Grace Gummer says she can’t imagine what it’s like to see her life portrayed onscreen after Jack Schlossberg criticized her performance as Caroline Kennedy in FX’s Love Story.
Grace Gummer is standing firm on her portrayal of Caroline Kennedy.
Two months after Jack Schlossberg criticized her performance. the actress—40—talked through her approach to playing Caroline in FX’s controversial Love Story. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter published Saturday. June 6. Gummer said. “All I can say is. I really can’t imagine what it’s like to see your life portrayed onscreen.”.
Her focus, she said, was staying close to the emotional truth of the role. “My goal was to play her with honesty and compassion and delicacy,” Gummer added. She also emphasized her respect for Caroline Kennedy. “I have an immense amount of respect for her.”
Schlossberg, 33, had previously spoken out about Gummer’s portrayal during an April 15 appearance on Next Question with Katie Couric. He admitted that he showed Kennedy a clip from the show and described the reaction with a kind of disbelief—“and we were laughing so hard. as if that’s how my mom acts.”.
In his critique, Schlossberg also framed Love Story as a less-than-accurate take on real people. “Keep in mind, it might be entertaining, but it’s fiction,” he said, adding that he described the series as “stupid.”
For her part, Gummer said she hasn’t heard directly from the Kennedy family. “No one from the Kennedy family has contacted me directly about the show,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. When asked if she would speak to Caroline if she were given the chance, Gummer said, “I would let her speak.”
At the center of the performance, Gummer pointed to a scene that lands with particular weight: the season finale moment when Caroline learns about the fatal 1999 plane crash that killed John F. Kennedy Jr., Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and Lauren Bessette Carolyn.
Gummer described the work of filming Caroline’s visceral reaction as something that required going very deep. “You have to sort of search within yourself in a very deep way, emotionally,” she said. She tied that to the way she prepared in the moment—knowing the lines. and also making sure she didn’t lose the emotional throughline. She said, “Technicality is really important to me as an actor. Knowing the lines was, first and foremost, my center and my mark within the scene.”.
She added that while the dialogue included repeated wording, it still needed to land differently each time. “I made sure that I knew all the beats because a lot of the words were repeated. but they were all said in different ways. So I really tried to make sure that I knew what I was saying when I was saying it so that I wouldn’t have to think of any of that.”.
What viewers may remember most from that finale, Gummer said, was also the part she tried not to hold back. “I really let myself go,” she said. “There’s nothing I left behind, physically or emotionally. I let myself be completely open and vulnerable. and. to be honest. I try to imagine what it’s like to lose someone you love. and it’s unimaginable. but I tried to do my best.”.
The series itself dramatizes John F. Kennedy and Carolyn Bessette’s tragic romance in Love Story. a story created by Ryan Murphy that drew backlash for the way it portrayed real-life events. Paul Anthony Kelly stars as JFK Jr. and Sarah Pidgeon stars as Carolyn Bessette. The real-life couple were together on and off between 1992 until their 1996 wedding. JFK Jr., Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and Lauren Bessette Carolyn were discovered five days after the crash on July 21, 1999.
Grace Gummer Jack Schlossberg Love Story FX Caroline Kennedy JFK Jr. Carolyn Bessette Lauren Bessette Carolyn Ryan Murphy Paul Anthony Kelly Sarah Pidgeon Next Question with Katie Couric