‘Love Story’ Producers Didn’t Expect Carolyn Bessette’s TikTok Fan Army to Come for Them

Catalog the ways in which Love Story : John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette could have gone wrong, and the tally might rival a Thanksgiving grocery list. Pressure on capturing the tragic couple and their time period was high enough before early test photos sent devotees of Bessette’s style into a tizzy and a legion of paparazzi to the FX limited series’ Manhattan shoot. But Love Story ultimately prevailed, commandeering online discourse for its nine-episode run and fetching seven Emmy nominations — including top limited series, one for lead actress Sarah Pidgeon and, shutting down any sartorial naysayers, outstanding period costumes. Power producing duo Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson know they could make things easier on themselves, but, like with their previous historic collaborations with Ryan Murphy, the fun is in trying to capture a feeling on camera that’s no longer found in real life. Related Stories TV 'DTF St. Louis' Creator Steven Conrad Has No Plans to Make More Movies TV 'The Pitt' Showrunner Admits Season One's Notoriety Amped Up Pressure For Season Two: "We Had to Prove That It Wasn't Just a Fluke"

Each true story brings a different minefield to navigate in terms of what’s verifiable information, what’s unknown and the varying public sentiments. Which needle was the most difficult to thread on Love Story ?

NINA JACOBSON It’s about understanding both what was known about them and what was not known for so many people. Because, when we were growing up, they were like American royalty. They were icons. But with the subsequent generations, what we found is that people knew her so much better than they knew him. She had become a posthumous influencer. Yet, as much as people knew of her, it was only visual. It didn’t really have anything to do with who she was as a person.

BRAD SIMPSON There were lots of recordings of him. He’d get tons of interviews. He was very public. We had to find her voice based on descriptions. And we just knew from all the research that, even though she presented as this WASP ideal and a sort of distant figure, she was incredibly warm and funny. Bringing that to life was one of our biggest challenges.

Were you aware of how substantial the Carolyn fan accounts on Instagram and TikTok were?

SIMPSON No, but we did know that she’d become this avatar for quiet luxury. Often, when we would get costume designers presenting us styles for actresses in our movies and TV shows, she would appear again and again on wardrobe boards. And we did know that there was a lot on TikTok about her, but we didn’t know how fevered it was when those early photos leaked and the world rained down saying it was going to be a disaster. It showed us the depth of the reach to people who weren’t even alive when she was around.

I think you’ve been vindicated by a lot of the aesthetics. How did you capture ’90s New York without going wildly over budget?

SIMPSON New York has changed so much more than we’d realized since the 1990s. It’s much easier to shoot period in L.A. New York has huge glass skyscrapers everywhere. There are bike lanes in the streets. It was a city that always stayed the same, and now it looks very different.