FX’s ‘Love Story’ Cast Celebrates Emmy-Nominated Series at Intimate Tastemaker Dinner and Share How They ‘Brought a Level of Complexity to Their Characters’
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- Nina Jacobson revealed at the Variety-hosted dinner that 'Love Story' almost didn't happen — three weeks before shooting, the production still hadn't cast its JFK Jr. and considered pulling the plug because no actor 'perfectly fit' the iconic figure.
- Sarah Pidgeon, already cast as Carolyn Bessette, was the one who personally told Paul Anthony Kelly he landed the JFK Jr. role after the two read together, according to executive producer Nina Jacobson.
- Constance Zimmer earned her second Emmy nomination for supporting actress in a limited series for playing Carolyn's mother Ann Marie Messina, and said at dinner that it's 'the first character I've played that I haven't been able to let go of' because 'I really felt her struggle.'
- Paul Anthony Kelly said his first scene — JFK Jr. walking into the Calvin Klein offices in Manhattan — was 'the hardest thing I did because it was the first thing I did,' and revealed he was on the verge of giving up acting before landing the role.
- Kelly's career is now accelerating post-'Love Story': he landed the cover of Variety's Actors on Actors and has upcoming roles in 'The Housemaid's Secret' and Ryan Murphy's 'American Horror Story: 13.'
- Jacobson said the series succeeded by bringing 'a level of complexity' to characters 'who had been so often reduced to character caricatures,' tapping into 'a longing for a time when we shared more things' in culture.
Why it matters: Seven Emmy nominations for a nine-episode limited series give FX prestige credentials in the JFK Jr./Bessette cultural moment, but the production's near-collapse over casting reveals how a single unseated lead role can kill a prestige TV project — even when the source material is iconic. For emerging actors like Kelly and Pidgeon, the series functions as a career-launching vehicle, with Kelly already booking a Ryan Murphy production and a major film role immediately after.
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