Danny Moloshok /Invision/AP
It’s complicated — but something’s gotta give.
Hollywood septuagenarians, Meryl Streep and Martin Short are giving loved-up Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce vibes from coast to coast, but also playing it coy.
Life seems to be imitating art for the veteran stars, whose characters fell in love when Streep, 75, joined the the third season of Short’s hit Hulu series “Only Murders in the Building.”
Many think the actors did, too.
Their reps have said the pair are “just friends” but Streep and Short, 74, have been spotted all over New York and Los Angeles at dinners, red carpets and events. They even held hands at the premiere of the fourth season of “Only Murders” in August.
Earlier this year, the two were seen sitting together at the Golden Globes and later spotted goofing off at the 2023 American Film Institute Awards.
Steve Martin, 79, who stars opposite Short and Selena Gomez on “Only Murders,” added fuel to the fire a week ago when he posted a photo of the trio from a Glamour article, with a giant red bar over Martin’s face.
Martin did not add a caption to his post, letting the picture speak for itself — which some took as a possible “hard launch” of an official relationship.
Three-time Oscar winner Streep has not made any attempt to hide her affection for Short.
Back in September 2019, she was honored at the inaugural TIFF Tribute Gala at Toronto Film Festival and started off by saying, “I’m so grateful to Canada for so many things, chiefly, of course, Joni Mitchell, and second, Martin Short.”
“It’s like the biggest open secret,” a senior TV insider said of Streep and Short. “I hope it’s true … I think it is. They’re adorable.”
Another source who has worked with Short said, “Oh I love them together.”
Even the executive producer of “Only Murders in the Building” let slip last week that it was a revelation watching Streep and Short fall for each other during the filming of the series.
“You know, it is one of the most unexpected turns but I remember thinking like, ‘God,’” the show’s executive producer and writer told Decider. “As I got to know Meryl, as I’ve known Marty and as I watched the two of them work together in Season 3, I just — it was unbelievable. We were laughing our heads off and they just delighted in each other on screen, off screen in every way.”
Streep joined the show as a guest star in the third season, playing Broadway actress Loretta Durkin, who develops a romantic relationship with Short’s character, Oliver Putnam.
A week ago, Streep took to the stage with Joni Mitchell at the Hollywood Bowl, performing alongside Elton John and Brandi Carlisle as backup singers as Joni sang a version of Elton’s hit “I’m Still Standing.” She was seen jumping up and down on stage.
She and Short shared a cozy dinner at celebrity favorite Italian restaurant Giorgio Baldi in Santa Monica, Calif., last Wednesday and the paparazzi swarmed as the two exited the restaurant.
Short told the photographers, “I am going with her!”
If the romance is real, it’s a late-in-life triumph for both stars whose love lives have been marked by both success and suffering.
Streep’s early career was shaped by her romance with the late, celebrated actor John Cazale, who had the distinction of appearing in only five movies, all of which were nominated for Best Picture.
Streep and Cazale met in 1976, when they were cast opposite each other in “Measure for Measure” in Central Park. By then, Cazale was not quite a star — he lacked leading-man looks — but he was regarded in the industry as a rare talent and in demand among the great directors of the era.
He played Fredo in “The Godfather” and “The Godfather Part II,” and had lead roles in “The Conversation,” “Dog Day Afternoon” and “The Deer Hunter.”
His 1978 death, at age 42, of lung cancer devastated Streep.
“Cazale and Meryl had this really intense connection,” Michael Schulman, author of the Streep biography “Her Again,” told The Post about the actress’s early career in the 1970s. “It was tragically short-lived but it stayed with her forever.”
She rebounded however, to the shock of many, with sculptor Don Gummer, whom her brother introduced her to shortly after Cazale’s passing. The two married six months later.
“Even her mother was surprised,” Schulman told The Post. “She even went to [Public Theater director] Joseph Papp to ask him what Meryl was doing.”
But Streep’s marriage to Gummer stood the test of time and produced four children: son Henry Wolfe, 44, a musician and songwriter, and daughters Mamie Gummer, 41, Grace Gummer, 38, and Louisa Jacobson, 33, who have all followed their mother into acting. She has five grandchildren.
“It was just as real and meaningful,” Schulman said of the romance. “Gummer was very different. He was quieter than Cazale, he was handsome, he worked with his hands. I think he also represented stability and a safe harbor for Meryl.”
The Post revealed last fall that Streep and Gummer had quietly separated six years earlier but said they “would always care for each other.”
For his part, Short suffered a terrible blow in 2010 when his wife of 30 years, Canadian actress and singer Nancy Dolman, with whom he had three children, died of ovarian cancer. Short called her passing “horrible” but also termed their marriage a “triumph.”
“I still communicate with her all the time,” Short told AARP in 2019.
“It’s “Hey, Nan,” you know? How would she react to this decision or that, especially regarding our three kids. I believe that when people die, they zoom into the people that love them. This idea that it just ends, and don’t speak of them — that’s wrong,” Short said. “That’s based on denial that we’re all going to die. So to me, she’s still here.”
Jeff Weingrad, author of “Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live,” told The Post that he thinks Short and Streep are well-suited — especially when it comes to their talent.
“Going back to his earliest years on ‘SCTV’ and ‘Saturday Night Live,’ Martin Short was always a very inventive personality who was so capable of creating a character and making it unforgettable,” Weingrad told The Post. “Look at the character of Ed Grimley. He hopped around stage saying, ‘I must say’ and pretty soon the whole country was saying, ‘I must say.’ And Meryl, for all her serious roles, is very capable of getting laughs in the comedic characters she inhabits.”
Laughs may be a big reason why Streep is so tight with Short, Schulman suggested.
“She’s never felt comfortable with the superlatives and she doesn’t like being put on a pedestal,” he said. “She seems to be pursuing things that are fun, goofier stuff like ‘Only Murders in the Building,’ almost in an effort to cut herself down to size. In a way, she’s been shedding that reputation she had as a very serious dramatic leading lady.
“She doesn’t want to be an icon; she wants to work. She’s probably having the time of her life clowning around with great comedians like Martin and Short and if there’s anything more to this with her relationship with Short then I think it’s absolutely charming and she deserves it.”