In a society that loves to “blur the line” between man and woman, the result can be a strenuous casting process that might almost postpone production.
Take FX’s “Love Story.”
In the new show, viewers embark on the romantic yet tragic story of John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette, America’s most beloved couple in the 1990s. Ever known for their iconic fashion and good looks, choosing the right actors was indeed going to be a high task at hand.
Executive producers Brad Simpson and Nina Jacobson shared with People that selecting Sarah Pidgeon to play Bessette was a swift and easy choice: she “jumped out and stole the role” and immediately “won our hearts.”
But the same could not be said for Kennedy.
“We were three weeks away from shooting and we still [had] not cast him,” Simpson said. “We’d seen every male actor between the age of 25 and 38.”
“We were about to shut down production and pause because we couldn’t find him,” he added.
The show’s creator, Connor Hines, admitted he even sought out people on the street and at the gym to come read for the role.
But the problem wasn’t that they didn’t like their interviewees, Simpson said. There was something else missing.
“Part of it was just that sort of ’80s, old school masculinity — a man with hair on his chest, sort of Richard Gere, Tom Selleck — the classic chiseled looks,” he said.
“We’re not making those guys anymore, for some reason, and he really needed to have that.”
In a GQ article, Simpson elaborated further: “It’s these men with broad shoulders and they are in shape, but they’re in shape because they’ve been throwing a football around, not because they’ve been working on every muscle in their body for a Marvel movie.”
“We live in a world of electrolysis men, and it was a real challenge to find that sort of guy — a guy that women and gay men are attracted to, but also guys want to hang out and have a beer with.”
Something needs to be said if even Hollywood starts admitting there’s a masculinity problem.
The producers retraced their steps and considered the self-tapes they had already received, pulling out 13 new guys to come in and read. To their luck, Paul Anthony Kelly was among that group.
“You’re crazy if you don’t cast him,” Simpson recalled a makeup artist saying as she walked past.
Beyond his similar look to JFK Jr. — tall height, handsome, and yes, even chest hair — Simpson said Kelly had an “ease and charm” about him that was immediate. After a chemistry read with Pidgeon, there was no doubt the producers had found their Kennedy.
Now, Kelly is marking his first major debut and becoming his own American heartthrob.
