The tragic love story that fascinated the United States

BarcelonaThey were young, beautiful, and very famous, and their love story ended tragically. John F. Kennedy Jr., son of President John F. Kennedy, and his wife, Carolyn Bessette, were one of the most iconic couples in the United States in the 1990s, representing the spirit of a prosperous era before the attack on the Twin Towers. However, the interest they generated was their downfall. The ups and downs of that relationship now come to the small screen through the miniseries "Love story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette, a new project by Ryan Murphy that will explore great love stories and can be seen starting this Friday on Disney+.

The young couple's end is well-known: in July 1999, the couple died in a plane crash along with Bessette's sister, Lauren. All three were heading to the wedding of one of his cousins that was to be held in Martha's Vineyard, but John John Kennedy – as he was popularly known – became disoriented while piloting the plane and they suffered an accident that ended their lives, a tragedy that magnified the Kennedy's dark legend. The young lawyer was 39 years old, five years younger than his father, President Kennedy, when he was assassinated in Dallas. Love story begins with the moments before the plane trip and jumps back to explain the beginnings of the relationship and analyze the state of the marriage at the time of their death.

How to bring two fashion icons to life

The couple was not only an attractive pair but also considered a style reference; they represented the sober elegance of those who have a lot of money and don't need to show off anything extravagant for people to know. In fact, their style, especially hers, was minimalist, as was Calvin Klein at the time, the fashion firm where Bessette worked when she met her future husband. To portray these two charismatic characters, the series has chosen two practically unknown actors. The one tasked with bringing John John Kennedy to life is the debutant Paul Anthony Kelly, a former model who had been trying to make his way in the acting world for some time. The Canadian beat out a thousand applicants in a casting that was particularly difficult, according to the series' creators. "We tried models. We tried random people we found on the street. Practically any white man between 25 and 40 years old," explains to Variety Brad Simpson, one of the show's executive producers. Actress Sarah Pidgeon, a Tony Award nominee for her performance in Stereophonic, plays Bessette, a woman photographed many times but who never spoke directly to the media.

The emotional toll of being a constant target for paparazzi while also having to fit into a clan that was the equivalent of a monarchy in the United States is the great conflict Bessette faces in the series. Although it didn't reach the extremes of real life, during filming Pidgeon also tasted what it feels like to be the talk of the town: by playing a character admired for her style, many internet users dedicated themselves to criticizing absolutely every detail of her portrayal and costume, from the Birkin bag model she carries in one scene to the shade of blonde of the actress's hair. "I don't think it's that surprising that people were so invested in Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy and had such strong opinions about what we were doing. But it was a real opportunity to understand what it might have been like for her, and that's always useful," Pidgeon explains in an interview with Marie Claire. However, the actress points out that there is a fundamental difference: "I'm playing a character. Carolyn and JFK Jr. were trying to live their lives."