Sarah Pidgeon: I put [myself] on tape, and then a few weeks later, I happened to be in LA finishing up a project I was working on and was told that t
Sarah Pidgeon: I put [myself] on tape, and then a few weeks later, I happened to be in LA finishing up a project I was working on and was told that the producers liked it, and I was gonna go in for my callback, but then within, like, 24 hours, that changed to a test. I went in and I totally blacked out. As soon as I finished the first scene, Ryan [Murphy] was like, “Okay, and moving on.” And I was like, “Oh shoot, I definitely didn’t get this.” He asked me a few questions, where I was from, and then I called my team, and I was like, “I think I did what I wanted to do, but I don’t think I got that job.” And three days went by, Friday came and went, and I woke up Saturday morning, and my team called and told me that I got it, and then the real process started of trying to find JFK Jr. It was such a wonderful moment when Paul walked in the door.
Paul Anthony Kelly: I had been trying to break into the industry for about 13 years. I told my wife I thought I was gonna quit. She said, “Don’t do that.” A week later, I get a call to do my callback for the show, and then I had the chemistry read with Sarah the following week. There was just something so palpable when we saw each other. There was just this instant bond and trust with each other.
Had people said that you looked like JFK Jr. before?
Kelly: Yes, previously I was a model for a long time. I worked with Brooks Brothers, and they would kinda do me up and shave me down, and I got, “You look like a young John F. Kennedy.” And at that point, I wasn’t overly familiar with John F. Kennedy Jr. So in my head, I was like, I look nothing like John F. Kennedy. But then I saw a photo of Junior later on and was like, Oh, okay. But never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that I would be in these shoes portraying him as a character.
Did you have the voice going into the audition?
Kelly: No, I had to figure it all out. John F. Kennedy Jr. narrates his father’s book, Profiles in Courage, so I listened to that religiously—when I got up in the morning, when I was in the gym, before work, during work, in between setups, sometimes overnight sleeping—just so it would sink into my psyche. He uses his tongue in a totally different way than I do, the way he speaks, so I really had to change everything. I got a little bit bigger for the role. John’s left-handed, I’m right-handed, so for the six months I had to do everything left-handed, which was a learning curve.
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