This week’s guest is Love Story star Paul Anthony Kelly.
In this episode of Take Ten, Kelly reveals how he prepped to play John F. Kennedy Jr., how he connected with his co-star Sarah Pidgeon as Carolyn Bessette, and the style tips he took away from playing the role.
We also get into the news of his casting in another Ryan Murphy project, the upcoming new season of American Horror Story. Kelly says of this next gig: “It feels pretty good to be joining such a storied series. They’re on their 13th season now and word on the street is they’re bringing back a lot of the previous cast. So I am incredibly excited to go to work and play with some people I’ve been looking up to for a very long time. It’s going to be cool and spooky and scary and all the good things.”
Kelly had been about to quit acting and go back home to Canada when he landed the career-changing role of JFK Jr. in FX anthology series Love Story. “I found out I was playing JFK Jr. in Love Story the day of the screen test after the chemistry read and they told me I had the job on the spot. I kind of disassociated from the world at that moment because I had finally landed a big one and then I had to do the work. But it was incredible,” he says.
Love Story: Sarah Pidgeon and Paul Anthony Kelly as Carolyn Bessette and John F. Kennedy Jr.
FX
He says he bonded with Pidgeon right away. “It was just an absolute understanding of like, ‘I’ve got you. I know you’ve got me. Let’s do this.’ After the chemistry read, I found out that we were staying at the same hotel and I ended up giving her a ride back. That private moment in the car after this public display was great to build on our chemistry of what would become John and Carolyn’s characters.”
Something a little more challenging was learning to rollerblade á la JFK Jr. “I have two left feet,” he laughs. “I’m like the only Canadian that can’t skate. It’s one of my pitfalls. So rollerblading was interesting…”
Rollerblading aside though, he has picked up some of JFK Jr.’s habits, especially sartorially speaking. “I’ve adopted a wallet chain in my life,” he says. “I tend to set things down and forget them, much like John, as it turned out. I’ve also started wearing my baseball cap backwards a little bit more. I was never a backwards man until after this show.”
As for what clothing he wishes he’d snagged from the set, his answer is not what you might expect: “Probably the hyper color shirts would be something I would like to keep because they’re just such a rarity and they were so cool. You sweat in it and it changes a different color!”
To find out more, including how he got the JFK Jr. hair just right and why he had to shave his face twice a day, but never his chest, click on the video above.
Love Story is streaming now on FX and Hulu.
