‘Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette’ landed this year with plenty of hype, and everyone wants to know — just how close to the real thing did the actors get? Sarah Pidgeon and Paul Anthony Kelly, who play Carolyn and JFK Jr., have been pretty open about how they got into character. They’re stepping into the lives of a couple who were basically America’s royalty in the ‘90s, right in the center of endless cameras and headlines. The show covers it all: their fast, intense romance, big wedding, and tragic ending in 1999.But did Pidgeon and Kelly actually talk to anyone from the Kennedy or Bessette families to get ready for their roles? Here’s the truth from behind the scenes.
‘Love Story’: The work beyond the camera
Both actors dove deep into research for months, piecing together the couple’s personalities and relationship from books, interviews, and a mountain of old photos. Paul Anthony Kelly, who’s Canadian, admitted he only had a vague idea of JFK Jr. and Carolyn before getting cast. He said he had to catch up by sifting through everything he could find — interviews, documentaries, you name it. Pidgeon did the same, digging into biographies and visual archives to get a feel for Carolyn’s world.Still, neither of them nor anyone from the production reached out to the families. Both actors confirmed this. Instead, they leaned hard on public records and stories from people who knew the couple, but not the actual relatives.For Kelly, this is his first big Hollywood project. He told PEOPLE he “knew a little bit about” JFK Jr. and Carolyn, but coming from Canada, they just weren’t part of his regular pop culture diet. “Definitely, during this whole process, I really got to know them, I think, pretty well — within reason, of course,” he said. There was always something new for him to learn.As for Pidgeon, she said hat she recognized Carolyn from photos and knew the basics — her Calvin Klein job, the high-profile marriage — but her research opened up a whole new side of Carolyn’s personality for her. “Luckily, there were a lot of books and interviews done by people who knew them quite well, lots of photos. So there were jumping-off points that were incredibly helpful,” she said.Neither actor, though, picked up the phone to call the Kennedy or Bessette families. They just kept to the research.Pidgeon described feeling a connection to Carolyn from the very first script. She could sense Carolyn’s intelligence, warmth, and depth right away. Kelly had a similar experience. He got to know JFK Jr. by combing through the mountain of material about him, instead of talking to people who knew him personally.“Even from my rudimentary knowledge of her in my first audition, she felt like such a three-dimensional person with her intelligence, her warmth, her charisma, her sensitivities,” Pidgeon said. That first impression stuck with her and, as she learned more, it just made sense. She thought the scripts themselves really nailed Carolyn’s character.
Reception and reactions
Of course, not everyone is thrilled with the show’s approach. The Kennedy family, in particular, isn’t happy they got left out of the loop. Jack Schlossberg — JFK Jr.’s nephew and now a political candidate — called out the creators for not asking the family or even informing them about the series. He was blunt, calling the show “grotesque” and saying they’re just trying to cash in on his uncle’s legacy.When the first photos from the series dropped in June, Schlossberg, who’s Caroline Kennedy’s son, posted a video on Instagram. “For those wondering whether his family was ever consulted, or has anything to do with, the new shows being made about him, the answer is no. And there’s really not much we can do,” he said.Schlossberg added that he hopes the people behind the show at least think about what JFK Jr. stood for. “I hope those making these shows about him take seriously what he stood for in his life, all that he achieved in it. And that they donate some of the profits [that] they’re making,” Schlossberg said. “For the record, I think admiration for my Uncle John is great. What I don’t think is great is profiting off of it in a grotesque way.“
‘Love Story’: What is it about?
The show takes its cue from Elizabeth Beller’s book, ‘Once Upon a Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy’. It dives right into the electric chemistry, fast-paced romance, and headline-grabbing marriage of John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette — one of the most talked-about couples of the last century.As for the cast of the show, it’s stacked. Pidgeon and Kelly lead the drama, and you’ll also see Naomi Watts as Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Grace Gummer as Caroline Kennedy, Alessandro Nivola as Calvin Klein, Leila George as Kelly Klein, Sydney Lemmon as Lauren Bessette, and Constance Zimmer as Ann Marie Messina.You can already catch the first three episodes of ‘Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette’ on Hulu. New episodes drop every Thursday at 9 p.m. Eastern on FX and Hulu.
