan
Plenty (1985)--British (I think it's also RP)
Out of Africa (1985)--Danish
Ironweed (1987)--Irish-American
A Cry in the Dark (1988)--New Zealand (with strong layers of Australian)
The Bridges of Madison County (1995)--Italian (Meryl calls it Iowatalian)
Dancing at Lughnasa (1998)--Northern Irish
Angels in America (2003)--Yiddish and Bronx (in separate roles)
Prime (2005)--Manhattan (specifically Upper West Side)
A Prairie Home Companion (2006)--Upper Midwestern
Doubt (2008)--Bronx
Julie & Julia (2009)--Boston Brahmin
The Iron Lady (2011)--British (again RP)
August: Osage County (2013)--Oklahoman

The Roosevelts (2014)--Mid-Atlantic (American Aristocratic)
The Homesman (2014)--Central Plains Midwestern
Suffragette (2015)--British (Received Pronunciation)
Florence Foster Jenkins (2016)--Mid-Atlantic
Mary Poppins Returns (2018)--vaguely Russian
The Laundromat (2019)--nondescript Latin (possibly Panamanian Spanish)
Little Women (2019)--Northeastern New England

Happy 74th, Meryl!

Our favorite actor turns 74 today. I'm sure to a lot of people that seems old. The older I get, the less old anything under 100 feels. It's been one of Meryl's quieter years in terms of screen projects. Hopefully she's been rejuvenated from the time off and is ready to spark a busy streak with work! 

The loss of "Places, Please"

I posted about three months ago that it seemed like Glenn Close was now attached to lead Places, Please, a feature film that was announced two years ago and was supposed to star Meryl. Since then, we've learned that Jessica Lange is actually going to be the one portraying Lillian Hall, not Close. More recently, and what prompted me wanting to post more about this, is that Kathy Bates has been revealed as starring as well. The loss of this film burns even more now, knowing that Meryl could've been a movie along with Kathy Bates! Filming is currently underway in Georgia. 

As I'm sure I've mentioned before, I'm not sure why this film didn't end up getting filmed when they originally said they were going to (summer 2021). I've speculated on the possibilities of why Meryl may have not participated. But it's not like we haven't seen scenarios like this before; something promising gets announced, and then it just never happens with Meryl (and sometimes not with anyone). Examples that come to mind: Evita, Mary Stuart, Daughter of the Queen of Sheba, Dirty Tricks, Mommy & Me, First Man, The Good House. 

I honestly think that if I ever had the chance to chat with Meryl and if she were open to my questions, the biggest thing I'd love to ask her is what exactly happened or happens in situations like this (and for each particular film--if she could recall). It sort of all ties into my longstanding fascination about projects of hers that never came to be, or ones that she may have been hovering around but was never announced or cast, or for more juicy gossip, which she was turned down for and had really wanted--the ones we don't already know about (which are few, or course)! Only in my dreams.