In FX’s Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette, a whirlwind romance begins between one of the most famous men in the world, John F. Kennedy Jr. (Paul Anthony Kelly), and Carolyn Bessette (Sarah Pidgeon), while she’s working as a publicist for Calvin Klein (Alessandro Nivola).
Awards Buzz spoke with Nivola about getting to know this famous figure and the way in which he came to understand him best:
“When I heard him talk, I was really struck by the sound of his voice, because I could hear it, the Bronx where he grew up, son of Jewish immigrants living there, went to public school. Then I could also hear this kind of cosmopolitan sophistication that he had acquired as his career advanced and he began to see the world and be part of a world that was so international. That was the first thing that made me want to play him was the sound of his voice. I watched hundreds of hours of interviews with him and I had Kohli rip the sound off them and send me these little MP3s or whatever that I can just go around during the day listening to. I would just listen to him talk all day long. I got so familiar with these interviews that I started noticing certain expressions that he would use again and again in different interviews, speaking to different people and these little catchphrases. There were certain things that he would say, like, ‘it’s really kinda terrific,’ he would say a lot and he would say ‘So I’m a bad boy.’ He said that a bunch.”
Watch the video above to hear about his process for getting into this universe and how approaching past projects like Disobedience through voice has also proven to be productive and rewarding.
Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette is streaming on Hulu.
