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Sarah Pidgeon and Paul Anthony Kelly have mastered their portrayals ‘Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette,’ but painting each other is another challenge entirely. In this episode of “Portrait Mode,” Sarah revisits her favorite Carolyn looks, including Yohji Yamamoto and Valentino, while Paul reflects on the pieces of JFK Jr.’s wardrobe he’d adopt and what he learned watching Naomi Watts work up close. They also break down the mannerisms they had to master, the scenes that made them most nervous, and the Ryan Murphy series that first pulled them in.

Check out Sarah Pidgeon & Paul Anthony Kelly’s Harper’s BAZAAR feature here: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/film-tv/a70395762/paul-anthony-kelly-sarah-pidgeon-love-story-interview-2026/

Watch ‘Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette’ on FX, Hulu and with Hulu on Disney+.

#SarahPidgeon #PaulAnthonyKelly #LoveStory #RyanMurphy #PortraitMode #BAZAAR

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Transcript
00:00I'm blue, da-da-dee, da-da-da.
00:02See, I could have been in Glee.
00:04Hi, I'm Sarah Pidgeon.
00:05And I'm Paul Anthony Kelley.
00:07And this is Portrait Mode with Harper's Bazaar.
00:13Today we're painting portraits of each other.
00:15I'm starting to get a little nervous.
00:17Yeah, me too.
00:18Okay.
00:19Here we go.
00:24Which Kennedy's fashion do you admire the most?
00:26Oh, I think Jackie Kennedy has some really just iconic looks.
00:31She understood the power of clothes.
00:33I mean, her clothing is still incredibly powerful to this day.
00:37What was your favorite looker piece that you wore as Carolyn?
00:40Oh, I really love... there's so many.
00:42I really like her Yoji Yamamoto's and...
00:45Oh, God.
00:45Paul.
00:47Oh, no.
00:47Are you doing me dirty over there?
00:49Uh...
00:49Oh, boy.
00:51I'm not sure about this already.
00:52I really love her Yoji Yamamoto pieces.
00:55But I also... she had such great street style.
00:58I love her corduroys and her turtlenecks.
01:01Oh, God.
01:01I forgot what your face looks like.
01:07If you could be in any past Ryan Murphy show, which would it be?
01:10Oh, that's a good question.
01:12Probably one of the horror stories, I think.
01:16Maybe the first one.
01:17Oh, that one's so good.
01:18Yeah, I think so.
01:19That one's so good.
01:20That's what really kicked it all off, right?
01:21Yeah, and the latex suit.
01:25Fashion.
01:25Which Ryan Murphy show pulled you in first?
01:28I love Nip Tuck.
01:29Oh, my gosh, yeah.
01:30I mean, Glee.
01:31Nip Tuck was so good.
01:32I mean, I think Glee would be so fun.
01:34So you could sing?
01:35Yeah, so I could sing.
01:37I was never a Glee club kid.
01:40We didn't really... we didn't have that at my school.
01:42Oh, Lord.
01:43Like, every time I add something new, this just looks worse.
01:48Who would you want to be in the reboot of Glee with you?
01:50Paul.
01:51Aww.
01:51Just the two-hander.
01:52Naturally.
01:53Yeah, it's a two-hander.
01:54I love it.
01:55It's a two-person Glee club, and they win every competition.
02:01What are three mannerisms you had to learn with playing Carolyn to set?
02:05I think I was really interested in trying to figure out her walk, and there's... you can
02:11sort of start piecing it together through pictures of her walking around the city, learning
02:15that she really walked down New York City streets with purpose as a young woman, and
02:20that was helpful.
02:21She spoke with her hands a lot.
02:23She connected with people.
02:24But it was really interesting being able to take sort of these still images and translate
02:29that into motion.
02:30Paul, were there any mannerisms you had to learn?
02:32Oh, there were a lot of mannerisms I had to learn while portraying the character of John.
02:38A lot of, like, the vocal things I had to learn.
02:40He had a real lackadaisical kind of cool guy.
02:45Chill speak.
02:46Do you want to grab a drink?
02:47Oh, technically I'm working.
02:49Well, isn't everyone here?
02:50I also had to delete my Canadianisms, which was interesting.
02:55The oots and the boots, they had to go.
02:58They were not acceptable for John Jr.
03:00Oh, there's water.
03:02It's water.
03:02It's so blue.
03:04Okay.
03:04I'm blue.
03:06See, I could have been in glee.
03:12Has JFK Jr's style inspired your personal wardrobe at all?
03:15It has, actually.
03:17I've very proudly adopted the wallet chain and the backwards hat.
03:22Was there a piece you wished you'd been kept?
03:24The Cartier watch?
03:27That would have been nice.
03:29You know, there were a lot of things.
03:30He had an excellent style.
03:31The hyper color shirt.
03:33Oh, yeah.
03:34Yeah, that was neat.
03:35Great colors.
03:36Right now, Paul looks like a missing person sketch.
03:40Derek, was there a piece of Carolyn you wished you'd kept?
03:43God, I mean, there's so many of her outfits.
03:45I wish I could take the whole thing home.
03:47I'm sort of, I'm still working on that conversation.
03:50Are you still conversing about that?
03:52Negotiations have come to a halt at the moment.
03:55There's a bit of chicken going on.
03:58Yeah, I mean, she has some great Levi's that I got to wear.
04:00A green Valentino coat from a collector.
04:03I was really excited that I got to wear a Yoji outfit a few times.
04:08I got to wear for four days of shooting, which was really, it made me quite happy.
04:11Which one?
04:12The cream skirt and the black jacket.
04:15Oh, yeah.
04:16Classic.
04:20Sarah, which scene were you most nervous to film?
04:22I was nervous and excited to film some of the scenes that reference the video evidence that we had of
04:29Carolyn and John.
04:30But it was exciting to have sort of this road map of the physicality and figure out how to use
04:38Connor Heinz's incredible writing of marrying those.
04:42What about you, Paul?
04:43All of it.
04:44No, I think I have to piggyback on Sarah's answer with, you know, recreating the video evidence that we had
04:52and just like getting it right.
04:54Oh, no.
04:56Oh, boy.
04:58Paul, which of your co-stars gave you the best advice?
05:01Eric Bergen.
05:02I don't know if I can say it out loud.
05:04Was there anything that you learned from watching Naomi Watts work up close?
05:08I mean, watching her work up close was the greatest gift I've had in my career, which is very new.
05:16We grew up in people's living rooms.
05:20They feel like they know us.
05:22I've always admired her work and, you know, the roles that she chooses and plays.
05:28So to be able to share screen time with her and be a part of her process, that was incredible.
05:35Oh, God.
05:36Yeah, I was really getting somewhere and then I think I just messed it up.
05:40How would today's social media affect Carolyn and Jake and Junior's relationship?
05:46Oh, I mean, who's to say?
05:48But they were the height, I think, or the advent of the tabloid culture and so much more immediate in
05:55a way because of social media.
05:57And I like to think that Carolyn maintained her privacy.
06:01I think it was incredibly important to her.
06:03I don't know.
06:04This might be where it all goes south.
06:09Oh, shoot.
06:10Will you show what it looks like 45 seconds ago?
06:13I don't know what I envisioned, but...
06:16Don't look.
06:17I'm sorry.
06:21Three, two, one.
06:27Oh, Paul.
06:28Oh.
06:30That's pretty good.
06:31You captured me.
06:31I love the mustache.
06:33Yeah, thanks.
06:33Look at my nose.
06:34I know.
06:37This is Paul.
06:38And this is Sarah.
06:40I decided to go with a blue theme.
06:44I didn't have time to color match, tone.
06:48Same.
06:48I was too nervous to do the sunglasses on the top of his head, so I went with his feature
06:54that stood out to me.
06:55I got the colors wrong.
06:57I imagined it as yellow, but turns out it's red and navy.
07:00But I could only do so much more blue.
07:03You know, this is her chin.
07:05I really focused on her hair color with the paints that I had.
07:11You know, nice little red lip.
07:13Yeah, her eye color.
07:15Thin eyebrows.
07:16They're less thin now.
07:18Yeah, they've really started to grow in.
07:20But they were thin in the show.
07:21And that's what I was drawing from.
07:23Thank you so much, Paul, for capturing me.
07:25Oh, thank you for capturing my cake face.
07:32Thanks so much for watching.
07:33And be sure to check out Love Story, John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bissette on FX and Hulu.
07:57We'll see you next time.
07:58We'll see you next time.
07:58Bye.
07:58Bye.
07:58Bye.
07:59Bye.
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