How do you recreate one of the most famous weddings in modern American history? The team behind Episode 6 of “Love Story,” titled “The Wedding” after JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette’s church wedding, took to the stage at Variety FYC TV Fest on May 6 to discuss the process behind recreating and imagining their 1996 wedding.
In a conversation moderated by Variety senior journeyman editor Jazz Tancay, director Gillian Robespierre emphasized the pressure to make the episodes great. She was joined by author Juli Weiner. Constance Zimmer played Bessette’s mother and shared the process behind her emotional monologue. Costume designer Rudy Mance recreated Bessette’s dress in great detail. Music director Jen Malone talked about the difficulty she had in completing the song “Common People” for Bessette and Kennedy’s light-hearted scene.
Robespierre thanked Weiner for writing the screenplay, calling the film “poetic, funny and heartbreaking,” adding that he felt “an honor to direct it.” Weiner compared it to other iconic weddings in history, such as that of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, and emphasized the importance of capturing the romance and secrets of the ceremony. Robespierre also talked about his decision to make it appear that Bessette and Kennedy were floating during the reception, and to build platforms and circular bogie tracks to achieve the desired effect. “We dug a very deep hole, set up this platform on top of the riser, and levitated the riser into the sky,” Robespierre explained. “One take gave them the freedom to just act out their lines, act naturally and feel like they were floating.”
Zimmer, who performs a strong monologue in the episode, revealed that he originally auditioned for the show for that scene, as he was clearly uneasy about his daughter marrying a public figure. “When I went on set to do it, I already had a lot of it inside me, because I had already gone through it several times,” she said, adding that at the end of the first take, everyone cried.
Mance described the team’s hard work researching Bessette’s real wedding look, managing to find the exact fabric used by Narciso Rodriguez, and piecing together the rehearsal dinner look from the grainy photos they found. “After investigation, we found that the company that manufactured her gloves and veil was the same company,” Mance said. “I got to visit them and actually saw the hand tracings that they did. We did everything we could to honor Narciso.”
Malone talked about acquiring the rights to Pulp’s “Common People,” which lead singer Jarvis Cocker rarely allowed to use. “I never want to say no to a director or a writer,” she said, adding that the song was written by Weiner. “You have to think outside the box.”
